<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Toyota&amp;#039;s FT-EV concept car is having its world introduction in Detroit. This BEV (battery electric vehicle) shares its platform with the Toyota iQ urban commuter car, the latter already on sale in Japan. The FT-EV is designed to carry four, albeit in close-coupled short-trip comfort. Its range is 50 miles of urban adventuring. The FT-EV is a pure concept car, but Toyota also announced plans in Detroit to bring a similar urban-commuter BEV into production by 2012.   The company also firmed up its plans for gasoline-electric hybrids becoming its core powertrain technology. By the early 2010s, Toyota expects its hybrids to sell at a rate of 1 million vehicles per year. (The company&amp;#039;s total hybrid volume nudged past this landmark figure in 2007.) It expects to launch as many as 10 new hybrid models in various global markets during that time. The third-generation Prius makes its debut here in Detroit, as does the all new Lexus HS250h.   Plug-in hybrids are coming as well, with some 500 Prius PHEVs entering global lease fleets by late 2009. It&amp;#039;s expected that 150 of these will come to U.S. fleet customers.   Unlike Toyota&amp;#039;s conventional nickel/metal-hydride HEV counterparts, these PHEVs will have lithium-ion batteries. Its first-generation lithium-ion batteries will come from PEVE (Panasonic EV Energy Co.), of which Toyota holds 60-percent equity. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a14473/toyota-ft-ev-concept/>