Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to launch home battery chargers for plug-in hybrid and electric cars by the end of 2012.
Toyota Home and Toyota Industries Corp. will jointly develop the EV charger and will market it under the Toyota Home brand, through the sales channels of Toyota Home and its affiliate, Misawa Homes Co., according to the Nikkei report.
The EV chargers will be compatible with non-Toyota vehicles and will come in two types: one would be for setting up in a garage and the other would protrude from the exterior wall of a home.
Toyota is expecting to sell between 20,000 and 30,000 of the electric car chargers in the first year alone, with each costing about several tens of thousands of yen to JPY200,000 ($2,405) including installation costs. As this technology progresses in the United States, there will likely be an eligible tax deduction for its energy-efficient application. Prius owners will probably need to consult one or more tax estimators to determine what they can expect. Since Prius owners can already receive a tax credit for the car purchase itself, further savings can only prove better.
The world’s biggest automaker is also expecting to sell 50,000 plug-in Prii (Toyota recently announced that, Prii was the plural form of Prius) starting in 2012.
