Toyota, who's Prius is easy on the environment to drive but horrible on it to make, has engineered a new type of flower to help shoulder some of the damage their factories are spitting out.

The sage derivative's leaves have unique characteristics that absorb harmful gases, while the gardenia's leaves create water vapour in the air, reducing the surface temperature of the factory surrounds and, therefore, reducing the energy needed for cooling, in turn producing less carbon dioxide (CO2).

Well, holy shit. That is pretty insane. [Drive via Treehugger]

I don't know if they are going to retire the daisies when the campaign is over, but I hope they don't. I like some flowah-powah here and there. [The Design Blog]

Still, this Toyota Prius Hearse plans to unleash its green yuppie fury on Japan's funeral circuit. For just $80,000 a pop, you too can ride around (rotting) in the finest of posthumous eco luxury. According to a rough translation and some metric conversion, it looks like this supersized Prius gets 52 miles per gallon. That's really pretty good for a dead person mobile. It's just too bad you won't be around to appreciate the fuel savings while giving smug looks to truck drivers at the pump. [Press Release via Japan Probe]

The rumored MR2 Hybrid is said to be built around the Prius design, but would go 0-60 in under 7 seconds and come equipped with paddle shifters. Jalopnik thinks that the engine would be similar to the FT-HS's 3.5-liter, V6 Hybrized innards from a few of years ago. The price? Supposedly it's would only be around $24,000. I think I'm starting to get hot flashes. [Auto Express via Jalopnik]

It's a simple idea: You control car functions (like the stereo) with buttons on the wheel while the Tracer Display superimposes these buttons over your dashboard display. In other words, you can keep an eye on your speedometer instead of your wheel while searching for the one radio station not playing commercials.

And even though this display is a bit blurry in this shot, you can tell that the graphic overlay is really quite bright and sharp. Neat stuff...as if Prius owners needed another reason to be so smug. [KickingTires, Jalopnik]

This bump is attributed to their new lithium ion battery, which can store more power than the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries found in traditional Prius models. The testing is ongoing, and there is no word on when we might actually be able to purchase the plug-in, but this is definitely encouraging news for anyone sick of lining the pockets of big oil companies. [Automotive News-subscription]

As previously mentioned, the car also has a solar panel used in the roof used to ventilate the car while parked, reducing AC usage once in motion, and LED taillights and daytime running lights.

The fore mentioned Ford dash, here:

Full details of the new Prius are over at Jalopnik.
[NetCarShow via Jalopnik]

Nikkei explains that following their first operating loss in 70 years, Toyota wants to make an aggressive move in the market with a solar car. But to make it work with current solar efficiency, some of the car's energy comes from solar panels on the vehicle, but some of the energy also comes from solar panels on one's house. (Does that imply it'll plug in to the wall as well, sans solar?)

According to the report, Toyota also hopes to release a real 100% solar car (not needing the house part) in the future. And we hope so, just to watch all those haughty Prius owners be usurped. [AP via Jalopnik]

Call me crazy, but shouldn't car commercials advertise real features of a car rather than invented features? I get that they want you to think Toyota is thinking of the future, but clearly this isn't the real future. Why don't you focus on making a hydrogen engine that people can afford and leave the special effects to the pros, mmkay? [NotCot]

Energy It Takes To Build Prius
113,000 BTUs

113,000 BTUs In Gasoline
1,000 gallons

Distance Driven to Break Even For Build Cost
46,000 miles

Time Needed For Average Driver to Hit 46,000 Miles
Over 3 Years

Distance Driven to Break Even with 1998 Toyota Tercel*
100,000 miles

Time Needed For Average Driver to Hit 100,000 Miles
Over 7 Years

* or any car that gets 27 mpg city / 35 mpg highway
** distance/year ratios built on 13,500-mile yearly average [Wired]

The kit isn't cheap—it's $9995 with three-year warranty and installation—but it is slightly cheaper than the 2006 $10-$12k price of the EDrive (we haven't been able to find a more current price). Most of us probably wouldn't pay an extra $10k on top of the $20k or so you paid for a Prius in the first place, so you might want to sit tight for factory Plugin EVs in the next few years unless you really, really need to smell your own farts now. [Hymotion]

It's easy to say that this is not the market, but ultimately, these are the people who have to be sold before the tech becomes as desirable and mainstream as it is cutting-edge. One day, Toyota will bring us the Supra Hybrid, and not one of those numb-feeling sedans with electrics. I just want a diesel electric with gobs of power, 100mpg, and the lines of an Italian sports car. Is that so much to ask? [TopGear]

The $15,000 conversion packs in batteries twice as powerful as the stock ones, as well as the plug-in mechanism, allowing the car to roll along at 100 mpg. The 2009 prototype is using a similar setup while Toyota works out the kinks with Li-ion batteries, and the garage doing the conversion has been performing the voodoo for several years, so potential green road warriors needn't worry about horrible, battery-related deaths due to wishy-washy engineering. [SF Gate]

Jibing with a Boston Globe report that Toyota's having problems getting the Li-ion batteries ready, the car might launch as regular hybrid at first, making the jump to plug-in action after the Li-ion tech is good to go. The other possibility is that'll be a plug-in from the start, but with the NiMh pack initially before moving to Li-ion when it's ready. Still, the new, more aggressive EV mode which allows acceleration up to 50mph before jumping to gas is reason enough to want one. [Popular Mechanics]

The best part? What he told the judge.

I pleaded guilty, with an explanation. I said that I was really scientific, and in the last year had been in Athens, Moscow, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich (twice), Zurich, Canada (three times), Columbia, Singapore, Japan, London, etc., and had gotten used to kilometer speeds.

A California company called Solar Electric Vehicles can hook your Prius up with some sweet solar panels, increasing your gas mileage by 17% to 29%. It'll make your Prius, Highlander, Rav4 EV, Escape or Sprinter Hybrid even more of a hybrid, making you even more of a high-and-mighty environmentalist. Everybody wins! Or at least you do, and isn't that what really counts? –Adam Frucci

Product Page [via The Raw Feed]