Toyota’s made a hybrid boat!

Think hybrid, and which car comes to mind? Given it was first to bring the technology to the mainstream, there’s a good chance it’s the Toyota Prius.

So perhaps it’s only right that trials of a hybrid boat are underway courtesy of Toyota. They’re calling it the PONAM-28V. We think it should be called the Prius Sea.

It’s described as Japan’s first hybrid leisure craft, and it follows a couple of other, larger boats, with similarly dull names. The 28V, though, will be in use along the Tokyo waterfront during the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games.

“Toyota will loan the hybrid PONAM-28V model to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government with no charge,” a company statement reads. We presume they’re talking about money, otherwise it’s a slightly inconvenient gesture to make.

All joking aside, the spec on the 28V is pretty good, and more exciting than Toyota’s road-going hybrids. It uses a 3.0-litre engine with 256bhp (more than a Golf GTI), twinned with an electric motor that produces 258lb ft of torque (the same as a Golf GTI). Combine the two and there is much power aboard the good ship Prius Sea, then. Two GTIs, effectively.

Like all decent hybrids, it has an EV-only, zero emissions mode, presumably for short distances at low speed. The Tokyo government chaps will supply Toyota with data once they’ve used the boat, to aid in its development.

All sounds good. Just one thing: don’t electricity and water, y’know, not mix? We presume they’ve kept that in mind…