Toyota's Prius Prime is a plug-in hybrid car that is a total remake of the fourth-gen Prius. Major alterations to the new green car include different front and rear ends, and major changes to the auto's powertrain. Toyota engineers reviewed feedback and research from Prius customers such as blog posts to learn about their biggest complaints.  

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Nathan Kokes is Toyota's brand manager for advanced technology vehicles. He told AutoblogGreen that the company's engineers reviewed various sources of feedback during the past couple of years.      

They focused on making changes to the first-gen Prius Plug In since Prime evolved from it, by reviewing blog posts, focus groups, and customer research.

Researchers also studied how people used the vehicles in their day-to-day lives. Some customers drove the green car for 11 miles (17.7 kilometers) to work, charged it up, then drove back home after clocking out.  

However, other customers wanted a new Prius model with a bigger range but also high miles per gallon (mpg). Toyota hopes Prime will at least match the fuel efficiency of the fourth-gen Prius Liftback that has a 52 combined mpg.  

Kokes shares that the Toyota engineers did not want to add a big battery to the plug-in hybrid yet also sacrifice the vehicle's hybrid mpg.

He argues that people should focus on the automobile's MPGe figure that is 120 for the Prius Prime. The company avoided adding a big battery that takes up all the auto's storage space, according to AutoBlog.

The Prime's top all-electric speed is 84 mph. This is a big improvement from the first-gen Prius Plug In that could only reach 62 mph, which required drivers to burn some gas when rolling down highways.

Toyota' new Prius gets extra power from the two electric motors and 1-way clutch to nearly double the electric power that gets to the wheels. This allows the vehicle to default into electric vehicle (EV) mode.    

Meanwhile, Tesla will unveil its Model 3 with a target market of middle-class drivers at its Design Studio on March 31, according to Yahoo. The EV will have a price tag of $35,000 which is half the cost of the company's flagship Model S. Tesla hopes to sell half a million electric cars by 2020.