Shocking title? (I thought this would be a nice change from the brake issue). I read the following article: Why the 2010 Toyota Prius Doesn't Have a Lithium-Ion Battery - Green Car Reports They say: Comments?
Here's my favorite - the author truly reaches the ideals of good journalism: Using something which works well is a "stumble"? That would imply that every company still using internal-combustion engines is "stumbling"...
Can someone explain what the point of plugging in this car is? Aside from an engine block heater why? Ok, so that battery is charged when you start the car but what will that get you, especially when the car charges the battery itself?
Look at it the other way, if it takes 10 miles to recharge the HV Battery for 1 mile of EV, then 13 miles of EV would take 130 miles to recharge. The Plug-in can eliminate that 130 mile mileage hit, boosting your MPG. This would help that class of owner who often need less than a 13 mile range and can use their car as an electric vehicle normally, yet sill have a Prius when they needed to go over 13 miles. (I rarely wish to drive my Prius less than 50 miles each way, so I am not a target customer)
That makes sense. It explains why the plug-in pack is so heavy and of such low capacity. The good news is the Nimh works well on the prius. Let's hope that some of them Korean Batries in the Volt, or the JCI-Saft Lion work out better. Panasonic EV may really need the Sanyo techonology too.
Irony is that according to the specs in the Toyota NCF, the plug-in LiIon battery pack has a lower Amp-hour capacity (3 hour capacity - 5Ah) than the NiMH (3 hour capacity - 6.5Ah), but makes up for it with higher voltage (345v vs. 201.6v).
I think you misunderstood the point. The current PHV Prius being tested now is using the obsolete expensive pack. When the "tri-metal" battery is ready for production in 2012, PHV Prius will be available for consumer. This explains the shocking cost of the current PHV Prius. We'll have to see how much cheaper the "tri-metal" battery pack will be.... especially compared to NiMH. 2012 is also when the more affordable smaller Prius will become available. I hope it will use tri-metal lithium battery.
It is true that the article can be interpreted that way. If that's the case, it means when the plug-in prius is available next year, the tri-metal battery will not have been tested as much as the one in the current PHV Prius. It may also mean that in the current demonstration program, they are collecting data related with user's habbits rather than with battery durability. They can then presumably use the data in their sumulations to test the tri-metal battery in their lab, simulating real world usage.
