Toyota's Own Plug-in Prius

EV World had a recent article confirming that Toyota has been testing its PHEVs for at least three years, longer than most have believed and that the diagnostic codes on recent Prius models have become more complex, making it more difficult to make aftermarket conversions to plug-ins. . . . here.

I am experimenting with a few very short posts, like this one, referring to posts on other sites with articles that should be of interest to visitors to my site. Let me know what you think about this.

Comments

[JD]

"Let me know what you think about this."

I dig it. You browse the web so we don't have to ;)

[JD]

WEAK!! Unfortunately, this probably says a lot more about how infeasible the Volt is. If Toyota can only roughly double the juice in the plugin prius without making it unafforable, that's definitely a bad sign for GM. One of three things is going on:

1. Toyota is stonewalling, and they actually want to see a 40mi Volt before they make a real effort
or
2. GM has some secret/magic way to make super batteries super cheap and Toyota is screwed
or
3. GM is going to release a $50k car that goes 40 miles which nobody will buy, letting them believe they were right all along to crush those EV1s back in the day

I'm leaning toward 3. Sigh.

[Greg Woulf]

GM seems pretty confident about the Volt. In a way they never did about the EV-1.

They've repeatedly stated the car will be under $30k. The manufacturing is in the union contract, the line is being built, there's no faking that. The first battery packs have been delivered and they're promising a prototype based on the malibu for space by 2008.

I don't think it's any secret that A123 is onto something. They've got batteries in tools, so it's not vaporware or handcrafted packs like altairnano.

Even if you went to Tesla's method of packing up standard Lith-ion you can get close to what the Volt is looking for. I think there's a good chance the Volt is the car we've been waiting for.

We should know by early to mid 2008.

[bigTom]

A doubling of battery capacity is not overwhelming. Hopefully it is only an interim solution until they are satisfied that LithionIon is cheap/reliable enough. A 7KM range by itself won't save much fuel, although I suspect more robust electric capability will improve milage in hybrid mode as well. With the current Prius you have to really nurse it in electric mode to get full benefit.

[GreenPlease]

I'm struggling with something here:

Toyota owns a big chunk of Subaru, right? Pretty sure Subaru is owned 50/50 between Toyota and Fuji Heavy.

So, Subaru has this newfangled fancy vanadium enhanced nanostructured LiIon battery (brilliant btw) and Toyota is sticking with a NiMh chemistry that Cobasys owns?

Said VLiIon didn't just pop up in a lab. Something like that had to have been in the pipeline for at least two years. What gives?

I get the feeling that making the Prius' drivetrain harder to hack is part of Toyota's agreement with Cobasys aka Chevron. Bastards.

[Zachary Stowasser]

I like this simple way of doing things, thanks for finding the goods!

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