Toyota: Plug-in hybrids need ‘better batteries’

Toyota doesn’t expect plug-in hybrid cars to be a huge success until battery performance doubles. The Japanese auto maker doesn’t even see a significant market that would purchase a plug-in hybrid as of yet.

Plug-in hybrids will take off “when we have better batteries,” Yoshitaka Asakura, a manager in Toyota’s hybrid vehicle system engineering division told Automotive News. When batteries offer “two times the energy storage capacity in the same space, then we can see plug-in hybrids,” he says.

If the current Prius were to become a plug-in hybrid that could go at least 37 miles on battery power alone, it would require 12...
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Will_ - 7/23/2007 11:05:22 AM

+2 Boost

People complain about the usage of batteries in current hybrids, well, you heard it from the horse's mouth: plugin hybrids require too many batteries at the moment.

Catsmeow - 7/23/2007 11:06:50 AM

+1 Boost

It's gonna create such a lag in people's minds to shift over to this trend- people are lazy and impatient

Will_ - 7/23/2007 11:36:30 AM

+2 Boost

Let alone the 1.5-inch pole currently attached to your crotch.

Will_ - 7/23/2007 12:25:01 PM

+3 Boost

Bobbie constantly making "gay" jokes is just his own insecurity shining through. Don't worry about what your parents said to you, it's okay to be a homosexual, you can stop shock therapy now.

SupraNeverBack - 7/23/2007 12:23:15 PM

-1 Boost

Of course it is unrealistic to use the current NiMH battery in plug in hybrids because it only has energy density of 46Wh/kg. Prius battery pack weights 28kg, 28kgx46Wh/kg=1.2kWh.

12*1.2kWh = 14.4 kWh for 40miles plug-in range
Li-ion batteries have energy density of 3~6 times of Prius' NiMH battery, which means for 14.4kWh will need
a Li-ion battery pack of 112kg~56kg (247lbs~123lbs). I think that a plug-in Prius with 30+miles range is very doable if the cost allows

SupraNeverBack - 7/23/2007 12:35:09 PM

-1 Boost

10 cents per kWh for 3+miles = ~3cents per miles

The current Prius 50mpg

=>using plug in hybrid is roughly equivalent to 50 cents per gallon depending on the regional prices of electricity.

If you are driving a 25mpg car, you will have ~25 cents per gallon. :)

SupraNeverBack - 7/23/2007 12:47:36 PM

0 Boost

The impacts of plug-in hybrids are unforeseeable on auto industry, energy industry...

XYZZ - 7/24/2007 1:37:41 AM

0 Boost

recall the movie, "Who Killed the Electric Car"?

if you are correct, it's true the impact of a car that costs only 3 cents/mile to operate will be ASTOUNDING!!!

good thing toyota is based in Japan. if the engineers on this project were based here, the Big Oilys would probably put out contracts on them!

hybridfarce - 7/23/2007 1:02:43 PM

+2 Boost

Supra,

Good info! Lithium composition batteries definitely look poised to make plug-in hybrids (and pure battery cars) feasible/affordable in the near future (less than 5 years). Some of these new compositions are out now in small capacities (for consumer electronics), and "large format" capacities for vehicles are in testing now. 150+ Wh/kg is available now (but very expensive).

XYZZ - 7/24/2007 1:28:42 AM

0 Boost

...

EnnNorak - 7/24/2007 12:36:52 PM

+1 Boost

I'll opt for the diesel, better batteries or not. I believe the next episode of Autoline Detroit will feature an interview with a lithium-ion battery guru.