Anyone waiting for PIP getting the "itch" to consider a Chevy Volt instead?

The Toyota Rav4EV had a hundred-mile range with NiMH. And they're still going. And that was over a decade ago.

How much more range does it need? And even if it's an "outdated technology" does that matter if it works correctly and economically? I always remember the Panasonic EC EV1260 lead-acid battery, a spectacular battery, but lead-acid isn't the latest and greatest. They said it was 80% of the NiMH at half the price. I could live with that.

 

ROFL b/c extra lead in the environment is so peachy.

 

It wouldn't get that range with the new epa testing, it was also had slow acceleration. Lithium has better acceleration from both lower weight and more kw for the same pack size. You could still build it with nimh, as long as you pay for those tradeoffs.

There are 4 dimensions - price, volume, weight, management. Lithium wins by a great deal with volume and weight. nimh is currently less expensive, but may not be in the future. Lithium needs a protection circuit but is easier to manage allowing for a higher tolerance for charging and slower discharge. 10 years from now I don't expect nimh to win in any of the 4 dimensions for phev or bev applications. Technology does march on so things may change.

 

Ohh, so it's maybe ten miles? Still uninspiring. If the car can't make my short, non-freeway work commute round trip, I'm not going to buy it. It's that simple.

The Volt would do it, but it's seeming more and more like an orphaned car, built by a company which I (for real or imagined reasons) just don't quite trust. So I'll just stick with my cheap, simple, fair to middlin' mpg Honda Fit.

 

I'd be lots more worried about how many gallons of gas my car carried if there were very few gas stations, and it took a few hours to refuel.

Right now I need an all-electric car (as my primary vehicle) with zero to 60 performance of about eight seconds or less, and 500 real world, worst case scenario, hard driven, heater and wipers and high beams on and stereo cranked miles of range. 500 miles of 'I'm not going to even think about driving frugally' range. It also needs to be able to sit in a freezing cold parking lot for up to three weeks and still be able to go at least 150 miles.

But, as those other parameters change, so too will my range requirements.

 

Why do you need the absolute of 100% no gas?

What's wrong with +100 MPG for daily driving, especially at so much lower of a MSRP than the larger capacity would cost?
.

 

Why in the world do you need 500 miles? I don't drive that far in my regular car between stops. Or would you be willing to stop and charge if it took 5-10 minutes? That is already possible with current technology (it just costs too much).

 

Natalie, the PiP is not an EV and should not be thought of as an EV. The PiP is a gas-electric hybrid (like the regular Prius) which burns a little less gas on short to middle distance trips by incorporating some grid power.

Think of it as just a higher-mpg Prius. In that context, it burns less gas and produces less pollution than your Honda.

Of course, buying a new car, when your old one still works, will never save you money. But you drive a gas car now, and the PiP is a mostly-gas car that burns less gas. That's all it is, and it does that very well.

As for a 500-mile range and the ability to sit unattended and not plugged in, in a freezing parking lot for three weeks, that's probably a long way off. Before we have that, we're likely to have a charging infrastructure, including plugs in parking lots, that will allow most people to get by. And with gas going up and up, it will become more economical to buy an EV when you need a new car.

 

Ummm, I guess instead of rolling on the floor you might want to do some research. My understanding is 97% is recycled. Anyway, the amount of lead on earth (in the environment) is pretty much a fixed number.

 

Yes lead acid is highly recycled, and the batteries as they are disposed of now may be less harmful than nimh through out their lifecycle. Advanced lead acid is used in many auto start stop applications. It has good power/capacity which makes it better than nimh for these applications. Gm has switched to li for this in the 2013 models to shave weight and increase power and life. In a pure EV that weight is important. We could have had a plug in years ago on lead acid A major advantage Lithium has over lead is longevity for a given power/weight.

 

i will answer that question when gas hit $10 a gallon and is still climbing

 

Dave you selling your prius? Let's face it, if you can eliminate 90% of gas use, that would be pretty good Let's not be completely religious on the issue. Some of the guys with volts have dropped usage that much. These phevs are far from perfect but they are a step in the right direction.

I think a more valid point would be that the prius phv uses too high a proportion of gasoline for your particular circumstances. For many it will use a great deal less gas then the car they are trading in.

 

You may be letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. And you may pass from this earth having never owned an EV. To each his own. You have a nice car, BTW.

 

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Etc
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4 Trillion dollars...wow. the initial budget for the EV Highway Project is 230 million. that works out to less than $10 per capita.

thankfully, States, local businesses and such have pitched in their own funds to support employees and local citizens to help drive electric. but then again, Big Oil, Big Coal and Big PUD's drive the decision making machine in this country.