Prius c's battery should store 3x energy

I wouldn't mind a PiC...maybe turn it into a 2x2 seater, so as not to compromise the rear luggage area/crumple area and run the battery(s) under the rear seat as normal and along the middle aisle/console of the vehicle from front to rear? will probably be like a 5-7mile range? I guess it'll reinforce the "city" aspect of the car more for running short city/store errands with just EV.

 

Lithium batteries could be used like in the PiP, just use smaller ones. That would help out with some of the space issues. Even a Li battery the same size as our current one would add miles.

 

1. Are you gunning the gas during the "warm-up" period, when you first turn on the car? This is when the hybrid is still using almost all battery to propel the vehicle, so you're using a huge current draw from the battery, which isn't very efficient, so the battery depletes quick.

2. What accessories are you using? Beams, A/C, heat...?

3. Even at 8 bars, the battery is not at 100% capacity, it's more like at 80%. And at 2 bars, it's not at 25%, it's more like at 40%. The battery stays around 50%-60% charge to ensure that it has a long life.

4. The plug-in has a bigger battery...

 

If you getting 35 MPG in city, you are driving it wrong. You are likely taking a lot of conversion loss trying to drive with battery and regenning it back.

If you try to avoid using the battery, you will get much better MPG.

 

Two mile trips as he says is the bottom end of his range can certainly result in 35mpg.

 

a larger batt and plug in sounds great, however altho it sounds simple enough. I really think it is more complex, the batt charger must be just right or it will kill you batt. by the time you add that much cost you will not be happy with a batt that has a 3 mile range so the batt would be like 10 times the capacity to make it worth wile. the additional cost would make it about the same as the current plug in prius. It could be done but the market would be limited and most of the pic buyers would just come from the pip. also I think with a plug in you will be paying additional govt fees in the near future.

 

I'm sure Toyota tasked its engineers with certain design priorities and the Prius C is the result. Toyota probably made those design priorities based on market research, current technology and its associated costs, reliability factors, etc. The day is coming when battery powered car choices will be more prevalent. Costs and practicality perhaps preclude car manufactures from provided 3x the current C's battery power. We just have to be patient and as technological developments present themselves.

 

And probably require a cooling system and other engineering changes as well.
The higher price of the battery itself is not the ONLY reason that plugin hybrids are more expensive.

 

Why? The Nissan LEAF doesn't have a cooling system that is anything different from the PC. It's completely air cooled.

 

I just like the looks of the C better than the others. Seems to work fine on the highway too.

 

Does the LEAF use Li batteries ??

In any case, I bet that it IS considerably different......and that it has a much larger vent area and a bigger, stronger fan.....at the very least.

 

It does use Li batteries. The fan is actually smaller, it just has a vent channel running through the car for outside air. But that's part of the reason they have issues in the blazing state of Arizona.

 

If I were going to add a battery pack to a Prius, to make it a Plug-in, it would be the Prius v. Interior space will have to be compromised, and the v has more to spare than any other model.

I would discourage adding on a battery pack without the proper engineering. There are many factors regarding safety and performance that must be considered and accommodated in the design.

 

I don't see any post making highroller aware of the fact that regenerative braking energy is quite low and that a larger battery is not going to be of much help unless you routinely drive down long steep hills. Thus the extra cost and weight of the larger battery would wash out any potential fuel savings.

Since you cannot realistically change the size of your battery why not try driving more efficiently? Less emphasis on regen braking and more on coasting/gliding?

 

This is true... but... our electric motors can actually produce more power and torque than they currently do. They are limited because of the small size of the battery. So if we had a larger battery we would have more power to go up hills. As long as your entire route isn't up hill (at which point it wouldn't matter what size your battery is unless you had a full EV) you would be able to stay out of the gas longer and acquire some of the charge on the down hill/stops.
Our regen is limited due to the small size of our battery as well, iirc. So we would, potentially, receive more of a charge from braking with a larger battery.

 

And that would cost more money. So we're back to square one and the original idea behind the Prius c which is high efficiency and low cost.

 

I'm quite sure that the maximum deliverable current to the electric drive motors is also fully controlled. Therefore I don't think a larger battery would produce any difference in torque. I'm not even sure that a larger battery capacity would deliver much advantage, because it appears that the computer is sophisticated enough to calculate stored energy based on consumption and recharging rates. I'm sure the battery voltage is also monitored, but I doubt it's used as the only way to measure stored capacity. Therefore, a larger battery may not make any difference in range, because the computer is programmed only for the OEM battery, and may not recognize the difference.

 

Don't use EV driving so much. You're lowering your MPGs, because the engine has to run to refill the battery (which wastes gas).

 

I don't believe the Prius gas engine does much battery-charging. This would be the least-efficient way to use fuel. The battery is charged almost entirely from coasting and braking. In the case of the Plug-in Prius, some of that comes from plugging in.

 

And I believe that you are absolutely wrong. Have you ever watched your battery gauge over long periods of time? Maybe the PiP works a little differently but my c definitely gets most of it's charge while the ICE is running.