Which battery will you choose

For any number of reasons, my hunch is they won't offer two battery technologies. Could be wrong...

Something this fundemental is going to bog down a few buyers, judging from opinions.

Personally, think I'd prefer toyota to decide this, by unifying the battery types. If I was in the market, and had to choose, think I'd go for the older battery type, save money and let someone else beta test.

Chances are though: the battery type will be bundled with option packs.

 

Choice it's a common strategy for phasing in & out, especially good when volume is high and spans many markets.

 

There were similar rumors surrounding the Gen III at the time. A lot of web sites reported that the new Gen III Prius was going to have LiIon batteries. Well we all know now this didn't turn out to be entirely accurate. And they'll stick with NiMH for Gen IV. If you want a plug-in you'll get the LiIon or visa versa if you want LiIon you'll get a Plug-In. Lexus already has come out with their statements that they are sticking with NiMH. Toyota is trying to, quite literally, make the "hybrid premium" disappear by offering across every line they make. Now they have a SUV format (Highlander Hybrid) , large format (Camry and Avalon Hybrid and yes the new FCV), medium format (Prius) and a small format (Prius C) HSD. This may blur a little with the offer of AWD but not much.

The Plug-In Prius was an outlier IMO but an important one. It let Toyota judge a Plug-In acceptance as well as gather real world data without too much of a risk. I believe they'll offer new Plug-Ins either as new car models or on current models but probably not more than 3 models. Any new Plug-Ins have to meet their design goals (3 hour charge at 120V and 1.5 hours at 240V).

 

There is a Gen3 Prius with Li-x. It is the 7-seater Prius v(agon) in Europe.
I think (and hope) that Toyota will use the technology that makes the most engineering sense. Screw marketing hype

 

If Toyota sticks with NiMH - it better be a couple $1000 cheaper since they already touted everyting else was cheaper...Hopefully a NiMH Liftback Prius will start at $17k base version

 

Given the choice between NiMH and cobalt based lithium ion I will go NiMH. Its proven, cheaper, safer, and more easily recycled. Its hard to make this calculus without the numbers, we'll have to wait and see. Wave a lithium titanate system at me and might get excited.

Don't forget the patent strangle hold on NiMH is ending this year (thanks GM and Chevron). We could see better, bigger, and cheaper cells.

 

Interesting article on greencarreports that discusses this very thing. It doesn't really add anything new that hasn't already been discussed here, but at least it's being shown in other places as well.

I just hope if they go with different batteries, the prices justify the costs for those cars. A base prius with a NiMH battery should sell for $21k or less if Toyota wants to attract more mainstream audiences. And no, not everyone wants a Prius c. And still crossing my fingers that they sell the next gen PiP nationwide, or else my money is going to another plug-in vehicle.

Should Plug-Ins And Hybrids Offer A Range Of Battery Sizes?

 

Side note: I saw a billboard advertising Cs for around $17k in southern California last Thursday. I agree the base price of the Prius proper should be no higher than $21k.

 

Wow. Heck of a deal

 

It's been a while since I've compared the differences, but I'm guessing it's for the One (My Two was $20k+). In hindsight, the billboard may have listed them for $17,888 (so a roundup is more appropriate but could have easily been for $16,888), but what's <$1k give or take?

 

There is a $17k camry, it's advertised in the paper this week. New 2014 LE model. Down from $23k.

How do you think they sell 450k units of these things?

 

But they've been touting a cheaper Prius to the consumers themselves. Or, more like a cheaper platform to build to be cheaper to the consumers. For higher profits that would be extremely lame...And I'm sure Toyota would get a lot of backlash and perhaps lose some consumers.

GM promises the same thing, a cheaper Volt. Don't forget they've already cheapened it quite a bit. Meanwhile, for Prius, it went up a couple hundred in the past 5 years or so? Volt went down what, $5k or so? Ok, the PiP went down $2k...but still not enough to compete IMHO

 

There is a vast difference between a dealer special and the MSRP of a vehicle.

If you think that Toyota will shoot themselves in the foot by offering a liftback cheaper than the C, you're dreaming.

Unless you're going to be even more delusional and think that the C's new MSRP will be less than $15k.

 

Nothing stopping large format NiMH now that the patents are expired. Bigger cells means fewer cells fewer interconnections and a simpler battery assembly. This could translate into cheaper batteries. Maybe we even get to cell level management which means the cells don't have to be factory matched. That has to cost something.

I'm guessing gen 4 cells won't fit other gen batteries.