6 mile (10 km) Lithium Ion battery in Non-Plug-in?

what do they mean, 'thereafter'?

 

Without an outside plug, you'll use gas or regen to charge it, right?

Many times I drive around with a full battery and wished it had more capacity.

 

can't really understand it based on the first 3 gen's. maybe the engineers had some kind of breakthrough.

i could see slightly more capacity being useful, but not on the epa test as part of the increased mpg's.

it might help some people, buy i have never seen my battery full often enough to make it worthwhile.
certainly not 6 miles. i don't see how the car could recharge the battery the much and that often. but who knows? maybe that's why they are being so cagey.

 

Well they said that new Prius would challenge everything we know about hybrids!

 

I would be surprised if a Prius designed to charge NiMH technology was correctly programmed to charge LIon. They have very different needs.

 

Just watched an Audi A3 e tron review: using gas to recharge the battery is: < 30 mpg. Audi A3 e-tron review 2015 | TELEGRAPH CARS - YouTube

 

not sure what you mean here, isn't the gen IV going to have li-on option?

 

It appears from the "reveal" that there are two options for the "traction battery". If I were designing it, I would put some kind of "switch" in the inverter/charger so only one part would work with both options, but it may be better to have -two different- inverters.
We haven't seen yet how they are going to equip each option package. We have seen that some cars will have no spare, with just foam energy absorbent pieces in place of the spare.
It seems to me that video indicates that the lithium battery will have perhaps twice the capacity of the NiMH one. Lithium batteries do charge more efficiently, so the old "50% loss" calculation probably doesn't apply. Perhaps it will be a "30% loss" when using the battery in "EV" mode. Just a guess, of course. Also, it may be the lithium battery won't get as hot under use, as that is a major limiting factor with the current Prius.

I question how useful it will be, having to use fuel to recharge the battery, but I'm sure some of you will find it useful.

Something it keep in mind however, re charging. I had to buy a new battery for my "Roomba". It uses a 3 A-Hr 12 cell NiMH battery. I got one, but while searching also found a lithium one that is supposedly "drop in". It may be that the lithium works just fine with a NiMH charger.

 

still not sure what that means, after warm up?

 

I couldn't get it. I heard aluminum and carbon (fiber) presumably weight reduction ideas.

The red prius was looking pretty to me except the ninja wheels/hub caps.

 

I suppose you've never driven in mountains.

Increased capacity could also mean higher battery voltage, and as a result higher recovery rate if the current kept the same. The direct implications of this would be that what now is used by friction brakes would be recoverable, and higher draw could allow more powerful electric motors and further reduction and optimization of ICE.

 

Remember, 6 miles of EV range is approaching the Prius PHV's, and it has a 4.4kWh Li-ion pack that takes up the under floor space in the rear.

Li-ion with larger capacity can increase the amount recovered from braking, and deliver more power for acceleration, but even if it can go 6 miles on EV, that will be inefficient. At the end of pushing the EV button and driving those 6 miles, all the energy to replenish the pack will come from the ICE and gasoline.

 

It really depends on what they do with it, and if what they've done will have any impact on EPA numbers.

As an example I have ~1.5mi stroll through neighborhood, which improves MPG reading on the way home. If EV was available I could have avoided needlessly running ICE until reaching open highway. Total improvement of MPG would have been worth 1-2 MPG.