I found the missing 4" (vertical) in the trunk. It is below the battery.

Airflow for the battery?

Prius drivers moving on from robbing banks to running cocaine?

 

Looks like enough space for a doughnut spare.

 

Maybe a spare that's not inflated, similar to porsche and some mercedes, and a air pump?

 

To get to the spare you need to remove the hybrid battery?

 

Darn tootin' it would be slim, lol. But, it would be capable of storing donuts.

 

I think that's the most likely explanation. Perhaps they erred on the side of caution but I'm sure the last thing they wanted is heat related battery problems. But it does indicate an opportunity in future models for them to find other ways to sufficiently ventilate the battery without using as much space. Seems like they would want the vent space on top though, but there may have been other factors making that not possible, thus the oversized space beneath the battery.

 

Maybe concerns about water getting in too.

 

How did you access the space?

Remove a seat bottom or the rear, center console?

Bob Wilson

 

Is this real? I always knew that Toyota really screwed up the packaging in this car but I never imagined it would be so dramatic. Wow.

I especially love the styrofoam stand keeping the battery propped up. My kudos to Toyota. It looks like they spent all their money on designing the hideous rear end.

 

I am always reluctant to second guess the engineers. Rapid charging 6kw or so is going to generate a lot of heat. I find it difficult to believe that Toyota doesn't know about this space, which means it is there for a purpose.

 

Is it because the battery is box shaped rather than contoured to the shape of the space. Looks like it goes higher and round at the far end.


iPhone ?

 

Is this picture looking forward or backward?

 

Here's a picture of the battery I posted a while ago in another thread.
Prime vs. Hyundai Ioniq | Page 11 | PriusChat

Prime Battery by ct89 posted Aug 17, 2017 at 1:40 AM

Not sure whether it would be easier to redesign the car to fit the battery or the battery to fit the car.
The ventilation appears to be in/out of the box and it's not clear they are relying on any air gaps under the battery for anything. It's just a really big square peg and not so square a hole.

The picture earlier in this thread is looking from the back forward,

 

This cutaway seems to show the front of the battery bolted to the frame/body.

 

Looks like a great place to add a couple more kWh of battery capacity.

Bob Wilson