2018 HyCam amateur review and ongoing blog

"The 2018 Camry Hybrid LE is equipped with a smaller and lighter 1.03 kWh Lithium-ion (Li-Ion) traction battery while the SE and XLE are equipped with a larger and heavier 1.59 kWh Ni-MH traction battery? I asked multiple people why the more expensive, smaller and lighter weight Li-Ion battery was included in the lowest cost LE with no good answer? The only other significant change between the LE vs. SE/XLE is the 16” steel wheels w/ P205/65R16 tires vs. the 18” alloys w/ P235/45R18s. 6 mpg combined difference with a wheel switch and a smaller cap Li-Ion? I cannot answer that question either?"

Sounds like the car would be very near flawless with the Li-Ion battery, premium interior accoutrements, and some 16" alloys.
Of course the frigging marketing department would never let anything of the sort happen...

Actually... that sounds like what the ES 300h should have been.

 

agreed, the should be an upscale version with the lighter wheels and battery. typical bogus toyota packaging nonsense.

 

How do you know it is more expensive?

 

For the LE I think Toyota Marketing was aiming to meet the EPA economy of the Prius Liftback.

 

The Li-ion was used to save weight by keeping the usable capacity of the different batteries nearly the same. Once you start adding weight in other areas, the battery weight savings might not be worth the cost.

The ICE LE and Canadian LE hybrid have 17 inch alloys. The lack of alloys on the US LE hybrid stands out in the class, but did Toyota have 16 inch ones on hand to work with the car.

Isn't the ES based on the Avalon? The Camry gets upgrades first.

NiMH is likely cheaper for Toyota. They also have a large investment in it, and like to squeeze all they can out of investments. That's why the Yaris still has a 4 speed automatic.

Yes, but I'd say Toyota USA since the Canadian LE didn't get the cheap wheels and has a lower rating.

 

Toyota is mostly sticking with NiMH for now including in the next gen Rav4 and even the new compact Lexus UX, Both are eAWD. both coming out around the end of this year. No Li option for either of those anywhere in the world.

I'll be seriously looking at both of those as a replacement for our other vehicle and will be comfortable with their having NiMH.

 

No issue with using NiMH. It might actually be better for colder climates.

Li-ion could improve efficiency by allowing a larger usable capacity in the same space a NiMH pack takes up. Toyota appears to be using it to get a lighter pack, which might only improve results on the tests.

 

You would not get the 52 combined with the Liftback either at 70 mph but I regularly keep mine above 55 mpg with highway travel.

 

Only the LE has a rating over 50mpg. Looking at just Camry hybrid on Fuelly will lump the XSE and XLE hybrids in with the LE. Those are are rated only in the mid 40's

 

That was a quote from the linked article. $/kwh the two chemistries are comparable, but lithium requires extra $$$ for both software and hardware because of different/extra cooling and safety requirements. Most puzzling is the choice to have the same car with both options... it's silly from a manufacturing standpoint.

Yep, but unfortunately marketing departments have beat out engineering departments for the past decade or so. Which is why we get gigantic "rims" instead of comfy, quiet tires

It has been since 2012, and that's why since 2012 it's been an absolutely awful car.

Before 2012 it was Camry-based and much better.

 

For what its worth, Toyota seems to have avoided some of the trickery that other manufacturers have been employing until very recently.

Especially for the lower-end makes like Chrysler, Mazda, Subaru etc, the EPA ratings have been far from realistic for nearly a decade.

They have figured out the EPA test down to a science, so they can do things like change the pedal response curve to get a better EPA number without actually physically changing anything about the vehicle.

This is most obvious in small, underpowered SUVs like the Crosstrek or the CX-whatever that Mazda is called. They have some model years where no physical changes were made but EPA ratings improved -- only difference was BS software tricks that basically make the pedal do nothing until you floor it. Great for EPA test, not great for surviving the end of the merging lane.

 

It is not silly from a user's standpoint. Toyota has said they expect the Prius Li-Ion batteries to have issues in cold climates. They have both options in the Liftback. With some modifications, the software should work in the HyCam too.

 

It's a 2018. Fuelly won't have year's worth of data. The Camrys tracked there have only been driven in winter.