Featured Toyota announces new hybrid battery: lower cost and higher performance

12 miles almost works for me. 25 miles and a heat pump would be almost perfect. so we need something for everyone, like gassers provide.

 

So we need to think of the oil companies too?

 

no, we need the variety of hybrids and plug ins that current gassers offer, and at similar prices

 

I've become a little more of a realist on hybrids and PHEV's. Aren't going to switch everyone over to BEV immediately. These half measures must be taken in the short term.

 

it's a shame that the journalist in that article failed to find out what the rate of charge will be for both The Escape & Prime RAV4. One really gets spoiled charging 2X as fast (or more) as the paltry 3.6 KW standard that - although it works, it sure aint fast.

I hear scuttlebutt that some states are considering minimum EV range in order to qualify for carpool solo stickers. 35 seems to be the magic number, which would kill the Prius Prime, unless they bump it up a few miles.
.

 

It would certainly be a killjoy for the Primes already on the road. But maybe they would be grandfathered?

 

Yup. I looked through Toyota Industries website. They make a lot of the stuff that goes into the new Prius and Prime. They make the rear inverter for the rear motors in the Prius AWD-e as well as the AC-DC charger that goes in our Prime as well as the new RAV4 Prime. They make all of the DC-DC converters for both cars, so I’m thinking the new battery will be Lithium based. They still have the same relationship with Panasonic with Primearth and I was thinking they may switch to Lithium at one site and NiMH at the other. Primearth still has the trademark for Hyper-Prime Nickel.


iPad ? Pro

 

Well the way Ca. has it now, the HOV stickers are good for 3-4 years.
So if you want to keep HOV stickers, you gotta trade in every 3-4 years for new Plug-In anyways.
Helps plug-in sales I guess, not sure how green that is as far as forcing new car purchases.

 

Probably helps a lot since the older used Primes will replace older gassers that people can finally afford.


iPad ? Pro

 

Perhaps that is the higher grade nickel used in my Gen 4.

 

I remember soon after the large format patents expired on NiMH, BASF announced that the chemistry still had potential to improve. If that is the case here, I don't see it being widely implemented unless the improvement means reducing the amount of nickel. Li-ion is simply cheaper. NiMH may still be cheaper for Toyota, because of past investments, but not for long.

 

I'm absolutely sure lithium now is less expensive for toyota today too. They need to make an investment though to transition and decide on the format and chemistry. WIth the world likely going into a global automotive recession (except for plug-ins) toyota may want to delay the investment.

 

Nickel remains an important part of LiON batteries. Although LI is an important charge carrier, NI is what keeps the charge.

Bob Wilson

 

If I had a nickel for every one of the "battery breakthrough", "better than Tesla's", "radical new technology", "solid state" announcements, I could afford a Tesla.

The one I like best is the 500 miles, recharge 1,000 times breakthrough. So I get a new battery every 3 years if I use it like my tablet and plug it in every night?

Like so many things, batteries are full of compromises and tradeoffs.

 

Any idea on the relative amounts of nickel used by Li-ion and NiMH?

Perhaps the cost issue is the other metals used in NiMH. "The anodes used in these cells are complex alloys containing many metals, such as an alloy of V, Ti, Zr, Ni, Cr, Co, and (!) Fe. The underlying chemistry of these alloys and reasons for superior performance are not clearly understood, and the compositions are determined by empirical testing methods."
Nickel Metal Hydride Chemistry Tutorial and FAQ from PowerStream
describes the chemical properties of nickel metal hydride (NiMH) secondary
cells

 

Sorry, I don't follow battery technology that deeply. Perhaps Wiki?

Bob Wilson

 

Was hoping the wee hours was hindering before, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What I have gleaned is that NiMH uses nickel in the anode and cathode, while it is just in the cathode of Li-ion, with the anode being carbon. So it is probably a safe bet that NiMH uses more nickel, even as more nickel is used to displace cobalt in Li-ion. Which would help lower Li-ion's cost, as cobalt is over twice the price of nickel. While NiMH makes use of cobalt and/or other novel metals.