Hi all, New member! Just bought a new 2022 Gen 4 Prius, and I understand it comes with LiON batteries instead of the tried and true NiMH. Are there any indications of how reliable this change will be considering the cooling mechanism on Prius isn't as sophisticated as, say, a Tesla ( where i believe the car continues to circulate coolant through the batteries even after the car has stopped). I live in a hot, humid climate (Texas), so I'm worried, despite the 10 year warranty, the battery isn't going to be as reliable as the older designs. Any thoughts on this or any data that suggests otherwise?
all we have is experience. toyota has been using lithium in n/a for 10 years without issue, and longer overseas. i can't think of any cause for worry. if you are planning on keeping the car for 20 years or half a million miles, you probably won't know until you get there, but new batteries are getting less and less expensive as time goes by. congrats and all the best!
If I’m remembering correctly, Toyota changed to Lithium battery chemistry with the 4th generation Prius, which has not been released for 10 years at this point. So we can’t say for sure with actual data or user experiences from Prii with lithium batteries. However, we can probably make the assumption that since lithium battery chemistry can be adjusted to prioritize charge capacity, charge/discharge speed, or longevity, then Toyota likely tuned the cells in the 4th gen Prius to roughly match characteristics of cells from previous generation Prii.
Tesla only continues battery cooling after a charge if the state of charge is over 90% and the ambient temperature is high - the Prius never charges to that level. However, I haven't seen much information on how Toyota manages the LiIon battery even in the published SAE paper. I was surprised the LiIon battery is so much smaller than the NiMh - 750Wh vs ~1300Wh. I haven't noticed any significant change in my 2017 Prius. kevin
Technically, a plug-in’s Li-Ion battery will be built differently than a regular hybrid. Ideally, it’s better to compare it with the Prius+ or Prius Alpha with Li-Ion. But yes it’s been about 10 years with those cars. For the US, it’s been 5 years with the current gen Li-Ion.
I wouldn't worry at all. Drive it, enjoy it. It's a TOYOTA, and they don't do things on a whim. As mentioned above, the PRIUS v has been Li-ION for nearly 10 years. But then - NiMH has been tested for much longer still - but it has its disadvantages - like greater mass and volume.
kaizen theory per toyota's extreme version 2016 prius with hiccups , toyota was ready & dived in & made the engineering changes. 2017 fabulous! li-on batteries are inherently more unstable within certain ranges & with the cars software it calculates the low side & high to keep the battery system stable the battery itself vs the 3rd gen drops weight by 1/2 or more including size the engine I think is completely beltless now & with the water pump having been electric operated for back to the 3rd gen already keep the filters to the battery packs ultra maintained=xtra long battery usage amen(surely)ha
