I was wondering if a 500V circuit and a 200V battery were dangerous in case of accident, when driving a Prius? A friend of mine said it could blow up!!! :roll:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(capc\";p=\"44229)</div> It's not a bomb, it's a battery. If a spark jumped to spilled gas that might explode. In theory, yes, those voltages can cause harm. But there are redundant safety systems built in to the Prius to reduce risk of injury to passengers and rescuers. All high voltage cables are bright orange. There automatic shut offs that occur in case of accident. Your friend is ilinformed.
If you do ever have an accident, it would be a good idea to power down the car - if possible. This would cut the voltage supply to the electric motors, greatly reducing the risk of shock.
voltage isnt what kills you. its the amperage.. walking across a carpet with only socks you build up static electricity (meaning electricy that is not moving) you pick up electrons. when you touch your best friend lip and dischare you just put 10,000 to 50,000 volts into there body with only a very small .001 amp but enough to get you popped. usualy high votage carries high amperage but not always. i use to have a chart that showed what different amperages did to the body and i think it was like 3 amps will kill you but might be wrong on that it might be a little lower.
if it makes you feel any better Toyota is spending Millions of dollars in the U.S. to train firefighters how to extract people from their hybrids. I think firefighters were getting hurt in the past from using the jaws of life to extract people and getting ahold of the hot wires. yea they are dangerous from a certain point of view ....but so it having a sheet of glass in front of your face doing 75 mph P the battery itself is i think 56 indivual cells (correct me if i am wrong on that)and each can be replaced individualy but is not done at your Toyota dealer but a district office. i have heard of some small battery issues and it does get hot hence the cooing fans to keep it cool. i am unaware of any of the Toyota hybrid batterys having an exploding issue. the battery does have a service plug that you can remove to shut down the hybrid
Go to http://techinfo.toyota.com/ and check out "Emergency Resopnder Information." This is a free download area where you can get Toyota's documentation for first responders. I checked with my fire station and found that they did not have Prius information, so I printed it and took if over.
