Featured 2023 Prime review

Unfortunately, even info from Toyota is occasionally incorrect.
The only way to truly know would be to dismantle one, like professor Kelly often does in his videos

 

The gen5 increased battery capacity by about 50%, while not taking up space like the lower capacity gen 4 battery. It was achieved by a major break through in battery chemistry, maybe they are using solid state batteries here, or Toyota used the cooling system from the Rav4 Prime, and which is what Ford also does in the Escape PHEV.

 

LOL Solid-state cells? Really? There have been a lot of credible sightings of Elvis lately, too.

You apparently don't know about solid-state cells. They are a whole different ball game. They require pressure fixtures. They cannot simply be used in existing battery architectures.

Gen 5 is using 51-Ah Panasonic prismatic cells as opposed to Gen 4's 25-Ah Panasonic prismatic cells. Higher cell capacity and better cell design results in higher energy density, the former by reducing the amount of inactive materials. It is not a step change in performance, but it is an improvement.

As I said, the wordings in NCF regarding cooling are identical for Gen 4 and Gen 5. Nothing has changed with the battery system as far as I am aware. @Hammersmith has the Gen 5 NCF and can look at it and post pictures here.

 

I wonder which is the safer traction battery location between the two gens, including the gas tank. I always thought the g4 had it’s battery a little far back, also known as Pinto concerns. But it isn’t as far back as the exterior cover makes it look.

 

Gen 5 Prius HEV AWD and Gen 5 Prius Prime PHEV have the gasoline tank further back than Gen 4, which probably makes it less safe.

 

it may not be less safe if everything is designed properly

 

I was also concerned with the battery catching fire in an accident.

 

Gen 5 should be safer in that respect because the PHEV battery is no longer inside the trunk.

 

PHEVs neither need DC fast charging nor should have DC fast charging.

Any longer range and it would have to be a BEV.

According to the video, Consumer Reports people do not like PHEVs. They kept complaining that the HEV version can do the same thing if not better for a lot cheaper. Even more ironically, one of the reviewers said that the BEV range is more than sufficient for all his everyday driving, but since he is big on road trips, he would rather have the HEV version, as if the whole purpose of the Prius Prime isn't the BEV mode for everyday driving and the HEV mode for road trips. He made no sense whatsoever.

And there was a lot of nitpicking on ADAS acronyms and the learning curve for its settings, as if it is supposed to be a dumb functionality.

 

maybe - you should have been an engineer for the companies that DO add DCQC to their plugins. The Dodge plugin pickup (about to hit the market - with its 145 EV miles!) has it - as well as Mitsubishi's outlander comes to mind. Our volt's biggest disappointment (to us) is that we typically only get 60 EV miles before the ICE turns on. Fact is, the primary reason more manufacturers don't add DCQC & more range to their plugins - is because it COSTS more, & requires better thermal pack management. You can't simply blow cool air over a heated pack & expect it to last as long as a pack managed by liquid cooling.

What? - so you're saying that's some kind of a "law"? or? ... does decent ev plug-in range defy physics? course not.

and yet - plug-in owners graduated to longer ev range / plugins because they felt it was stupid just to be driving a hybrid gasser all the time when they didn't need to.
There in lies the confusion. CR often Muddies the water by injecting their own opinions as gospel. Their opinion of course differs from many. That's OK
..... that's why it's good to have a choices.
.

 

Other PHEVs do have fast DC charging in other markets. Ones that could have better public charging infrastructure.

The US has cheaper gas, and many that can afford a PHEV have access to regular slow charging. Why increase the car price in that case?

The Leaf and Bolt had DC charging as an option at first. As the feature has become standard for BEVs in time, it will become at least an option in time with PHEVs in the US.

 

It's not a law of course but practical considerations.

Gen 4 Prius Prime has DC fast charging (in Japan) and has the identical thermal management system as Gen 5 Prius Prime (with no liquid cooling). It is not because of cost but because Toyota wants the battery to last for fifteen years or more. Remember that since PHEVs have smaller batteries, they are harder on the batteries than BEVs. Moreover, there is no point in DC-fast-charging the Gen 5 Prius Prime battery every 25 miles (its high-speed BEV range) on a road trip, which would have ruined the battery very quickly anyway.

 

Mentioning this is quite revealing. Tesla's algorithm makes sure that whenever charging above 20kW - it logs it. Tesla (via OTA updates) back in 2018 changed parameters - Ie; hook up to any qc & (coupled w/ scores of additional qc's) you may shorten longevity ..... Ie larger expected capacity losses once owners are over 150k miles. But the thing is - people that qc charge nearly exclusively - are a minority w/in a minority of drivers - much less ev drivers.
In any event - CHAdeMO wattage is NOwhere near levels in the USA.
.

 

Toyota could be waiting to see how ChaoJi chargers expand in Japan before committing to having DC available on the gen5 and Rav4 Primes. It is CHAdeMO 3.0, but has a different plug.

 

Don't hold your breath on it.