I found the missing 4" (vertical) in the trunk. It is below the battery.

Did you know that the cover fits in the little charging space in the floor? I plan on keeping mine there when I need to remove it. Obviously there is little room for the cables but I am not going to public charge anyway.


iPhone ?

 

the good thing about keeping the tonneau cover closed all the time is that when a criminal see's it, he realizes, 'this guy isn't hiding anything valuable, cause he keeps this cover on all the time'.

 

Perhaps we should just arrest the guy wandering around weekly with the clip board making a tonneau cover survey? <grins>

I kinda suspect the criminals look for opportunity by checking the doors to see if the car is unlocked.

Bob Wilson

 

Currently I carry the cable to and from work every day. Plus, the cover doesn't fit in there very well.

I initially thought I'd leave it on, but it's not a well designed thing. It hangs down and flaps or sticks up too high. And I use the cargo area for large cargo so often that leaving it closed all the time isn't really an option. It impedes putting stuff in.

The cover in my 2004 was way better designed and I left it in the car almost all time time.

 

How much is that cable worth?

 

$400. And I keep it hidden in the slot where it goes.

 

Or just replace the spare tire pan in the rear with one that can fit the battery.

 

That's not a "just" thing, though - it changes the crash testing requirements, and likely increases cost significantly to redesign the rear floor stamping.

And, I don't think it was necessary, anyway - and I'd like the battery further forward and lower anyway for better handling.

 

Marketing, marketing, marketing. I'll wager they want you to see the bump in the trunk and think "bigger battery". Like a box of cereal that is half full, (lol, weight not contents scam) the box is more important than contents.

 

I disagree. If I was a customer and saw that there a lump of space taking up my trunk for a near-300-pound battery that makes the car go only 25 miles, I would think: "What's the point of all that dead weight if it's useless after 25 miles?" This was one of my reservations with the car for a half year before I bought mine.

 

~300 lbs / 6.3 lbs/gal ~= 47.6 gallons
47.6 gal * 54 mi/gal ~= 2,570 miles​

After 7,000 miles of which ~3,500 were EV, we still have the battery.

Bob Wilson

 

maybe they should increase it to six inches to sell more cars.

 

How do we know that the reason for putting the battery at this height isn't actually that the car is strongest here and to protect it best from damage in a rear end collision?

I know people like to complain about stuff, and it's easy to assume we know better then Toyota, and fashionable it seems in this thread to assume based on partial or incomplete information that they have made an unnecessary compromise, but I think they have the financial and intellectual resources to do this right, and that this has been done for a good reason. Benefit of the doubt to Toyota anyone?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I highly doubt that that height would improve crash performance - in fact, at a lower height, a vehicle's bumpers (especially in the US) may pass over the battery, avoiding damage in the first place. And, it'd bring more of the battery into protection by the unibody, rather than the hatch.

I really do think that this was a lazy conversion meant to reduce time to market and costs.

 

The leading theory seems to not be that the engineers were slouches, but that they were hampered by the shared platform with the hatchback. "Doing it right" possibly would have required extensive and difficult solutions such as liquid cooling and tricky battery shapes, or even a dedicated platform for the Prime, either of which would drive the costs way up. One of the big selling features of the Prime seems to be the price, so maybe from a marketing viewpoint Toyota made the right decision in terms of how many Primes will be sold. But the resulting compromise in cargo space is a somewhat unfortunate result.

 

i think john 1701 hit it on the head. toyota wanted to deliver prime in the net low 20's, and the battery was an obstacle they chose not to deal with due to the cost.
i can't give the benefit to toyota because anything can be done if gone about properly. added cost is something i would pay for with a flat hatch floor, but may not be something that would increase sales like low price.

 

Any comments on this topic from @PriusTeam?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I believe you meant to tag @Prius Team

 

don't count on it.

 

To help cool the battery, of course!!

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