odds on replacing NiMH with Li-ion?

The part about NiMH not being recyclable is pure BS. Toyota has designed the complete battery assembly to be recyclable including the plastic case(s). They offer a bounty on each one to make sure they get returned to Toyota to be recycled.

 

Even if it is available right now today at the same price, I would not buy it.

First, what are you going to do with the perfectly fine battery you have now.

Second, there is no guarantee anything will work in the long run except for proven technology. The battery you have now will probably last 10 years because the ones previously made has lasted so much. So why not go with the safer choice?

Third. Even assuming the car can handle Li. I probably can't tell when I am driving. So the only gain is some trunk space?

 

Sometimes a survey question leaves you with no choice but to pick the least wrong answer:

Most wrong - "A 3rd party will and when they do, the mod' forum will be bussiner than a fat kid in a cake shop

To meet the environmental and performance requirements, the "3rd party" would need extensive access to Toyota proprietary engineering data. This is not going to happen ... not today ... not tomorrow.

It it were going to happen, it would need to be for Prius beyond any possible Toyota warranty. In the USA, it would be the NHW11. Overseas, some of the NHW10s would be ideal candidates. But again, this is in the area of reverse engineering and there isn't a lot of money to be made in that area.

Just wrong - ""Nope, Looks like its time to get a new car?" xo -Toyota"

If you really want to own a LiON battery in a car, replace your 12 VDC battery. The only LiON battery cars commercially available are in the $75,000-$100,000 range with significant wait times. Sorry, but very few people have that kind of money to spend on a car just because the battery chemistry is different.

Least wrong - "Yes, toyota cares enough to help us all out!"

Well Toyota wants to sell affordable hybrids and today that is using an NiMH battery. In the future, there may be LiON or for that matter "unobtanium-air" batteries. I really don't know nor does anyone answering this question. It really depends upon the price-performance of these beasties and that remains a moving target.

So "toyota cares" simply means they want customers and will use what their engineers decide is the best price-performance battery system. If someone insists on LiON, read the "Just Wrong" answer and bring big bags of cash.

Bob Wilson

 

The Li-ion is not the battery chemistry that might replace NiMh,
but the LiFePO4 (apparently much safer, longer life) is what we should be comparing.

The usable battery capacity in the Prius 2010 hybrid is "tiny" compared to
what an EV would need (maybe 20kWh, or 40x bigger).
A Plug-in Hybrid would need something in between the 0.5 kWh of the 2010 Prius
and the (approximate) 20 kWh of a typical EV.

So, it is not clear that NiMh will be in the P-Prius (Plug-in).
Toyota seems to have a lot of experience with this type of battery, so
they will probably "push" it into service in their first P-Hrbrid (PHEV).

But soon, the Lithiun Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) chemistry will likely appear in other "EV" makes.

The big challenge (with any battery chemistry) is avoiding over-discharging
and over-charging of the individual cells in the vehicle's battery pack.

 

Careful. There will a right product and customer for different types of batteries.

That said, I will answer the poll above with my vote : "No"

Doug Coleman
Prius Product Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA