Featured SPOTTED! *UNWRAPPED* 2016 Prius spotted this morning!

Have something else for these people, walking in parking lots? Texting While Walking - Casey Neistat

 

I think it would be really useful if it could be plugged in to 120v. It could use grid power to preheat on cold days and even a 2 mile ev range would be pretty useful to me.

 

i hope they don't lose the hvac buttons.

 

An engine block heater might be a lot simpler. You could have almost instant heat and will help fuel mileage. Two miles of EV range? The only thing I can suggest is I have seen a Prius with two HV batteries. That might help get to the two mile range. The batteries were stack up, so you could keep the spare in its place.

The other I saw at Autobeyours in Southern Indiana. Somehow they got a Leaf battery installed in a Prius. It was a custom installation but looked normal. It was being serviced when I went there looking for a wheel trim ring.

That would surely get you two miles or more of EV range. The gentleman who owned the Prius/Leaf Vehicle used it for "delivering" but didn't go into what he was "delivering". He did say he needed the EV miles to be as high as they could be; right. I will leave it at that.

 

I doubt it. Toyota is going to a simple HVAC control head that may work in almost all their vehicles. Have you noticed how many of them have Auto Air Conditioning? All could use it save for trucks and Avalon.

Avalon has those no touch buttons. So nice, all electric uses electricity or resistance of your finger to make it work. Truly you have to experience them to understand how they work.
Great engineering and it feels so good.

 

JTM2955 - Not addressing your comment, but it conjured up a question I have been wondering about.

I read that the new Tesla's battery will be external, and attached beneath the vehicle. Two quick pluses come to mind. 1) lower the center of gravity and 2) easily changed in case of defect.

But, isn't there a minus as well? I would think staying out of standing water would be essential. Even the Prius, is susceptible to wheel deep standing water.

Also, The heat radiating off the pavement on a hot day is tremendous. Might that aggravate the cooling of the battery?
On the other hand, bitter cold. Doesn't a battery loose potential in bitter cold? How has Tesla dealt with these?

I welcome anyones comment.

 

If I'm understanding your comment correctly, I believe the Tesla battery is already "external". Thats how they were able to create the "Battery Swap Stations" (which have since been canned). But if you check out YouTube, they had a live demo of a swap station changing a Model S battery in, IIRC, 2 minutes while the driver sat in the car.

Also, Tesla battery's have active thermal management (cooling/heating system). Although extreme heat/cold will still affect it, it is mitigated by an active system.

There's some chatter on the Tesla forums about driving through water, but from the sound of it, the water was deep enough where it would've hydrolocked an ICE anyway.. but no electrocution or anything (you definitely would've heard about that in the news if it happened).

 

there were some public fires after hitting the road debris which led to Tesla installing thicker plate under it... In any case, Prius has relatively small battery and it can be easily placed under the seats. Tesla has to do it under the car, which is good for driving but not that great for safety.

 

same with volt, yes?

 

Volt has a T shape battery pack going down the center where the transmission is on a RWD car, and beneath/behind the rear seats. It's why the fifth seat is lacking in the car.

Tesla S uses the flat, 'skateboard' configuration under the car. This spreads the weight out, and provides a low center of gravity for turning. It also is an easier place to do a swap from. The real issue for the S wasn't where the battery is, but that the car with the adjustable ride height had a low ground clearance at freeway speeds. Which isn't uncommon for a performance car; it reduces airflow underneath, and lowers the center of gravity, which provides better stability. When approaching a tall speed bump, the Corvette requires the driver to accelerate to get the car's nose to rise before hitting the bump, and then braking when halfway over the bump to get the rear end to lift up, or the middle of the car's bottom will scrape the bump. The low riding Teslas will be higher up at surface street speeds, and the driver can raise it higher for tall bumps or speed driveway ramps.

The debris the These Teslas hit would likely have ripped the oil pan of a low riding ICE sports car, along with other damage. A fire would be rare, but the fire on the Tselas was slow and controlled. The car warned the drivers to pull over and get out before they are at risk, and even then the fires never got to into the cabin before being put out.

I don't think the cars not equipped with the adjustable ride height were ever involved in the fires. The ones that do have it got a wifi update that raised the minimum height the suspension goes down too soon after the second incident. Then Tesla reinforced the front under armor. So now any road debris that could damage the battery is crushed, or a new pothole is born.

And by the way, the road debris the S's hit was among the likes of this.

The bar is a 2 inch square, and will cause serious damage, or an accident, in any car that has the misfortune to hit it the wrong way. Such happenings with an ICE car just aren't news worthy.

 

Do you mean the NHTSA fire?

 

If that is the case, The car had undergone some crash testing(possibly was flipped), and then sat for over a week without any clean up. Coolant had leaked into the pack, dried out, and cause a short.

In order to create any fire or sparking after that, the NHTSA had to crash test the battery, by itself, without a car surrounding it.

 

They were side impact crashes and the NHTSA didn't follow instructions about the battery prep before the cars were put in storage. The government being the government. The outcome was GM added a brace across the tunnel for extra impact protection on the early cars.

 

I thought this was a topic about the new Prius?

 

Someone brought up battery fires

 

Doesn't happen in Toyota's.

 

Wait'll we have a Mirai fire.

 

it started with post #826, i was asking about the external battery. troll bait answered.

 

This thread has naturally run its course. It's done. Wait until next week if you want to see wild & off-topic posting. Once details of the new Prius are revealed, the spin will begin.

Almost right away, someone will derail a discussion by trying to stir the pot with hydrogen and anti-EV propaganda. That undermining will be obvious. What will be harder to deal with will be the distortions. Prius has such an extensive history and there are so many poorly informed about the automotive industry, facts will get mixed up. Some of it will be mistakes. Some of it will be intentional. After all, it's difficult to remember when something happened, why it happened, and what was involved.

What's nice about the reveal of the car is it also reveals concerns of the competition. For example, we have already learned the radical new look is a key selling feature. If the stylish exterior lights catch on, there's nothing any competing ordinary-looking vehicles can do. It's a clear distinction Prius can exploit... an advantage Toyota is really hoping for.

Looking at things from the another perspective, ask yourself how long a technology can exist before those resistant to change finally give in? What benefit is there for not upgrading? This fourth-generation rollout represents having reached the point of mature. There is literally nothing left to prove. It reliably & affordably delivers low-emissions & high-efficiency. Toyota already offers 30 hybrid models around the world and has sold over 8 million.

The day after the reveal, I'll be celebrating my 15th anniversary since my first Prius purchase. I find it absolutely absurd that there is so much anti-hybrid nonsense to still have to deal with. What the heck?

We all know the draw of high-profit vehicles combined with low-cost gas continues to present a major barrier to overcome. But at this point, who in good conscience can still fight the effort to reduce emissions & consumption knowing how realistic of a next step hybrids are?

 

The only fire this week was this, if one wants to talk about car fire, here is your latest one:

Nissan LEAF Fire In Flower Mound, Texas

Back to topic!