2010, 2011 or wait?

make your decision for a 10 or 11 based on price. they are the same so whatever you are comfortible with. the only thing coming down the road officially is the plug in. no date or promise of a standard hybrid with li-on. all the best!
p.s., when i went to meet my in laws for the first time (35 years ago) their great dane put his head in my lap and i was unable to get up. they declared that i was a keeper!

 

Let's get one thing straight. Changing to lithium ion batteries will NOT give you 20 MPG more mileage. The only way to get that kind of mileage increase would be to somehow make the ICE massively more efficient and/or reduce the mass of the vehicle by a huge amount.

Keith

 

i spose it depends on how much energy they hold, how many they can fit, weight, etc.

 

2011 will have better resell value. 2010 will (should) be cheaper. Either way, can't really go wrong. I was fortunate to get mine in May since I got a tremendous deal with lots of cars to choose from. Took me the longest time choosing the car I eventually got.

 

there are essentially no differences between the 2010 and the 2011. The 2011 has some naming changes and another color option. the 2011 will be slightly more expensive. There won't be li-ion batteries in the 2011 it will be the same as the 2010. Li-ion batteries are only going to be in the PHV Prius for now, which is scheduled for late 2011/2012

 

Sounds like you are so excited to get it. Just get it. You'll probably won't save much by keep driving the truck.

 

The only way to increase mileage when switching to Li-Ion is to increase the capacity of the battery. Doubling the battery capacity easily doubles the EV distance. My record for EV is 3 miles from 7 bars to 2 bars. If the Prius came with 3KW battery I could easily go 4 miles on EV. Li-Ion batteries are lighter and smaller than NiMH. For the same size and weight as the current battery you could probably fit 2KW Li-Ion battery.

I know what you're thinking. stealth mode decreases mileage b/c when the battery's depleted the ICE would have to work much harder to run the MG1 to recharge the battery. The route I take, charging is most mostly done by regen. I can charge my 2 bar battery to 6 bars with regen in 3 stop lights from 45mph in less than 3 mles. I recently discovered a route near my house that has an overpass that allows me to regen down the overpass to get the battery to 7 bars. From there it's 3 miles of straight line residential street.
In my experience, regen recharges faster than ICE running MG1. If Toyota install a 3kw battery pack I think there will be an increase in mileage. Despite what many have said that ultimately all the energy came from the ICE. It's not true. Regen braking contributes a great deal of energy too. Having a bigger battery I believe will capture more regen energy. The Prius seem to like to keep the battery pack at 6 bars.
As for waiting for the Prius to come out with Li-Ion traction battery, don't hold your breath. I suspect that this will not happen until Gen IV. Go ahead and buy a 2010. Dealers are clearing them out to make room for the 2011. If you can get an 11 for the price of 10 then go for it.

 

If you're buying new I would say wait as you're going to be paying a high price anyways.

 

The kinetic energy that regen recaptures ultimately came from the engine.

The main efficiency advantage of a bigger battery would be the potential to continue recapturing energy in situations when the disc brakes would have been working because a standard Prius battery would have been full.