Featured 2018 Camry hybrid to offer two different battery packs

interesting. i'll also be looking for the improved trunk space and (hopefully) bigger pass through. should we move this to the 2018 camry thread?

 

If the battery can fit under the rear seat, a full function trunk might be possible.

 

that would be amazing. i hope they don't screw it up like the prime. this tuna stuff sounds good until you apply it in practice.

 

The Prime is a PHEV with a much larger battery than the car was designed for, though. That's why it's in the cargo area, instead of under the seat as in the Gen 4 Liftback.

I see no reason why the Camry Hybrid, which isn't a PHEV, and explicitly has the battery under the seat, would have any cargo space compromises as a result. It'd be like the European-market Yaris Hybrid - the compromise you get is a smaller fuel tank on the hybrid version, rather than smaller cargo space.

 

the current hycam does not have the battery under the seat. the article states that the new one will, but is that official from toyota? the gen 4 battery was moved there due to the new rear end. we don't know what the camry chassis will look like. i'll believe it when i see it, hopeful though. maybe they'll make a plug in at the same time.

 

From the horse's mouth:

And, the Prius c and Yaris Hybrid had the battery under the rear seat, even though they have a torsion beam rear suspension. Conversely, the previous Camry Hybrids have had the battery in the trunk, even though they had an independent rear suspension (it does mean that the battery was likely higher, though, than in the Gen 1 through 3 Prius).

 

sure, but the back seat is up against the trunk. so, what does under the seat really mean? am i too skeptical? after all, toyota has never disappointed in the past.

 

Perhaps a thin seat pad like @Bill the Engineer is planning for the Firebrid. Where else do you think they got the idea?

Bill is doing this for his dog, not passengers though.

 

right, but i think someone is doing that, so i wouldn't put it past them. bolt maybe?

 

If it's anything like the Gen 4 (which, I mean, it's the same family of platforms as the Gen 4, so...), it'll be like this:



Note how the battery is above the front of the fuel tank.

 

yeah, i hope not. at my age lowering anything is a bad idea. but i understand they are looking for younger customers. just that, they have been trying for a good 15 years without success.

 

Well, they're lowering a lot of things in the Camry, as well, but that's beside the point.

Older people that don't want to sit lower aren't buying Camrys, they're buying RAV4s. For that matter, the entire mainstream is buying crossovers...

So, if they don't get a younger, more enthusiastic audience for the car, the model dies entirely, eventually. They've got a huge uphill battle to fight, though - just like the American brands have to fight preconceived notions of poor durability and reliability, Toyota has to fight preconceived notions of a boring, insulated driving experience.

 

They tried to appeal to the younger set with Scion. We all know how well that turned out.

 

The screw up will be for the Camry Prime.

It can be under or behind the rear seat. Toyota has improved the battery packaging, and fiddled with the fuel tank's, to make the pack small enough to fit under the rear seat instead of behind it like earlier hybrids.

Being a BEV, the Bolt doesn't have to fit a battery plus ICE support systems in the car.

It's more for aerodynamics.

 

i'm aerodynamic enough for both of us.

was it the volt? prime? someone made a thin seat back to improve room.

are you sure the repackaged hycam battery will fit under the seat? it's bigger than the prius battery.

 

Good for you. Pointy on one end?
I figured older people were more like the Goodyear blimp.

I know as an older person I battle to keep the weight down.

 

us blimps are very aerodynamic. check the wind tunnel data.

 

Very interesting. Finally hybrid becoming the Toyota vision of same car as hybrid.
Frustrating that we still do not get straight talk on performance advantages for Li batt, except keeps weight down so weight class reasons.

 

I'll believe it when they list the Hybrid vehicles along side non-Hybrid ones instead of in their own category.