HYBRID BATTERY DEVELOPMENT

Actually PHEV is now an available aftermarket option for the Toyota Prius. Goto

http://www.edrivesystems.com/

You'll definitely get between 100 to 200 mpg on your 40 to 50 mile commutes. HOWEVER, you need to be able to cough up $12,000 for this upgrade. I think you also lose your under the carpet luggage compartment to accomodate the additional batteries. The upgrade also replaces the standard NiMH batteries.

Then after you get past the $12,000 initial outlay you'll end up paying about $1 in electricity for a full charge. A full charge will take several hours as they currently don't offer some kind of rapid charge. So once you get past the $12,000 initial outlay then it is true that you spend much less to charge the battery and you'll have less of an environmental impact, even when considering that the power plant that is charging your battery is burning dirty coal.

I once talked with someone at the Clean Air Council who is in charge of lobbying for use of alternative cleaner modes of transportation. What they described was that although burning coal was dirty, in the end burning dirty coal to generate electricity for zero emission electric cars is better than conventional cars releasing into the air buring gasoline that comes from a oil delivery and oil refining process that heavily pollutes the environment.

Of course for the ultimate, you think about then putting on $2000 solar panels that Solatec sells on your Prius to help charge your $12,000 upgrade.

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/n...tstory?id=40320

I'd have to admit if I had a lot of money, I'd almost be tempted to do this just for the coolness factor.

However, it's currently way out of the league of economically justifiable. The big issue is getting the cost of the battery down. Now if they sold the PHEV option for just $2000, now it's very attractive because it's in the ball park of plunking down money for an aftermarket integrated Navigation system.

 

12.000 + + + ??

This tells me: WAIT until this is a std. option for the next gen Prius...

 

for an additional (estimated after production) $5000 will have a 50 mile range Prius. also, the battery charge cycle thing has most likely been solved. right now companies are more interested in protecting their investment than rushing a product to market.

a claim of 10,000 charges...cut that in half to 5.000. cut the range in half to 25 miles ....now we talking how far??... that would be the most likely waranteed period. and just as we expect our Prius to greatly outlast the warantee, i believe the new battery technology will do so too. mostly because like the Prius, human intervention (other than plugging it in) and therefore human decisions have been all but eliminated from the equation