Hybrid Cars - Electrocution Danger question

Doubtful as the jaws are used on the upper part of the car and the high voltage wires are underneath. I do know that the battery has potassium hydroxide and the neutralizing solution is boric acid. That may be more of a concern for the Hazmat crew (although the HV battery under the back seat isn't that large).

B~

It is just another hazard that the responding authorities need to be aware of and be trained to deal with. It seems to me that is a much less hazard than leaking gasoline would be. I am sure the rescuers know not to cut through a gas tank or gas line with the jaws of life, and likewise, know where not to cut on an electric vehicle.

Those same people have to deal with electrical and natural gas hazards when working on home that has collapsed or is on fire.

Merritt

Supposedly, from what a friend who is a fireman has told me, there have already been a couple of deaths of first responders in Prius accidents. This was a couple years ago, and very shortly after there were procedures devised by FR groups and Toyta in dealing with a Prius wreck.

I understand the battery voltage on a 2005 Prius is over 500 volts. That will be enough to do almost anything if there is water around. It might be worth a second thought when shopping for a fuel efficient car.

Chuck

268 Volts from a bank of cells that is about 1 ydX7 inches. But at a pretty high current; I don't know what the current rating is.

Same as a "D" cell I believe (what - couple of amps?)

Yeah, but there are about 120 of them ganged together.

All I know for sure, when the Prius Ace in the shop works on them, he wears the same kind of protection as the guys working high-tension transmission lines; a pair of cloth gloves, covered with a pair of rubber gloves, and then another pair of canvas gloves over that.

Seems like an awful lot of a couple amps...

I read somewhere that high voltage wires are marked bright yellow so that it is obvious to someone cutting through a vehicle. As far as crash survivability, it is no worse than a similar sized car.

True. The wires are in a very bright orange loom and pretty hard to miss as they are large like garden hoses. The HV battery voltage is around 208 volts as I recall from the manual and it floats to around a 50% charge (which is why they warranty it for 10 years and 120,000 miles in California). Never really fully charges (cooks) nor drains (ICE cuts in) so it keeps the wear down considerably. It is also cooled fairly well (inside the car under the back seat with a fan and vents).

B~

Thanks for bringing this up. There many people who believe hybrids have are better in every way, except higher price.

Ya, I saw that story. I can't find the link now, but I also found a follow-up that showed how that story is fake and paied for by GM.

The Toyota batteries are sealed in a metal box, and all the high voltage wires are yellow or red. I forget what, but they are clearly marked. The high voltage system is not grounded to the frame so you would have to cut into 2 wires and cross both to get shocked. I am not sure, but I think it also has a impact cut off at the batteries. Like a crash fuel shutoff normal cars have.

In my thinking, the chances of a gas leak and a large fire are far greater then getting shocked. I work next to an auto body shop. About 1 in 10 crashed cars I see have caught fire.

Only time will tell what is really safer, but I don't see it as anything to panic about.

GM paid for it? Nah, can't be. ;o)

So where's this hybrid GM truck I keep hearing about, or that Saturn hybrid? GM is sitting by and really wasting time catching up to Toyota. No wonder they fell out of the top slot and now have a net worth 1/5th that of Toyota. I knew something was really wrong when Harley-Davidson passed them too.

The fire thing may be a trade off. The hybrid's tank is a third the capacity of a regular truck or car. When it goes boom or ablaze, it's an apples and oranges argument - hybrid or not.

B~

You understand incorrectly. It is 201v or some such.

Yes, you're right - - for 2005 they reduced the battery from 38 modules to

28 modules, and used an inverter that puts out up to 500 volts AC at a varying frequency to the PM synchronous motor. My statement was based on this data: . Theconfusion evidently was over the battery voltage compared to the motorvoltage rating. Here are a couple of good reference for the currentconfiguration: and .

Well, it's the voltage that all that protection is for Hach...that 240V or so is bigtime dangerous, especially at a couple of amps...it's the voltage that's dangerous not the amperage (although you need a little)

One volt at 1000 amps won't bother you at all if you 'short' it with your hands but 1000 volts at one amp will definitely put a crimp in your afternoon. :)

snip

Aren't the gloves they wear protect them from this?

Well, what I saw on TV showed them to bright orange. The concern for me would be that in a crash when almost any kind of thing could happen that the whole electric structure gets compromised and causes electrocution. I just do not know if that is a rational or reasonable fear.

I stand corrected. High voltage wires for hybrid vehicles are orange, the yellow is for airbag systems.

According to this rescue personnel training site

turning off the ignition switch disables the high voltage system and rescuers are instructed to do so.\ before disconnecting the 12 volt batters as they would for any other vehicle.

As far as watching stuff on TV, most TV reporters know little or nothing about conventional automotive systems, much less advanced ones and they will deceive the viewing public in order to make their point. Remember that they had to rig an Audi in order to portray the unintended acceleration, and they had to rig a GM pickup with pyrotechnics so it would catch fire when struck from the side.

If TV reporters found out that 20,000 volts were traveling through the spark plug wires on a conventional gasoline engine, they'd start screaming about the electrocution hazard there.

Orange...