I don't imagine that the leaf will go very far at 80. the fritchle could do 25, on the average dirt tracks back then I don't suppose the lack of speed mattered too much. a good feature of electric traction is to reduce local emissions, hence: town use, so do you actually need any enormous amount of speed? The fritchle had regenerative braking too, so nothing is 'new'
In article , harry scribeth thus
As maybe but the real breakthrough will be with the engine that converts a primary fuel to electricity isn't there as yet..
Perhaps not. But then neither was any similar car of the day. The point is very valid, though, for those who think there has been enormous progress in battery technology - there hasn't. ,
Regeneration doesn't help range at a steady speed. Which is the main problem with electric cars - they can't be used for reasonably long distance travel. Which relegates them to second car use - for the very rich.
Really? Plenty of Googling on the subject of Prius Battery failures returns little of note, other than that they don't fail. Battery management never lets them get anything like flat. Plenty of 300k miles Priuses used as cabs in many countries with no reported failures.
Oh for heaven's sake, how many times does it have to be said? The Prius is a HYBRID! The duty cycle of the battery is hugely different from that of a full electric car.
Tim
This is about electric cars, isn't it? Not Prii.
Really. A little more Googling would have told you a hybrid makes nothing like the same demands on its battery as a pure electric car. It never lets the battery get anywhere near flat. Doing the same to an electric car would restrict its range even more - or require a larger, heavier and more expensive battery pack.
Do some Googling on the Tesla. If you leave the vehicle unused for a few weeks and the battery goes flat, as it might do it if you parked up after a run say to an airport and going on holiday - it isn't covered by warranty. And costs $30,000.
I had read that replacement of the prius battery pack involves a factory technician in a hazmat suit .
However there is an article about it here, including that the caost is right down, about 2500 dollars, but most are covered under warranty. There is even a youtube video of changing it.
Definitely, at a gently acquired 20 on the level I got about half a mile in a second gen. prius. However, a third gen managed about a mile or more of start, crawl stop etc. before some roadworks. It was definitely pleasant to not have an engine running all that time (about twenty minutes) I look forward to trying the plug in version soon, which apparently will do about
15 miles used gently.
Travelled in a couple of Prius taxi's, the drivers were not very impressed, they preferred petrol cabs.
The initial cost of any alternative power virtually eliminates them as being economical. Even diesel now being a borderline case over petrol.
It's a 6.5AH battery @ 273.6V.
As you say, pathetic.
I know of one that failed. When it had to be replaced Toyota would not let the local garage do it, they sent a specialist to do the work. The garage mechanics said they were astonished when the first thing he did was to dress in a giant head to foot condom. Yes, the batteries are that safe, loaded with caustic gel and, if shorted, an explosion hazard.
Oh and they can kill at a touch, being 273.6V batteries.
1751 Watt Hours.
But to save the battery they don't permit more than 1/2 that to be used.
That's 1.75 Kw for 1/2 hour - as you say useless. But quite a lot more than the 200W an electric assisted 15mph cycle is allowed. Or the 250W a Sinclair C5 had. But the 720 Wh a 60Ah 12v car battery holds shows the limited capacity of the Prius battery. 3 car batteries and you have 2160 Wh @ 36V. In general powerful motors need volts and that means lots of cells in series.
10.5 Kw for 5 min. That's about what it runs at around town in electric only mode. It will get you about 1 mile at up to 25mph.Or 26Kw for 2 minutes. 35bhp. That's about what it delivers as assist to the petrol engine.
Or 315 Kw for 10 secs. 421 bhp. If it can sustain the discharge rate it could power 2 x 200bhp hub motors for a reasonable 1/4 mile pass at the Pod.
25 lead acid batteries (300V, 1200 - 1500 Wh), 190bhp, 650 ft-lbs. 1/4 mile 13.6sec, 99.6mph. He never did report on range but it's at least 1/4 mile.
I used to see a G wiz occasionally at both ends of my commute, so they can certainly manage their claimed speed at range even with the wipers in use. Cornered faster than many cars on that route too. There's a couple on Autotrader where the depreciation was < 1 pound a mile from new.
Travelled in two Prius taxis a few weeks ago in Feltham / Twickenham area and both drivers said they liked them. I guess it would depend on traffic conditions.
I'm waiting to hear an opinion from The Man on the Clapham bus.
They are petrol, ffs.
Roughly 1.5 miles, I tried it once or twice.
There are hybrid buses around too - although I dunno if they are on a Clapham route.
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