Quote:
Originally Posted by mechgmguy
this whole thread has gone way beyond the intended scope of this article. The point lutz is making is that the plug in prius and the volt are still on similar timelines and that one isnt coming out a year or so before the other one.
The other point (which im very surprised no one has brought up) is that the major advantage of the volt is the Li-ion battery. The pruis uses NiMH which does not hold the power of the Li-ion battery (and NiMH is also dramatically worse for the environment fyi) Hence why the range differences or 7-10 miles vs 40 miles.
Im not sure but I beleive that the plug in prius will still be NiMH and toyota has stated that they will be looking into Li-ion batteries, but they have invested far too much money in niMH to give up on it just yet. This is a marketing decoy by toyota to try and steal the volt's thunder, as toyota isnt really going to debut anything new.
The VUE 2-mode plug-in is due on the streets available to the public in 2009 (before the prius plug-in), but im not sure which battery system this will use (probably NiMH).
So this article is just Lutz trying to defer the toyota marketing machine from stealing the thunder away from GM...
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The reason no one has mentioned this before is that your statement is entirely wrong - on two counts.
The plugins from both companies will use Li-Ion batteries.
You really need to bring yourself up-to-date on NiMH technology. Go to the website of GM's supplier and do some investigation on it. NIMH technology is considered 'green technology' by the enviro-set.
In the following paragraph you hit upon the very difference in the two approaches. It's what I noted twice above. The PHEV Prius will be an option, with new Li-Ion batteries, at a premium price intended for a small segment of buyers just like the Volt. However the thrust of Toyota's investments and production will definitely still be in the very inexpensive and ultra-reliable NiMH technology in order to keep the prices of the bulk of the hybrids in the $20000-$25000 range. You're right they have invested too much to just drop it. The intention, like the 2-Mode hybrids, is to make the NiMH's the basic, most cost effective, high volume technology.