Toyota: PRIUS + batteries

Falling asleep through Conase's post...
 

Get a bus pass

--
"If you can't change a tire, you're not allowed to have a beard. It's the
most basic part of a car: If you don't know that much about a car, you
really shouldn't be driving, should you?" - Jimmy Kimmel
http://www.cafeshops.com/creexul.2534632
Owner of Henry Cotter, apparently not the first,
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-
8&q=author:manofhour%40webtv.net+

Why not try the Toyota web site? -
http://www.toyota.com/html/shop/look_ahead/index.html

The batteries are covered for 96months/100k miles.

> I believe the 2004 voltage has been up'ed to 500.

The hybrid system will now run at 500 AC.

The voltage coming from the pack is 207 DC.

There's 2 conversions that takes place as part of the transfer process.

JOHN
http://john1701a.com

> If the engine is using power to generate electricity to run the motor 

You obviously didn't know that Prius has *TWO* motors.

One motor generates electricity.

The other motor uses that electricity for thrust.

So yes, it can do both at the same time. In fact, that is what it
ROUTINELY does anyway. The only real benefit of the pack is for
efficiency. So when the pack becomes weak, you'll need to rely on the
engine more. MPG will drop, power won't.

100% of the time the engine is providing thrust to the wheels, it is
also generating electricity. Most people haven't figured that out
yet, especially since Prius is the only hybrid that can do this. The
Hondas only have ONE motor, so operation is significantly different.

JOHN
http://john1701a.com

com wrote: 
[ snip ] 
[ snip ] 

You are thinking of the way the Honda's work. The Prius uses a system
that allows power to be split between the wheels and the generator in
varying proportions. The result is that it can provide 40 HP to the
wheels to overcome wind and rolling resistance and while charging the
battery pack with the excess power (around 30 HP) that's not needed to
keep the car moving.

If the power requirements exceed the engine output (like hard
acceleration), the battery pack runs an electric motor to supplement the
gas engine's output. As you probably know, there is only a finite time
that you can accellerate (without flying off the road or exceeding the
speed of light :-), so eventually the power is available to charge the
batteries again.

The gas engine runs any time the batteries need to be topped off.

There is a reason that John said you don't lose power as the battery pack
loses capacity. It has to do with decreasing capacity of the battery
(in amp hours) and depth of charge. I'm not qualified to explain it.
In essence, the same voltage and ampherage is avaialable from an older
NiMH, but for a shorter period of time, so charging becomes more frequent.

Like I said, I'm not qualified to explain it, but someone will.

Daniel

Conase wrote:
 

200K examples are still out there running. Good for ten years, near
as anyone can tell.

"Richard Schumacher" <com> wrote in message
news:com... 
call 

Some folks need work on the distinction between "motor" and "generator" as
well.

Original poster here :

Thanks for all the replies.

I asked the question since one of the women I know is interested in getting a
Prius. She asked me since I have some knowledge of cars. Only problem is I had
no knowledge of Prius and have not seen any comments - positive or negative -
in Consumer Reports, etc. re: the speicific questions I asked .

I always see ride and comfort and mpg and storage and crash results discussed .


When I personally buy a car, I look at how much it costs to maintain and how
easy it is to maintain. Too expensive or too difficult to maintain and I don't
buy it.

Thanks again for all the good feedback.