you your reading pleasure. take notice in the coming months.
"What about battery safety? I've heard lithium-ion batteries can be dangerous if they overheat.
Please see the related Hybridcars.com article Are Hybrid Batteries Toxic?
Nickel-metal hydride batteries, proven for many years in hybrids to be safe, could go into PHEVs today -- they would be designed more like the ones Toyota put in its 2002 RAV4 EV compact all-electric SUV than like current hybrid batteries. (Engineers' note: hybrids need "power batteries," PHEVs need "energy batteries.")
The performance, longevity and safety of lithium-ion batteries are improving rapidly. The EPRI says lithium-ion batteries are ready now. DaimlerChrysler is using them in some of its prototype PHEV Sprinter commercial vans. And the Valence Technology li-ion batteries in the EDrive Systems Prius conversions include a phosphate additive that makes it nearly impossible for them to burn or explode.
PHEV Conversions to top
What cars can be converted to PHEVs?
At the moment, only 2004-2006 Priuses, and to a limited extent, the Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner Hybrids. See our How to Get a PHEV page for more information. Older "Classic" Priuses lack the low-speed electric-only mode and the battery storage space that makes this possible. Honda Insight, Civic and Accord use an entirely different design: the electric motor never runs without the gasoline engine running at the same time. The 2006 Civic Hybrid, though it can theoretically drive solely on electric power, has too small an electric motor to effectively power the car by itself. [See Car and Driver's review]
Other hybrids, including the Toyota Highlander and Lexus 400h, are possible future candidates. We are not exploring PHEV versions of gasoline-only (non-hybrid) cars.
What's the relationship between CalCars and EDrive Systems?
We're non-profit; they're a private company. EDrive Systems LLC is a partnership of two companies, EnergyCS (who helped us with the technology for our PRIUS+ Conversion), and Clean-Tech. We work to gain attention for their pioneering efforts to "commercialize" (bring to market) PHEVs. (See our posting on EDrive and CalCars. They're focused on delivering retrofits of Prius and,perhaps in the future, other vehicles. In addition to our advocacy work and efforts to incentivize automakers, CalCars continue to pursue technical development and to explore using different batteries and other components, both on the Prius and perhaps soon, the Ford Escape or other hybrids."
