30 Days of the 2010 Toyota Prius: Day 12, Battery Pack

Home

News

Hybrids

30 Days of the 2010 Toyota Prius: Day 12, Battery Pack

John Voelcker

Senior Editor BIO

John is Senior Editor for High Gear Media. In addition to news coverage and new car reviews, John creates and oversees all editorial for High Gear's... More

LATEST ARTICLE
Tesla Supercharger Coming To Midwest Too, Not Just Coasts
The long-promised announcement from Tesla Motors on expansion of its Supercharger network has been... Read More

#4LEADERBOARD RANK
2904ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
1958COMMENTS POSTED

10,082 views Apr 6, 2009

Follow John

Add to circle

2010 Toyota Prius high-voltage battery pack

Enlarge Photo

Related Photo Galleries

See more photos »

Unlike the engine and electric motors that make up the rest of the Hybrid Synergy Drive system in the 2010 Toyota Prius, the battery pack is the one component that's changed very little.

It has the same 168 1.2-Volt nickel-metal-hydride cells, providing a total of 1.6 kilowatt-hours of energy capacity. Peak power output is 27 kilowatts (roughly 36 horsepower).

As you might expect after eight years, they're contained in a more compact design with updated electronics that allow slightly higher power output. Among other benefits, cargo volume in the rear load space is slightly increased.

But early rumors for a new, higher-capacity lithium-ion battery pack for the 2010 Prius turned out not to be true. Toyota is fitting a larger lithium-ion pack to the 100 or so Prius Plug-In conversions it will offer to fleets late this year, but so far, it has said nothing about a lithium pack for the standard Prius.

Which leads us to wonder: If the 2010 Prius is the third generation, might there be a "third and a half" generation coming in a few years? Same great car, even better battery?

We can dream, anyway ....

2004-1009 Toyota Prius battery pack, second generation

Enlarge Photo

Tags:

Batteries hybrid synergy drive

Posted in:

Contribute

Send us a tip Comment Contact the editor

People Who Read This Article Also Read

Have an opinion?

Comment (1)

BILL GAST Posted: 10/27/2009 3:23pm PDT

Was excited to own a Prius, purcased used around 70,000 was advised not to fear the battery going out. They did not advise that with each and every problem the cost would be hundreds of dollars. First the video screen quit, no control of radio or heat, just over 100,000 miles. Purchased used screen from a cal junt yard using a haynes repair book installed same, total cost just under $400. Toyota shop listed the new screen around $3,000 and labor to install. My words to the Toyota conplaint line were "how dare you out a 3,000 dollar part in a car" reply we could sell you a rehab unit for $1,000 wow. Reached 110,000 miles and the small battery seems to have quit, $98. dollars to tell me thats what i need, battery only aval thru Toyota $140. (garden tractor size battery) and another $50 to install. The green i'am seeing is the money leaving my pocket for Toyota's over priced friendly car. In closing I would ask Toyota, what happened, my 92 Camrey has 180,000 looking for another 100,000 from it, Toyota owners that I know have come to believe that they have one of the best cars on the road, mu Prius is causing me to rethink this.

Post Reply

Vote

Bad stuff?