Design News - Captain Hybrid - What's the Ideal EV Battery Size?
Watching the recent activity in electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids, it's easy to wonder if there's a thread of consistency in all this, particularly in the area of batteries.
Take, for example, the forthcoming Prius Plug-in Hybrid. It employs a relatively small (160kg), 5.2kWh lithium-ion battery. The small battery results in an all-electric range of just 13 miles, but the strategy seems to make sense for consumers who mix regular short trips with occasional longer ones. Automotive industry analysts expect Toyota's strategy to hit a sweet spot with consumers, in part because the small battery translates to lower cost and shorter recharge times.
So the trend is toward smaller batteries, right? Wrong. The Prius plug-in isn't necessarily a harbinger of what's to come.