Battery cost replacement?

[tretola]

The NiMH patent was filed on December 2, 1998. The grant of the patent is 20 years (and the clock starts ticking on the filing date, not when the patent was approved). So, it looks like it should be available December 2018!

 

[adric22]

The NiMH patent was filed on December 2, 1998. The grant of the patent is 20 years (and the clock starts ticking on the filing date, not when the patent was approved). So, it looks like it should be available December 2018!

I have wondered about this. I know GM claims the batteries were still not good enough, but we all know that was a lie. I'm actually quite curious if NiMh may have some kind of come-back to compete with Lithium in a few years. I've even wondered if Chevron might actually start licensing the technology since it is obvious that they can no longer hold back the EV movement. Might as well make some money on their patent, right?

I have also wondered why Toyota still uses NiMh in their hybrids when several other manufacturers have gone to Lithium. And, as was mentioned a few posts ago, the European version of the Prius V uses Lithium. I had assumed it was in order to make room for the extra rear seats. But now I'm seeing that there may be more going on than just that.

I was surprised when reading about the Prius C that they needed to make the battery pack smaller and lighter so it would fit underneath the rear seat. They succeeded, but the best I can tell it is still a NiMh pack.

Honestly, I hope they are able to continue to reduce the size of the battery packs because not only will that help the EV cause but it will make a lot more PHEV vehicles possible. When you have a traditional ICE and gas tank, there is even less space for a battery pack.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

i believe the NiMH large cell technology has simply been passed up. it would have given us extended range hybrids YEARS ago, but it is now simply yesterday's news.

but that is not the tragic thing. i am predicting that after the large scale adoption of EV's is far a foot, Big Oil will announce that the "100 mpg Carburetor" was not a myth afterall

 

[TomT]

No, even Toyota themselves were very forthcoming when asked why and stated that they would have preferred to use lithium in all the Vs but that the fact that Americans don't demand a third seat as much as Europeans do allowed them to eliminate it and use the cheaper but much less space efficient HiMH batteries instead to keep the cost down... I really don't think there was anything to it beyond that.

I have also wondered why Toyota still uses NiMh in their hybrids when several other manufacturers have gone to Lithium. And, as was mentioned a few posts ago, the European version of the Prius V uses Lithium. I had assumed it was in order to make room for the extra rear seats. But now I'm seeing that there may be more going on than just that.

 

[iwitzel]

I called the parts department and they have no price for the battery for the Leaf.

 

[Randy]

A long time ago on one of the earlier threads, the parts department retail price for a LEAF battery module was about $600. If you had a failure or issue that was outside of the battery warranty, most likely they'd be able to troubleshoot it to the module level and repair it without wholesale replacement of the whole pack...

 

[Herm]

I have also wondered why Toyota still uses NiMh in their hybrids when several other manufacturers have gone to Lithium.

Cost.. apparently Toyota has not been able to get as good a deal on lithium batteries as they get on nimh.. after all they buy a lot of nimh and get as low a price as possible by modern mass production.

Nimh waste about 10 times as much energy as lithium-ion (in the form of heat) while being used, but they have proven long term reliability and no bricking issues in long term storage. Stay away from Honda nimh batteries, lots of issues there.

 

[DaveEV]

Stay away from Honda nimh batteries, lots of issues there.

Honda gets their NiMH batteries from Sanyo which is generally well regarded in the business. (Ford also gets their NiMH batteries from Sanyo).

Honda's problem is their BMS system which is apparently insufficient to keep the pack balanced and avoid overly stressing weaker cells in the pack.