Japan Report: Toyota Postponing Lithium-Ion Prius ?

May 29th, 2007 5:01 PM


Toyota is postponing the use of lithium-ion batteries in the next Prius, according to Japan’s Nikkan Kogyo newspaper, citing safety concerns.

Lithium-ion batteries are big in consumer electronics: compact, light, and packing a sizable storage capacity, they can also bring trouble. Remember the exploding PC battery scandal that rocked Sony last year?

Compared to the nickel-metal hydride battery pack in the current Prius, lithium-ion would be the neater, more technologically advanced solution, and in Toyotaspeak are “close to the level at which they can be mounted in cars.” But, the paper says, Toyota has put caution before innovation this time round… and being mindful of Toyota’s quality issues and soaring recall rate of late, maybe that’s a sound choice.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Interestingly, the news coincides with Lithium Technology Corporation’s announcement that they’ve retrofitted a current-model Prius with plug-in lithium phosphate cells, giving the car a mileage equivalent in excess of 125 miles per gallon. Read more about it at the link below :

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=284847
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Toyota's Global Hybrid Sales Top Million

A Decade After First Prius, Toyota's Global Sales of Hybrid Vehicles Hit Landmark 1 Million

The next innovation in hybrids is expected to come from a new type of battery, called the lithium-ion battery, which will be smaller and lighter than the nickel-metal hydride batteries Toyota now uses for its hybrids.

A major breakthrough is needed to switch to lithium-ion batteries, now widely used in laptops, to make them power cars.

Mitsuo Kinosh1ta, a senior Toyota executive, recently denied Japanese media reports that Toyota had given up on having a lithium-ion battery system for the next-generation Prius.

"We're still working on it," he told reporters.. . .

Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:05PM EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) has decided to postpone the launch of the third-generation Prius hybrid model by half a year to the spring of 2009, industrial daily Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun said on Friday.

The world's biggest automaker has not officially announced the timing of the launch, but a consensus had built among industry watchers that the popular gasoline-electric car would be remodeled by late 2008.

The Nikkan Kogyo said Toyota decided to take more time to ensure quality after it decided to forego replacing the nickel-metal hybrid battery used in the hybrid system with a lithium-ion battery for the first version of the new model.

Toyota and battery partner Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co. (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research) are developing a lithium-ion battery that many expected would power the motor in the next Prius. The paper had said last month that those plans were also delayed due to safety concerns.

A Toyota spokesman declined to confirm the delay of the Prius launch, saying it was not possible to move back a plan whose timing had not been set.

"Our policy is to roll out any model when all the conditions are in place," he said.

The first Prius debuted in 1997 as the world's first mass-market hybrid car, and was vastly improved for the second generation launched in late 2003.

By far the best-selling hybrid car on the road today, the Prius has almost single-handedly boosted Toyota's image as a "green" carmaker, also helping drive sales of other cars.

Toyota is boosting production of the Prius by 40 percent this year to 280,000 units, although margins on the car are believed to be thin due to the high cost of the hybrid system.

Toyota sold 186,000 units of the Prius in 2006, and 313,000 hybrid vehicles in total.