jalopnik.com — A report from the Japanese newsdaily Nikkan Kogyo is claiming Toyota's eschewing lithium-ion batteries over safety concerns. These are the same batteries Lithium Technology Corp. recently used to boost the fuel economy of the Prius to 125 miles per gallon.
May 30, 2007 View in Crawl 4
giveerMay 30, 2007
Since Toyota has a (and no, I don't work for them) industry leading safety standard.. (No really) - If they think something isn't completely safe, I'll bet that there's at least ONE area of concern. There's no point blowing a reputation of safety over a questionable piece of technology that will easily be improved over the next year or two.
chrisgrangerMay 31, 2007
I've personally seen a car parked at the side of the road explode, and I'm pretty sure the guy didn't have hand grenades in the glove box. I had to call 911 at 4AM. It happens.
errorsMay 31, 2007
and you know what, why the f**k can't some of you spend 5 mins on Wikipedia learning abotu this stuff? Why does someone always have to teach you that you're a f**king moron in these kinds of posts?"BIG OIL GOVERNMENT USES THEM FOR LCDS THEY JUST WANT TO KEEP ME DOWN I WANT A 125MPG, $300,000 PRIUS"I'm getting tired of it.. go be dumb somewhere else
apeweekMay 31, 2007
That's why the lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) formulation used in EV batteries is not the same one used in your cellphone.
apeweekMay 31, 2007
@stevew928I'm not really defending the MPG method of reporting fuel efficiency - just explaining it.As for efficiencies, it takes a lot of words and links to prove this point, so I like to use fuel prices as a shorthand way to do it.The 'bad math' is very straightforward, just a bit hard to believe. I was hoping not to have to repeat what I already posted here, but here goes:My electric car gets about 4 miles per KWH, a common figure. Proof: here's a link showing that that's the same mileage the Toyota RAV 4 EV gets, another electric car:<a class="user" href="http://baltimorechronicle.com/2005/083005Korthof.shtml">http://baltimorechronicle.com/2005/083005Korthof.shtml</a>My electric rate, (ask your utility for special rates for overnight charging) is only 3 cents per KWH. Proof: it's rate D1.7 in this document:<a class="user" href="http://my.dteenergy.com/myAccount/pdfs/rates.pdf">http://my.dteenergy.com/myAccount/pdfs/rates.pdf</a>Do the math, you'll see that's less than ONE CENT per mile. This is not a joke, and it's not bad math, this is what I really get in my EV.Now, what does gasoline cost? If I use $3.60 per gallon, and an 18mpg gar, that's 20 cents/mile. Depending on your car, and when gas prices reach $4 per gallon, this could be a little better, or it could get lots worse.That's TWENTY TIMES less money for electricity. Efficiency is most of the reason.
errorsJun 7, 2007
You're missing the point, it's not leaking or breaking or crashing that causes them to be unsafe, it's the rapid discharging/rapid charging that causes them to be unsafe.You can rapidly charge and discharge a lead acid. You can rapidly charge and discharge a nickel metal hydride, you CAN NOT rapidly discharge a LiON or LiPO.You definitely don't want to break open a Lead Acid, you definitely don't want to break open a NiMH but I'd feel safe crushing a LiON under my feet. I don't care if it's a laptop battery or one out of a robotics projectI'd also rather throw a LiON or LiPO battery into a fire than a lead acid or a NiMH, again, THAT'S NOT WHY THEY"RE UNSAFE.Noone is even going to read this, whatever.. if peopel would have just listened in the first place"You can't rapidly discharge them..""YEAH BUT SOMEONE DRILLED INTO ONE AND IT WAS OK"what .. the.. f**k?
foamweaponsAug 11, 2007
Wow, I haven't commented on Digg for a while, and now I remember why...Tesla Motors Li-Ion batteries easily overcame the U.N. and U.S. safety regulations, since they engineered multiple fail-safes into the systems that make it way more safe than a car filled with highly explosive gasoline... <a class="user" href="http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=59">http://www.teslamotors.com/blog4/?p=59</a> And the argument is Toyota doesn't have the engineering capability or the resources to do the same?So, yes let's all thank Toyota again for declaring current technology is not capable of doing what they did 6 years ago:<a class="user" href="http://geeklimit.com/2006/05/09/i-drive-a-30k-80mph-166mpg-suv/">http://geeklimit.com/2006/05/09/i-drive-a-30k-80mph-166mpg-suv/</a>Most people commenting here are retarded.