Renewable Gossip

Toyota believes that lithium batteries do not justify the higher cost, and that current hybrid battery technology—nickel metal hydride—is best suited for conventional hybrids. The company came to that conclusion after conducting three years of “secret tests” on 126 Toyota Priuses equipped with lithium ion batteries, according to Bloomberg.

The road tests in the US, Japan and Europe, which ended last month, showed “durability, stability and safety are assured for a conventional hybrid,” said Kazuo Tojima, the carmaker’s senior staff engineer for batteries.

Nickel metal hydride battery pack in 2010 Toyota Prius.

Menahem Anderman, president of Calif.-based consulting firm Advanced Automotive Batteries, told Bloomberg, “We now know that a lithium ion battery can work. That’s not really the question,” he said. “Cost is critical, and we still don’t know enough about long-term durability.”

Anderman’s comments echo the sentiment of former Honda president Takeo Fukui. “Lithium ion batteries are still not usable from our perspective,” Fukui said last year in an interview with Automotive News. “In terms of reliability and durability, I must say there still remain some concerns. I don’t think they are necessarily best suited for mass-produced vehicles.”

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