I have to wonder. WHY don't we have a car right now in 2010 that gets 100+ mpg?Ok we have the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius that get 50MPG+ WELL why not DOUBLE or TRIPLE or QUADRUPLE the Batteries and get 100MPG??? Seriously WHY NOT PACK Enough Lithium Ion batteries in there to get 300MPG?? You mean to tell me that with all the technology we have today in 2010 that we can't come up with a Hybrid that gets 100MPG??? PURE NonsenseSomeone somewhere is keeping the 100MPG car from being produced. Simple as that. You mean to tell me that you can't pack enough Lithium Ion batteries into a CAR to get 100MPG??? Yea right. You know it could be done. BIG OIL and other political forces DON'T WANT the 100MPG car. Why did gas prices go to $4.50 per gallon??? TO get the $$$ While the Getting was good. Now the gig is up and they know it.
Ok we have the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius that get 50MPG+ WELL why not DOUBLE or TRIPLE or QUADRUPLE the Batteries and get 100MPG?? Because the batteries aren't what gives the Prius it's high mpg. The Prius gets its high mpg because the engine is sized for steady state driving rather than acceleration. This allows the engine to run in the most efficient rpm range most of the time. The electrical components are there to provide the additional power needed for acceleration and to allow electric running for short periods during very low power demand when the engine would run outside of the efficient band. People have put in additional batteries in the Prius and mostly they received less mpg. Note that Plug-in cars don't improve mpg, they just transfer the cost of gas to the cost of electricity. This may or may not improve overall economy depending upon driving conditions, trip length, and electric rates. In 2011 there will be a smaller version of the Prius. This should be capable of 100 mpg as I've been able to get 70 mpg over a fill (about 600 miles) in the 2004 Prius on occasion, though between 60 and 69 is more common. FWIW, the Prius was developed in four years (1992 to 1996 when the 1997 model started shipping)
Larger battery packs do not improve the fuel efficiency of a hybrid. The batteries are used as the electrical equivalent of springs. There are some important limitations on the number of miles per gallon any car can get in the real world. Climate control is a critical one - when energy has to go into keeping the passengers warm in the winter and cool in the summer it can't go into moving the car forward.
Lithium ion batteries are a good source of energy storage, but they have some very serious drawbacks: If they are shorted they can go into melt-down and start a fire, and that's the small ones the size of a quarter. Think what could happen after a car wreck - You could start a block leveling fire. There will have to be a better battery design before the electric car becomes viable.
