Part of the reason GM is preserving some of the EV1's internally "for research" is that they will be testing to see how long the battery packs last. If they last an overly-long time I doubt we will hear that much about it, given GM's hostility to giving an inch when it comes to admitting viability of Electric Vehicles.
I take the performance of NiMH in the Prius and Honda, not to mention the RAV4, as evidence of performance of NiMH, your views not withstanding. The data garnered from those vehicles may be good or bad for the verdict on NiMH, I don't know. To be sure, an HEV is not of course the same as an EV, but we'll see. I think it's right to be skeptical of NiMH but I don't know that the initial readings, extremely limited in part because of Auto Industry hostility to EV's in general, show that NiMH is as problem-filled as you seem to think. That said, I must admit, I will try to pay attention to the very very few areas where we'd have data on this (how long NiMh has lasted in RAV4's, EV1's, Honda EV+, etc.) jl On Sun, 01 Sep 2002 15:03:14 -0400, you wrote: >Well, the 90Ah modules that smoke are definitely EV modules. The Prius >isn't an EV, it is an HEV, and has a *very* limited EV only mode, being >that it requires light throttle and speeds where wind drag is low. If >the batteries never really get discharged, then they are likely not to >fail by virtue of never being really used. And in HEV mode, long term >reduction in battery performance is easy to conceal with the ICE. >The Honda hybrid strategy makes it even easier to cover up a reduction >in battery performance, as it has *no* non-ICE mode. > > >I would be curious to hear about the Honda plus driver, particularly >what his average DOD was. I have never heard of a NiMH pack going more >than 30,000 miles.
