From the article:

""About a month ago, we got our hands on the Prius plug-in hybrid prototype for a brief drive. While we walked away pleased with the overall efforts from Toyota, we're a bit upset to learn that the vehicle lacks the ability to charge its two additional battery packs on the fly.""

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/13/say-what-plug-in-prius-cant-charge-additional-battery-packs-on/

we are still trying to figure out why Toyota split the pack into 3.. the whole thing is starting to look like hack engineering...

>> the vehicle lacks the ability to charge its two additional battery packs

Holy.
Farcking.
Schnitt.

And that's not just a problem with the Plug-in Prius not generating battery-boosting power using a genset (a'la Volt). As the first paragraph of the story mentions, even the regenerative braking is hamstrung: Once the primary battery is topped off, no more regen capture for you! The other packs get none of that juice.

If this truly is the case, what a horrible approach to a half-hearted, wannabe-a-PHEV effort. The entire system should work together, not like a sack of gadgetry. I agree Herm, it really is starting to look like a weak hack of a solution. :mad:

I just thought of another reason Toyota is using three packs instead of a monolithic one pack.. they may be worried about sourcing enough of the right kind of lithium cells. By having three packs they can use three different chemistries if they had to.. perhaps high quality Sanyo cells in the main pack, LG cells in the other two and so on.. each pack would be used in a safe manner within its requirements.

From the article:

""About a month ago, we got our hands on the Prius plug-in hybrid prototype for a brief drive. While we walked away pleased with the overall efforts from Toyota, we're a bit upset to learn that the vehicle lacks the ability to charge its two additional battery packs on the fly.""

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/05/13/say-what-plug-in-prius-cant-charge-additional-battery-packs-on/

Uhm...
May I ask what the big deal is?

"yes the plug-in Prius does have regenerative braking, but the power retrieved only goes to the main battery pack, not to the supporting cast of batteries that come along for the ride in the plug-in version."

Why in the hell would you want to "charge the packs on the fly" anyway?

the ONLY negative thing this article 'suggests' is the possibility that you have a fully charged 'main' battery that is unable to soak juice from the brakes...

HOWEVER - with that in mind, it only stands to reason that the 'coupled' pack maintains a SOC below 100% anyway allowing it to obsorb the braking currents...

This whole article wreaks of 'spin'.

I'm surprised how many people are reacting to it though.

*sigh*