Honda CR-Z

[pro4nut]

Just in the process of buying one of these.

However i was asking about the battery pack and was surprised to find out it runs on NIMH to be precise about 120 cells. Is there any car people about who can explain why Lipo have not made it into cars yet?

[AndyF]

Because you would have to park it in a sack over night ?.?.?

[pro4nut]

LOl...

But it charges on the move and on a serious note there is a lot of protection around the pack.

[jim76]

what happened to the old car mate? fed up with fuel costs?

[pro4nut]

Fuel cost mostly, a failing synchro making first gear a hit and miss proposition. Tax and Mot are due all added up to time for a change before costs start to build. Shame as i like it but as i visit my family in sussex quite often its getting expensive.

[jim76]

fair enough. probably fit more racing gear in the new one!! lol

[SlowOne]

As I understand it, the problem with LiPo in cars is discharge rate. Apparently, to make them robust and long-lived, they are restricted to about 20C discharge rate. NiMh don't have such a low discharge rate, so can be used to provide bursts of power for the electric motor.

CR-Z is a nice car, I hope you like it. I also hope you checked on the fuel mileage. The more real-life USA tests rate the car at about 44 mpg for the motorway running, which is quite a long way from the 53mpg quoted in this country. A friend with a Prius gets less than 40mpg urban, a mile from the 55mpg quoted. But you didn't buy such a nice car for the fuel mileage, did you...

[pro4nut]

Chosen because i like the look of it, the dealer was being very honest, well almost and said about 40mpg. The main thing that convinced me was not seeing one on the road since it was launched vs seeing too many scirocco's were i live.

Intersting about the discharge rate, i don't really think hybrids have a future but for the next 5 years it will be interseting to see them refined.