Honda President still prefers nickel batteries for hybrids
While many other car-makers (with the notable exception of Toyota) are jumping on the lithium ion bandwagon for new hybrid models, Honda will stick with nickel metal hydride for now. Honda President Takeo Fukui told Automotive News that lithium ion batteries are not yet reliable or durable enough for high volume applications. When Honda debuts a new dedicated hybrid model early next year to take on the Prius, it will continue to use nickel metal hydride batteries.Honda hopes to top 200,000 annual sales with its new hybrid model, a car that is expected to be priced below the current Civic hybrid. Honda has chosen to use a lithium battery in its FCX Clarity fuel cell car, but those will be very low volume initially and much more expensive. The continued use of nickel probably has as much to do with cost as anything else at this point. Given Honda's price and volume targets, there is probably no lithium battery available right now to the meet the need. According to Fukui, the new model is being engineered to allow for a running change to lithium when the batteries do meet the company's specifications.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Snowdog 1:00PM (3/24/2008)
Makes sense.
Nimh batteries are largely proven tech at this point. Prius Taxis have put 400 000 KMs on the original pack and I have heard next to nothing about failures of these packs.
Lithium batteries don't have a very great record in devices, dying out after two years of even limited usage, certain types have tendency to melt down/burn up.
If I was building a vehicle I would use the proven tech and let someone else pioneer lithium.
Reply
Schmeltz 1:14PM (3/24/2008)
Honda:
Regarding Lithium vs. NiMH....Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Reply
Joseph 4:30PM (3/24/2008)
Awww...
I really hoped Honda would be the first to venture into lithium batteries. However, this caught my eye:
"the new model is being engineered to allow for a running change to lithium when the batteries do meet the company's specifications."
Maybe the family hybrid is they're making is playing it safe and cheap with NiMH batteries while down the road the later CRZ hybrid will use the family hybrid's technology but with lithium instead. That way, development costs are kept at a minimum for the CRZ, which may make up for the further cost of lithium.
Reply
Tim 3:00PM (3/24/2008)
Free market competition will choose the best battery tech.
Reply
GoodCheer 3:20PM (3/24/2008)
I agree with Snowdog, simply looking at a capacity per $ metric, Li battery just don't make sense (yet). While I think it is worth while to get large-format LI batteries into industrial-scale production, I can't help but think that if I were Honda, I'd probably do the same thing.
Reply
Chris M 5:38PM (3/24/2008)
On the basis of $ per watthour stored, NiMH batteries are still cheaper than LiIon, but with improvements to LiIon and the price of nickle rising, soon LiIon will be the cheaper choice. When that happens, I expect all the hybrid automakers to shift rather quickly.
Reply
KEVIN 8:24PM (3/24/2008)
Either way going with nickel metal hydrae batteries is a loss of efficiency . But only time will tell when battery manufacturers meet "hondas" Specification . But atleast we knwo that when they do come they will be very reliable
Reply
psarhjinian 11:21AM (3/25/2008)
Honda is an engineering company that happens to make cars, not a car company (like Toyota), a services company that happens to make cars (like GM) or a technology incubator that happens to make cars (like Mercedes). The conservatism in design and engineering permeates everything they do.
They're brutally pragmatic that way, and it results in holistically excellent products that may not stand out in any way, but are in overall terms probably the best in their class.
Reply