What you've seen against the back of the seat is the ducting for the battery cooling system. It draws air from the cabin thru a vent on the rear deck down to the battery via fan if the battery needs cooling.

Two climate control systems, one inside and the other at the tailpipe.

2007 Camry Hybrid (in service June 2006)
FE: 6.67L/100km or 35.3 mpg (6.11L/100km or 38.5 mpg in summer)

This is the picture.
The battery pack is flat.
Actually it looks more like two Prius batteries side by side.
Also it looks like it lays as somewhat of an angle versus
totally flat. Or is that an illusion?
J

Attached Files

20031561-E.zip (38.8 KB, 19 views)

I think it's just propped up a bit for a better picture.

Two climate control systems, one inside and the other at the tailpipe.

2007 Camry Hybrid (in service June 2006)
FE: 6.67L/100km or 35.3 mpg (6.11L/100km or 38.5 mpg in summer)

That's called a Highlander Hybrid (I know, V6 vs 4cyl)

The back seats don't fold? The Toyota site specs says 60/40 split folding rear seats: http://www.toyota.com/images/vehicle...y/features.pdf

Or maybe they don't fold flat forward? I didn't check that aspect of my friend's TCH. Being able to fold the rear seats is an absolute MUST for my wallet to open. Of course, I won't have that decision to make for some time as we hold our cars about 10 years

They do, they named it Prius :-)

Bruce

It's a weird configuration. The TCH has the standard 60/40 folding configuration. However, the duct work for getting air to the battery is on the left side as looking through the trunk to the car. So even if you fold both seats down you only have a small section on the right side to pass things through.

To be perfectly accurate, the whole small trunk issue on the TCH is not directly due to the battery. It's the ducting for the cooling system that is most inconvenient. If Toyota could figure out a better way to air cool the battery most of the complaints about trunk space would go away.

Two climate control systems, one inside and the other at the tailpipe.

2007 Camry Hybrid (in service June 2006)
FE: 6.67L/100km or 35.3 mpg (6.11L/100km or 38.5 mpg in summer)

Doh! How 'bout some air intake scoops - like a jet or a Ferrari?

In an attempt to get this thread back on track............

If the Electric/Traction motor had about another 20-30hp and ability to operate in the 60mph range without feathering the accelerator like a granny (the current 40mph mode) this vehicle would be ideal.

Hopefully in the not to distant future (as battery technology becomes more involved) this will become a reality.

When I first got my TCH I was a bit disappointed to see NiMH batteries as I had considered them obsolete compared with the power to weight of LiON.

After all the news about the Dell/Apple/Sony laptop battery recalls, I can fully understand now why Toyota is still using NiMH batteries instead of LiON. All it would take is 2 or 3 cars short circuiting into an inferno (think how close the battery and fuel tank are together) and the bad press will probably kill the whole hybrid concept (never mind the fact that regular cars catch fire and burn all the time). I imagine they will proceed very cautiously with new battery technology.

Two climate control systems, one inside and the other at the tailpipe.

2007 Camry Hybrid (in service June 2006)
FE: 6.67L/100km or 35.3 mpg (6.11L/100km or 38.5 mpg in summer)