I'm using the Insight in charge depleting mode and plugging it in at night. The Insight's stock pack is plenty large enough for a charge sustaining hybrid, but it makes for a pretty weak PHEV.

@gpsman: You've seen the FEH cells? Do the sticks run fore/aft or left/right, and how many cells tall is the pack?

 

Packs come in many different configurations, not just a stick type. So what if the positive is at one end and the negative is it the other! Many packs are that way. Automobile manufacturers didn't invent battery packs. They seem to be trailing behind the RC'rs.

 

An odd number of sticks would place the output terminals at opposite sides of the pack, creating a needless two foot long piece of high voltage, heavy gauge cable. Ford (or Panasonic, or Mitsubishi, or whoever) is not that dumb.

 

They are arranged from left to right.
They are in 2 layers.

I believe there are 120 cells on the bottom later, 130 cells on the top layer.
Both layers have 2 rows.

cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell
cell-cell-cell-cell-cell cell-cell-cell-cell-cell

 

My calculation of a odd number cells was based on what FEH owners here have mentioned numerouse times, a 330V pack which now I'm unsure where that even comes from since Ford refers to it a rather non-standard way of 216-397V.