If a hybrid car is laid up for a month on an airport parking lot while
you’re travelling overseas on a world tour, will it restart, run normally,
and suffer no permanent battery damage? In an emergency, can a hybrid be
"jump started?"
NiHydride batterys self discharge over a month’s time. That leads me to
doubt there’ll be enough juice to crank the engine. If it does start on
its own, will the battery recharge itself to its previous capacity; ie,
will it recover 100% of its efficiency, or suffer a permanent loss in
capacity due to deep self-discharge?
I wonder how hybrid car batteries are any more durable than the the AA NiH
batteries I use around the house? Regular household NiH batteries seem to
deteriorate over time, holding less and less charge with repeated
charge-discharge cycles. At what point do hybrid cars cease to operate
when its NiH battery has worn down — does the car’s computer signal the
owner to service the battery, or does the car simply not crank one cold
morning, just like conventional cars? Could a hybrid be conveniently
converted to run as a conventional gas engine powered vehicle with a
regular lead-acid battery towards the end of its life, when it is no longer
economical to replace a mult-thousand dollar NiH battery? This capability
of running it as a conventional car would add to its resale value,
otherwise it will be a total loss junk car.
My personal feeling is hybrids are being way oversold, maybe for political
reasons. I can’t see them as making engineering sense. A durable,
reliable, efficient turbo diesel is far more appealing, particularly if
somebody can figure out how to make a "flex-fuel" diesel variant.