The Prius That Shook.. - VFAQ Prius Site

finished early enough.
"The engine is not the only component of a car. Why
can't you keep a promise?"
Nobody wanted to offend another group by running late,
but when promises were broken, conflicts occurred.
Sometimes these conflicts would turn a bit confrontational.
Late one night, Uchiyamada went to check on the
testing group. An engineer bluntly told him, "Mr. Chief
Engineer, you are distracting us by appearing so late at
night. We will let you know the results in the morning. Please
leave us alone." Uchiyamada was taken aback, but smiled
wryly to himself as he quickly left the test course.
Backing up the battery
Even as the future of Prius began to look brighter,
Yaegashi still had problems with the battery. The group
was still unable to achieve the scheduled level of quality, and a
prototype had not yet been produced. Yaegashi wondered, "
What will happen if the battery can't meet the performance
requirement at all?" He confided in Uchiyamada, "Uchiyamada-
san, we might have to raise engine performance because we
can't tell how much the battery's performance can be improved
at this point."
"How much more do you think we should raise it? More
engine power means lower fuel economy."
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