What happens when a hybrid gets creamed on the highway by say a large truck and the battery is ruptured ...wouldn't this be a Haz-Mat spill? Who will pay for the clean-up? When the hybrid is totalled or no longer serviceable how does the battery get disposed and who will pay for this disposal? How well do these vehicles perform under adverse conditions like below zero weather?
The batteries are a NiMH with a gel electrolyte- and, the individual batteries are only a little bigger than a D cell.
If some of the batteries rupture, the electrolyte does not squirt out, it's not a liquid.
A standard lead-acid car batery contains liquid sulphuric acid. How is that handled currently in crashes or at vehicle end-of-life?