We combine a detailed battery model with a simple vehicle model to examine the battery size and capacity usage of a LixC6/Liy+0.16Mn1.84O4 cell (with a normal and artificially flat equilibrium potential) and a Li4+3xTi5O12/LiyFePO4 cell. The features of cell chemistry we are concerned with are the magnitude and shape of the cell equilibrium potential and internal resistance. Our key findings include that a battery for a hybrid electric vehicle application has a capacity usage from 15 to 25% (for a minimum separator area size), and as one moves from a HEV battery to a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle battery there is a change in the slope of the separator area vs. equivalent-electric range curve due to the shape of the pulse-power capability. We also find that defining the resistance using the HPPC protocol has limitations because in general the pulse resistance depends on the applied current and pulse duration. Our detailed, combined model also shows that the benefits of a flat-potential system may be limited because of the relative positions of a flat and sloped equilibrium potential, and the lack of a driving force for the relaxation of solid-phase concentration gradients throughout the electrode. That latter effect is shown to be more significant for electrodes with a non-uniform current distribution. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.