Battery pack upgrade for Prius claims 150MPG

[clintd555]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/20/battery...-claims-150mpg/

Being shown at the Clean Vehicle Technology Expo in Ontario, California is Hymotion's modified Prius that can hit up to 150MPG in city areas. By adding a 175 pound battery pack to the trunk of a Prius -- which fits conveniently under the floor panel -- and charging overnight using a regular power plug, owners will be able to drive for up to 50 miles on battery power alone: that's well over the average motorist's daily journey. It'll cost $9,500 including installation, but according to one of the staff at the show, half of that could be covered by rebates as part of a new electric cars bill soon to be before Congress. Onwards we go, tip toeing towards a petrol-free future.

[dir]

I applaud the initiative and direction this is going, but the ROI is too long at that cost. Well, at least here in Australia at that rate considering we don't have a Congress (or equiv) that would create rebate structures. Heck, we don't even have Transit lanes that allow hybrids the same lattitude as dual-occupant vehicles. But then again, perhaps the cost could be claimed somehow against tax as a business expense...

Isn't there some interdependency between the ICE and the generator that forces ICE to kick in above 47km/hr? So can this battery pack still work exclusively above that speed? My daily commute takes me on the freeway for 60% of the trip.

Regardless, love the direction this is going. I'll give it another 2 years and see where the price is then.

[vuapplepudding]

Why not just install these babies at the Toyota factory to cut the costs?

Oh yeah, the safety thing.

So why can Hymotion do it as an aftermarket and Toyota cannot? Is it because the battery pack is made up of a bunch of little bitty Li-Ion batteries?

[Bob64]

The question people should be asking is if these upgraded batteries have any sort of warranty on them. Plunking down 9k for a battery that might die in a month is a risky bet.

[Gadgetdad]

I can't imagine why these would cost so much. No wonder they are dragging their feet in making them available to the public!

[patsparks]

My fuel bill for 12 months driving, 25,000km per year is about 4.5 L/100km is around $1400US per year on current exchange rate and at a price if $1.40AU per litre. If I eliminated all of my petrol costs and ran my prius on electricity only, and even if I could buy electricity for free it would take me a fraction over 7 years to pay for the battery pack and conversion.

Now lets add to that the interest on the $10,000 at about 9% which is about the best rate I can find for a personal loan here and I'm down another $900 US each year then the cost of electricity, lets say $300 per year at a wild guess so now the battery pack and electricity will cost me $11,200 in the first year and I can pay off $1400 in saved fuel so I now owe $9,800! Going to take a while to pay this conversion off! Admitedly the price of petrol will increase but so might interest rates. I have also started with a petrol price 10c more than the current high in the weekly cycle.

Add to this the loss of load space and weight carrying capacity which is marginal with 4 people aboard, and the loss of the spare wheel well so no where to carry a spare, I think I'll let this one go.

I'm not saying this conversion isn't right for you, I'm just saying after forking out the readys for the car I cant justify the upgrade. Maybe next time.

Anyone who goes down this path, can you please let us all know how it goes.

[daniel]

If this is the Prius-Plus technology, those (lead-acid) batteries replace the spare tire. Even if they are using lithium, I suspect they have replaced the spare tire.

Why doesn't Toyota do this? Because most buyers don't want their spare tire sitting in the cargo area.

Once lithium batteries reach a price point where Toytota believes the market (i.e. average buyers) will pay the price, I think we may see a plug-in Prius from the factory.

However, note that the article is extremely misleading, because the Prius STILL cannot go over 42 mph in electric mode (34 mph in EV mode) or accelerate fast enough to keep up with traffic without running the gas engine. The plug-in Prius AT BEST gets half its energy from the grid while it burns gasoline for the other half.

The real solution is the Volt concept (which GM will never build, but somebody will) where the car operates at full specs on battery power for some distance (the farther the better) and then burns fuel after the batteries are depleted for longer trips. Even this will be an intermediate step, until fast-charging stations are available on the roads.

[Spoid]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bob64 @ Oct 20 2007, 09:10 PM) [snapback]528348[/snapback]</div>

The question people should be asking is if these upgraded batteries have any sort of warranty on them. Plunking down 9k for a battery that might die in a month is a risky bet.
[/b]

That's a really good point. Here in Las Vegas, you are lucky if you can get 3 years on a regular car battery. The heat destroys them. I'd hate to pay $9k every 3 years to replace the battery.

[tballx]

While I agree with the ROI being long it seems funny coming from someone on a Prius board. If I was looking at ROI purely for fuel expenses, I would've bought a Yaris. I'm happy to see this technology and I will pay for the utility of funding my energy through local domestic sources rather than through foreign oil imports. If someone can provide this service to me, it is worth cash. Hence my willingness to embrace this technology. Like others I'll wait a little while until my warranty is gone however, once that is done, I'll definitely be throwing in whatever lithium solution is out in the market place. I think expecting an 8 year warranty out of such a solution is reasonable though.

[donee]

Hi Daniel,

The developemental third generation Prius Plug-in mules are reported to go 62 mph on battery power. Which is good for 100 % off-highway travel around here, and probably 50 % on-highway travel (due to traffic).

I really like the Plug-in system the Boulder guys did. It is a whole battery system upgrade (they figured out all the packet data between the hybrid computers and the battery system). It is the only system I see as truely professionally engineered.

I also like the nano-safe batteries. They seem to be ready now. They do not have the enegy density of some of the others, but there is a good incremental improvement in energy density over NiMH and they have much better power at low temperatures. Besides having the capabilty for rapid charge (think long down-hill regeneration) and long calender life. If I was Toyota, I would license this technology quick, and come out with an evolutionary improved Prius.