What to expect after your Hymotion L5 pack is installed

I would second everything that SaucyRed wrote.

The most gasoline that I use is the first 5 minutes during a the engine warm-up period. An engine block heater and a programmable timer would likely help a lot in the mornings. Perhaps a 30 minute pre-heat before you typically leave for work? How long does an EBH need?

The Hymotion kit makes it easy to maintain EV mode with the pedal at speeds below 38 mph. The EV button is not necessary. You have plenty of control with the gas pedal. Whereas with the stock Prius, you really have to feather the pedal lightly to get in EV mode. With the Hymotion battery there is A LOT more range in the pedal to use EV mode.

With an engine block heater, staying below 38 mph, and if you live in a flat area, you could easily go a few thousand miles on a tank of gas. I am waiting for the first

When I am on the highway, I set the cruise control at 60 mph. If the highway is flat, it is always 99.9 mpg. Even if there is a slight incline on the highway, I typically observe numbers of 60 mpg or higher during the climbing phase.

The Hymotion battery appears to make the Toyota stock battery think that the SOC is always 7/8 or 8/8 bars. The two different batteries flash back and forth on the screen, with the Hymotion battery being dominant, then the stock Toyota battery having a short flash. However, I don't think the stock battery is really at 7/8 or 8/8. I have turned off the Hymotion battery while driving, and the stock battery seems to recalibrate and return to 6/8 bars within a few seconds.

 

If you have a recharge plug at work, the Hymotion can completely recharge within 5 or 6 hours. So this system can provide 60 to 80 miles of EV range per day.

In my experience, every parking garage has plugs around. The trick is to get a parking space close enough to use the plug. With my Vectrix electric scooter, that is easy. You can sneak into narrow spaces and I have a 20 foot extension cord with me. Nobody cares if you put a scootor on the sidewalk next to a building plug.

With a Hymotion Prius, you might need a longer extension cord available depending on the parking circumstances. I carry two extension cords (20 ft and 40 ft) for different circumstances. If needed, I can put them together and have 60 feet of extension cord. But that is not advisable for an efficient charge.

 

Expect:
To be smiling more when you fillup after 900+ Miles of travel.
Wonder what to do to get 200+ MPG in normal driving.

Chris

 

In more 'rural' settings parking lots may have outlets on lightposts for property maintenance. I believe in very cold environments that outlets may be installed for engine block heaters (got this from hybridfest website). I was thinking I could find a place to charge when I go to HF.
Chris

 

Let me respectfully disagree on the need for an EV button. A lot of our trips can be done with max speed under 34 mph. For those, the EV switch lets you avoid using the gas engine at all. So, we've found the EV switch to be handy, in our circumstances.

 

FWIW, the triple beep and the screen change are both related to EV mode. If you try to go EV and are denied, or if you are in EV and cross the 34mph boundary you get the triple beep. The screen changes when an EV mode request is successful. Just keep in mind the difference between EV mode and stealth mode. EV mode is the "ICE warmup delay" mode activated by pushing the "EV" button on asian and euro priuses. This is not the same as stealth mode, which is activated by releasing the gas pedal and depressing lightly. This gets fuzzier on a Hymotion Prius, as their controller is connected to the EV switch and can decide to put you in EV mode without external input. If you are going faster than 34mph, you are definitely in stealth mode, not EV. With the high SOC maintained by the PHEV pack, it is also widely reported that you can transition directly from EV mode to stealth mode upon crossing 34mph without the ICE starting.

Rob

 

My EV button and my Engine Block Heater both arrived today. So I will be installing ASAP and trying this out for myself.

My biggest frustration is the warm-up phase and all of that wasted gasoline. I would love to just get by that and go EV most of the day.

 

SaucyRed, I agree completely. With a PHEV it is really tough to define the MPG. It really depends on each individual trip. If it is just around town at never goes above 35 mph, then the efficiency is incredible in pure EV mode. It is a waste of time to even assign an MPG value to that type of use.

I was on the highway tonight and set the cruise control on 55 mph with the ScanGauge II (it arrived today). It is MUCH more efficient at 55 mph compared to 60 mph. I was shocked at how big the difference was. I need to do more testing at both speeds to quantify this.

"TheForce" reported 50 miles of Hymotion range at 55 mph on cruise control.
I reported 40.3 miles of Hymotion range at 60 mph on cruise control.

I would not be surprised if those figures are both accurate. There might really be a 20% to 25% improvement in range by just dropping the average speed down to 55 mph.

 

About 3 hours max.

Wayne

 

Yes. The guys at Green Car Company are installing them now. It is becoming standard to include an EBH and ScanGauge II with every Hymotion battery system. The RPM data from a ScanGauge II is critical to keeping the ICE off. The gas engine is too silent to always know for sure that it is off. The road vibration can fool you.

I wrote on my blog about the initial impression of the EBH.

Engine block heater & Hymotion results Peak Oil Garage

The summary is that it is likely a wash financially. But if your goal is to minimize gas consumption during the early warm-up phase, then it is worth it, especially during the winter.

We have also designed a special Hymotion rear spring to offset the extra 180 lbs of weight in the rear section. A local shop is making us a large batch. We will likely be offering them for sale soon nationwide. Any local service garage can install them for you.