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New PHEV kit on eBay. Any good?

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by Puzzler1, Dec 16, 2008.

  1. Puzzler1

    Puzzler1 Junior Member

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    Hi everyone. I've searched PriusChat and didn't find anything on this. I just found this auction on eBay and was wondering if anyone knew anything about it.
    eBay Motors: Toyota Prius Lithium Ion Hybrid Battery With Charger (item 320323870674 end time Jan-07-09 13:55:37 PST)

    There is very little information on it both in the auction and in the company's site.

    The company web site is: el-drive.biz. They claim to take Prius power trains and modify them for use in boats.

    Sorry if this is a repeat post. I couldn't find anything on it. (Lousy searcher??:()

    Terry
     
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    The site's pretty thin, I've not heard of them at all and am skeptical about their claims.
     
  3. Puzzler1

    Puzzler1 Junior Member

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    That's what I thought too. Without much info I was wondering if they have a BMU (battery management unit) or if they just use the original one which wouldn't let you use most of the power anyway. Also, if the battery goes dead, would the car still work since the original is removed?
     
  4. nugget

    nugget New Member

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    Caveat Emptor. It always sends off warnings with me when I see small typos on a website like the eldrive.biz Alan...you are trying to sell people and gain their confidence to give them a high tech piece of equipment for $7500, at least get the grammar and typos correct!!
    I don't know anything about this operation, but I am on the waitlist for a A123 hymotion L5 conversion, and from what I see this is no do it yourself task....high voltage! Even the hobbyist who have converted Prius prior to the mass market release this year of the A123-Hymotion kit claim that conversion requires some level of electrical knowledge way above 'joe average.'
     
  5. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    They list no specs, they don't tell you how the system integrates. There's much more to a PHEV conversion than a charger and batteries...and that volume of Li will NOT give you 8x range. They don't talk about a controller, they really have no photos, nothing.
     
  6. Puzzler1

    Puzzler1 Junior Member

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    I knew the smarter ones out here would know better. I agree with all. I was debating if I should even bother trying to ask about the details such as kwh capacity and controller and or battery management systems, but it seems that if it were truly a well thought out product, they would have provided the info up front.

    It almost sounds like they just took out the Prius battery and replaced just the battery with the equivalent voltage of lithium ion batteries and think that is all that's needed.

    I'm not going to be the first guinea pig!!! Any volunteers??



    Terry
     
  7. hybrad2

    hybrad2 New Member

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    smells fishy to me...8X battery capacity would require 8X larger Ah batteries. So let's examine that-

    Prius has 6.5Ah batteries

    so 8X capacity would be 52Ah batteries

    That would be an impressive engineering feat to cram 80 each 50Ah Lithium batteries of any sort into the space of the existing NiMH pack..read impossible..

    Oh and don't forget to return your old battery pack so you don't have to to pay the "core charge" too....

    Hybrad
    junglemotors dot com
     
  8. hybrad2

    hybrad2 New Member

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    Whaddaya think PeakOilGarage, could you fit 80 A123's in the stock Prius battery pack? Is A123 even selling the cells to anyone?

    Hybrad
     
  9. aminorjourney

    aminorjourney Mum to two prius!

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    I'd run away, screaming if possible.

    There's just not the data here to make me feel that this place is trustworthy. Their site is even thinner on the ground.

    For a start, the photograph seems to just be of a stock OEM battery. It looks like there's a vent tube there, which of course the stock NiMH need and unless I'm wrong, the A123 cells they claim to use don't.

    They don't mention how they plan to integrate the setup in a stock Prius. You can't just plug any battery configuration into the Prius and expect it to use the extra power without any probelms.

    Technically, the website is very vaguge. You'd be better off going for something recognised and tested...
     
  10. orenf

    orenf New Member

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    Reads like a scam. Note seller feedback - <10 positive as a seller, and all of it old, so no detailed info.

    Their website claims they're getting batteries form A123 - if you're interested, you should call A123 and ask if they know them at all...
     
  11. Bob64

    Bob64 Sapphire of the Blue Sky

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    Sounds scam-tastic.
     
  12. Swingshiftworker

    Swingshiftworker Junior Member

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    I love the shipping cost: $113 via Media Mail! :rofl:
     
  13. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    In the movie The Castle, an Australian movie about a battling family getting by the best they could and fighting for their right to remain on their little piece of Australia, the dad of the family had a catch cry when his son saw something in the trading post he thought wasn't a good deal,

    Tell 'em they're dreamin'!!
     
  14. hybrad2

    hybrad2 New Member

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    did they also throw in the set of Ginsu knives if you order now????



    Hybrad
    over 100+ mpg all the time
     
  15. markderail

    markderail I do 45 mins @ 3200 PSI

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    I asked them a question, I'll post the answer here later. If I get one.

    In theory - it certainly makes sense, just change the battery pack, plug & play. Don't even bother with Plug-In, the ICE will eventually recharge it.
     
  16. aminorjourney

    aminorjourney Mum to two prius!

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    Actually, I'm going to have to disagree with you there.

    The only way it would be a direct plug-in replacement would be if the kit included a new battery management unit. The existing one in the Prius carefully counts down how much energy goes in and comes out of the battery. If it detects more going in that it thinks the battery can hold there's a set of errors which can be set in motion by the car.

    SOC reporting is an integral part of the PHEV mod - I've got a seperate box sitting on my car's CANBus to make sure my car doesn't freak out by the extra capacity batteries.

    I'm still very skeptical of this ebay mod. I just don't see how they could produce the kit at that price and using that performance claims.

    Nikki.
     
  17. bedrock8x

    bedrock8x Senior Member

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    Unless they are really smart by building an interface to fool the ECU by translating or scaling the 5kWh capacity and SOC to the original battery.

     
  18. Puzzler1

    Puzzler1 Junior Member

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    This is seeming more and more like a bad deal. They don't even know their own warranty. In the auction linked to, the selles answers a question sayiing there is a 5 year pro-rated warranty. On their web site, at least at the moment, it states a 7 year pro-rated warranty.

    How well thought out are the mattery management computers and interfaces to the Prius systems if they can't even remember how long a warranty they have?

    Definitely not confidence inspiring.


    Terry
     
  19. kammssss

    kammssss Member

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    hey, i am glad i read the forums. i was thinking of buying one. here is another shady thing they have going: charging $1000 extra for the core fee. why this amount when you can just buy the OEM battery for $500 off ebay. they claim that their battery/designs is to make it affordable to the public. (SCAM!).
     
  20. aminorjourney

    aminorjourney Mum to two prius!

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    Has anyone given/been shown one of these kits? Or is it vapourware? Perhaps the vendors would like to show the PriusChat group some evidence of how their kit performs... Then we'd be able to say for sure if it's a scam or not..