1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

REVIEW: Hymotion Battery Plug-In Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by TheForce, Aug 12, 2008.

  1. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

    Joined:
    May 30, 2005
    3,461
    537
    0
    Location:
    Wheelersburg, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    John is right. Its going to be a while for complete details. I will be posting my commute information as soon as I get some elevation data and some more trip and charging data as well. I should have this information ready by Wednesday but don't hold your breath. This review wont be finished until I fill my tank up with gas and by my calculations that wont be until the middle of October. Maybe even longer. Actually it will have to end October 12th as I will be taking a long road trip to the Georgetown Toyota plant. Thats if I don't take a long trip before that.
     
  2. Stefx

    Stefx Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2008
    336
    4
    0
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    In the same perspective you adopted, you driving a 2008 Prius makes no economical sense at all, you should be driving a used Toyota Echo instead.

    Now you're going to pull some "but" arguments, stating that choices can't be made purely on one single criteria (money).
     
  3. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

    Joined:
    May 30, 2005
    3,461
    537
    0
    Location:
    Wheelersburg, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I got 237MPG on my way to work today. I tried a little detour to see if I could get a little more EV only out of my commute to up the MPG. Looks like the 235MPG area will be about the best I can do without a coolant hack.
     
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,191
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Thanks for the continued updates...Can you give us a rough idea of what you commute involves...distance, speeds, traffic, stops....
     
  5. philmcneal

    philmcneal Taxi!

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2006
    332
    7
    0
    Location:
    Simcoe Ontario
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    II
    i wonder if using fuel stabilizer for those who use ev mode a lot would be a viable option, i heard they work great for fuel that is in storage (up to a year i heard). bottle covers 70 liters i think and costs like 13 bucks.
     
  6. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

    Joined:
    May 30, 2005
    3,461
    537
    0
    Location:
    Wheelersburg, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Just got home with the ScanGauge showing 516MPG. :D The reason I got that was because there was no one behind me and I was able to do a steady 30mph all the way home. That was until about a mile a way from my house some one got behind me. If no one got behind me I could have had a 1000MPG trip home but NOOOOOOOOOOOO some one just had to get behind me on my last mile. :mad:

    With this long trip in mostly EV mode I now know if all the roads I took to work were all 35mph I could get to work and back and possible another trip to work on a single charge. My guess right now would be that you can do about 30 miles in all EV mode if your easy on the go pedal. I cant wait to do an all EV mode test.
     
  7. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2006
    7,028
    1,116
    0
    Location:
    South Jersey
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    The attached file is the results of this year's 21st Century Automotive Challenge. The Run to the River for PHEVs is described on page 2 & pages 9-10. Since the drivers of stock Prius were getting 60+ mpg the phev Prius performance seems disappointing especially since it was over 50 minutes late.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Sheepdog

    Sheepdog C'Mere Sheepie!

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2008
    1,125
    15
    9
    Location:
    Sanford FLorida
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    omg. I thought 125 was gonna be great but 250? That 500mpg must be an anomaly, yes? I cant wait to hear about your October road trip!
     
  9. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2007
    4,374
    313
    0
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    :mad:laws need to be changed
    max speed 30mph everywhere:D
     
  10. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

    Joined:
    May 30, 2005
    3,461
    537
    0
    Location:
    Wheelersburg, Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    I had to work today so my highway test has been postponed until tomorrow.

    On my way to work I was able to get 211MPG.

    I think since the SG still reports .01GPH of fuel burned when in EV mode that my numbers wont be very accurate from the SG. When not moving and not burning fuel I can see my MPG drop every few seconds. :(
     
  11. ibcs

    ibcs New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2005
    351
    31
    0
    Location:
    Englewood , Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Can you describe your commute to work. Average speed along with terrain.

    ---Kent
     
  12. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2008
    117
    35
    0
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius

    Yep - obviously if you have a 10 miles commute with speed 30 and under, you should get infinite MPG if you have an EV button and stay on all electric. Is there a reason you won't post your commute details? Saying "I get 500 mpg" without any other data tells us absolutely nothing.


    For those who want to see some real world data on the Hymotion performance, you can look at the Google tests going on here: Google.org

    They have 4 plug-in Priuses (using the Hymotion pack) and a plug-in Escape. So far, the 4 Priuses are averaging close to 70 MPG in Bay Area driving, which involves lots of freeway driving. You can click on each car to see the data for each day.
     
  13. ibcs

    ibcs New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2005
    351
    31
    0
    Location:
    Englewood , Ohio
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    With the extensive write up done so far, it is easy to understand why he has not responded yet.

    ---Kent
     
  14. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2004
    15,140
    611
    0
    Location:
    South Puget Sound, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Nissan LEAF
    Model:
    Persona
    great link, TY for the info... but you cant be serious when comparing their data gathering to Jay's... give him time, hell, he aint had the thing a week!! he has already said it will take several weeks to burn thru his tank of gas. until then, we wont know much of anything.

    what do you want, a report on every pip as it disappears?

    right now, i will take any info i can get...better than waiting a minimum 2-3 weeks for a full report on a single tank of gas
     
  15. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2006
    5,963
    1,981
    0
    Location:
    Edmonton Alberta
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Just some costs to consider. He used about 6 kw-hr to fully? charge the battery. Here (Edmonton Alberta) it costs just under $0.10 per kw-hr. So think of it as $0.60/cost per gallon= perhaps 1/4 to 1/5 of a gallon. Or $0.60 per charge. If that takes you, in effect, 100 mi, (we have to get confused due to the engine running above 30 MPH) that could be considered the same cost as burning gasoline at up around 500 MPG. Of course I haven't factored in the hardware cost.

    I wonder how the govt. is going to recover road tax. ;)

    It -is- funny how our perceptions change, isn't it? I now get depressed when I see my MFD indicate I'm over 4.8 l/100 km. The anti-Prius -NEVER- got under 13 l/100 km! It was often above 15 l/100 km. :)
     
  16. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2004
    15,140
    611
    0
    Location:
    South Puget Sound, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Nissan LEAF
    Model:
    Persona
    there is some obvious conversion factors that must be applied, but on Zenn, if taking same amount of energy as a gallon of gas, the Zenn will travel 254 miles on electricity with same amount of energy
     
  17. zcat3

    zcat3 New Member

    Joined:
    May 4, 2008
    117
    35
    0
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    I'm not expecting anything like the google data, just some basic commute info to tie to the mileage claims. If you look at the google data, you will see some trips with mileage well over 100, but this is not the norm. Interestingly enough, one of the Escape PHEVs is averaging close to 50 MPG and is doing lots of long trips and freeway driving - seems like the overall mileage improvement is better with that module than with the Prius module (note that the Escape pack is an 8 kWh pack).
     
  18. Rangerdavid

    Rangerdavid Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2006
    1,362
    52
    0
    Location:
    Boone, North Carolina
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Three Touring
    WoW Jay, I just saw this thread!! Congrats!! and what a nice write up.......... Man, that's sure a nice present to give yourself...... Please keep us updated as I have been considering this addition as well, but I'm with Evan, I may wait to see how long I keep my '06, and/or trade for a new Prius....

    dude, I'm extremely jealous!! sweet............

    dave
     
  19. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2004
    15,140
    611
    0
    Location:
    South Puget Sound, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Nissan LEAF
    Model:
    Persona
    very valid questions, no doubt... i think we will get the rundown soon.
     
  20. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2007
    4,374
    313
    0
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    he wy don't you make the same video like this one


    or