Alternative battery for Enginer kit

Fuel cells would be great, but what is the cost ? and what the energy source ? a hydrogen fuel cell would be the ideal with you can make hydrogen at home from your roof mounted panel. I think the cost is the limiting factor.

I believe the A123 nano LiFePo may be more within range. But yes, any 48-56v source with sufficient current draw should work.

 

Since you are doing this as a 'one off' design....

Fuel cells are easy (really easily!) to contaminate. If anywhere in the fueling , tank, or system things get contaminated you get to buy a brand new fuel cell.

 

48V@100A is only 4.8kw. you don't have an EV there, so just use it for blended driving (exactly as the Enginer kit does). You can expect 70-80mpg until the hydrogen tank is empty, then back to normal economy. only difference would be if you did a lot of low speed urban driving, in which case you can use the stock EV mode.

 

Let me suggest the water fuel cell when done right 100 mpg +. It's like the fuel fell and acts as a capacitor that in which u will use it as the source of energy. To drive the car

 

I looked into getting a 48volt 200ah battery pack and was quoted:

the battery pack: $4820
BMS: $1200
Charger (58.4V 40A) $300
Outcase (metal ) $80
total $6400

Replacement cells (each cell in Enginer battery pack is made of 4 cells in parallel) were quoted at $30 each. Can anybody suggest a better brand ? - maybe Mottcell.

 

it may be cheaper to order another pack from enginer; which comes with the BMS & monitor, metal box etc...less than $2K for 4kwh

 

If you are still going through an enginer DC-DC converter, the fuel cell could not directly drive the prius since you'd still be limited by the wattage of the converter. The Prius can easily consume 23,000 watts during a steady take-off, and can maintain 7,000 watts during cruising.

The only way to really provide that kind of power is to eliminate the DC-DC converter and use a battery pack that is rated at the correct voltage to interface directly to the prius HV wires. The reason the Enginer kit does not go that route is because it is much more expensive to have so many battery cells and to try to keep them all balanced.

 

It is not cheaper when you are located in Australia.

 

As I understand it a fuel cell to power the Prius above 52 in pure EV would be too big and many modifications would have to be made, the enginer kit just supplements the standard Prius and a fuel cell sounds like an excellent idea to help and extend the range of the batteries in the kit. You have the benefits of the Enginer system ( no modification to Prius systems ) + much extended range and the ability to recharge when no mains available. I would like to know what 50-56v fuel cell systems are out there, one that runs on butane cans would be great.