4kwh Enginer GenIII PHEV in UK

I am hoping you'll post as much information as possible including many updates. I do want to know how you get on with it, any problems, any ongoing maintenance you need to do with it (balancing batteries etc). What mileage do you do a year, what average mpg do you/are you getting? Send me all the detail, just keep it simple - I'm only a cabbie!

I'm trying to work out any payback period (though the idea of easy green power appeals also) and whether it will be a go-er for me or whether it'll be a royal pain in the a** and not worth the hassle.

 

I wish you luck and a great performance.

 

Going off topic here a little so I'll keep it brief - Ecotricity seems like an interesting company...they have no shareholders or dividends and the money that they make goes back into producing more "deep green renewable sources of energy" (mostly windmills).

What's even more interesting is their Project Nemesis - they got some ex-F1 guys to convert a Lotus Elise (I think) to be driven by electric motors and aim to run from Land's End to John O'Groats (lowest tip of UK to highest tip, 840 miles) in less than 24 hours (trip should take an estimated 15 hours in a normal car) ...not sure of the car spec or how many batteries it'll have!

 

Just to get off topic for a post or two
Do you buy gas in Litres or Imp gallons?
Are road distance in km or miles?

 

lol, you're opening a tin of worms with that question!

Officially we're metric and I was taught metric at school back in the 1970s & 80s, however, distances are still in miles and yards and the car speedo is in mph (but must have km/h also) and we use miles per gallon. But fuel is sold in litres. Low bridges have the height in feet and inches and road signs have yards - which confuses foreign truck drivers.

On the other hand, most, if not all foodstuffs are sold in metric.

Clear as mud eh?

 

we are mostly metric here
I wish we did go the 100% meteric when we started in the 70's

like who really know there 1760 yards in a mile

1000 m in km is so easy

In Canada all signs are metric and gas is sold in litres

 

Metric makes sense and is logical, but and it's an important but, it was invented by the French! THAT is the reason that most English speaking nations have trouble adopting it!

(ducks head waiting for the flak!)

 

Just ordered a 4 kWh kit myself and I'll keep a close eye on this topic from this side of the Channel. I have a 2nd Gen. Prius but I assume it will be very similar.
Got an e-mail from Jack saying that shipping will start somewhere end August/early September.

Do you know anything about the new BMS Flaninacupboard, is it better than the previous Enginer system using balancers?

Yes 'petrol' is expensive all over mainland Europe as well, I have my hopes set high on the Enginer kit. Doing just over 53 mpg on annual 20k (km's) so enough room for improvement.
A few days ago I heard on the radio there will be a standard PHEV Euro-plug and socket for the bumper side. It might be handy to use that one instead but I couldn't find any info on that.

Good luck! Hope to see some videos, that would be nice.

 

There are a couple of engineer systems running here in Sweden, importer is installing the 10+ first and another 10 on it´s way. I installed mine a couple of weeks ago and the BMS shut off charger ok so far. I have not run under 3.1 V per cell pair yet so I have not seen the red light. Pack was cycled a couple of times before install with halogen lamps as load to check and it works ok. After a charge all cells settle at around 3.35 V, due to the chemistry they say. Importer say that on his first system he needed more than 40 cycles to get the cell buddies similar. Have fun. Olov

 

That is what I heard as well. Also that the European modifiction can be done differently because of the standard EV button we have. So the wiring can be different and no need to get behind the glove compartement. Do you know anything about that Olov?

And how is you car performing with the Enginer kit, have you done a few testdrives already and what was the result? I'm very curious about that.

 

Yes I connected to a yellow cable on a medium white connector at the HV harness in the back of the car for the Ready/Ign signal thus avoiding the glove compartment hazzle. I have still not decided if I need the on/off button on a regular basis so right now it is btw. the front seats. Works for me. I have run a couple of weeks a few 100km and on average 0.1 l/10km less from 0.46 to 0.36 seen 0.33, never above 0.4. I can notice that AC pull significant current on a warm day and so do washer wipers.... I charge at work and go home and back only in city with short 70 km/h stretch and to the summer house weekend 100km round trip mixed with highway and I am not the only driver either. Have fun with your new magic box. Olov

 

So they don't put your address on it? Or do they just send it to a port for your attention? Does it mean you're now liable for a full dollop of import duties?

I'd still be interested to hear how you get on with it all, though your experience so far has done little to convince me to follow your lead.

 

Mmm... Isn’t this just normal with all big packages? Remember you not ordering something like music CD from US.

I’m not sure how things go over there, but in here you always have to deal all duty/handling/unloading/customs clearance and whatever costs yourself. Specially if you are ordering something big (expensive) from outside EU. Even if you are using UPS or any other parcel service.

Those US guys can’t know what different taxes or customs cost in your country can be?

I have no mean to be negative just informative… I hope everything comes home in good shape.

 

At least there is something good from EU, you won’t get these problems (usually) in free trade in Europe.

I am thinking to order kit from Enginer without batteries, but I have to wait how usage taxes about hybrid cars change in Finland. Why they can't make same tax laws in whole EU?

 

wow, i kinda wish we have $7/gal price here in the States, it would result in a paradigm shift.

At $3/gal here and the Prius uses about $0.02/mile in electricity ($0.10/kwh). And if you have solar panels; the recoup for the panel gets better too.

My 2004 Prius price probably goes up; and my bicycle trips would worth so much more !