One Year With Hymotion Plug-In Prius.

Nice! 3 cents per mile for the fuel cost.

Avg. Wh per mile: 143.87

That's a lot lower than Volt's 250Wh per mile or Nissan Leaf's 240Wh per mile numbers.

I am assuming it is because the gas engine assist in some of the miles.

Do you have the average speed (MPH)?

 

Jay I know what you mean about a year going by quickly. I actually have a hymotion service appt. On the one year anniversary of my install. I was having partial charges during a week of warmer weather. Jim at a123 wants to see the pack himself, I hope that it is the simple mis-wiring of the fan. For me I will have to calculate my annual results. 2 points for me that have helped my phev mileage is, SHM I think your thermostat hack is great. I wanted to drive mine as "normal" as possible. Second full grill block, other than driving well past the packs range on the highway, I use it all the time. Good luck on year two. I am hoping for 1500 miles for a tank. 1086 is my best tank
Chris

 

I've had mine since November and had put 10 -12K on the car since. My best tank was 1060 miles with a 9.XX refill, so over 110 MPG. I average about 90 MPG on my round trip commute to/from San Francisco, which is almost double what I got before the Hymotion. I have done several long trips, so my overall mileage isn't anything great. Just last weekend I drove to Lake Tahoe and back and with one charge each way I got 50 MPG going up (would get maybe 40 MPG without the Hymotion) and 60 coming back down (would have average 50 or so without the Hymotion). 55 MPG average using 8 kWh total for a 500 mile R/T with a total climb of 10,000 feet or so is pretty amazing.

 

I've had my Hymotion for over a year now, too. I just filled my tank up yesterday, exactly 90 days (and 1017 miles) since my last fill-up. I've been careful not to exceed my battery's range. So, my fill-up was only 5.9 gallons!!! That works out to be an average of over 170 mpg!!! I was careful to let the tank fill up slowly and stopped as soon as it clicked off the first time. So, that should be fairly accurate.

However, the previous fill-up was done at a temperature of 80 deg F and this fill-up was at a temp of 60 deg F. So, I should probably subtract a little to account for increased fuel-bladder contraction. Nonetheless, I still must have averaged well over 150 mpg for a 90-day period. I feel pretty good about that.

On the one hand, most of my 1017 miles were in EV mode at city speeds. That made it a lot easier to get high MPG. On the other hand, my 1017 miles includes over 60 trips up a steep hill that is over a mile and a half long. The only way I could do this and still keep up a high average MPG was to go up the hill in EV mode whenever possible. That means going between 8 mph and 20 mph for most of the hill. Fortunately, I work on a second shift and don't come home until 11 pm. So, there is usually nobody else on the road.

Considering that I DID use gas on a lot of those trips up the hill, my average MPG for the rest of the time was probably well over 200 MPG. Yeeeeehaaawww!!!!

Soon, it will be back to cold-weather driving and lower MPG. I'll definitely have to install that grill block this winter.

Arthur

 

One year ago yesterday, I had the Hymotion installed by Fitzgerald Toyota. My best tank is 1024 miles at 111.6 MPG. Unfortunatley, I drive past the range of the Hymotion many times during normal use which makes my Hymotion average for the year 65.8 MPG. I recently learned how to get better mileage when in town using the 52 MPH hack. When driving over 42 MPH the Prius stock battery is drained quickly causing a condition where the Hymotion could not catch up. In the past, once the SOC dropped below 50 the Hymotion would not recharge the Prius battery. I learned that shutting off the car and restarting with the 52 MPH hack prevents the engine start and allows the Hymotion to charge the stock battery in 2-10 minutes depending on how far the SOC dropped while driving. This allows the car to do some high speed driving for short distances and recharge without starting the engine. Since I live in town, learning this trick helps for short errands. If I had it to do over, I would definately purchase the Hymotion again. I love the ability to EV around town and when combined with the 52 MPH hack it is the perfect blend of Ev and hybrid.

 

I agree - the 2 together are a good team - but you do need to use the 52 MPH button properly and pay a lot more attention to the SOC. And of course, you have to be sure you don't accidentally hit the EV button while driving on the freeway - did that a few times.

 

thanks for the update. glad you are happy with your Hymotion. i echo your sentiment that i will never buy a regular car again. one way or another, it will have a plug.

 

What happened when you pushed the button over 52 MPH. I always wondered, but I sure was not going to take a chance on purpose.

If by chance Hymotion is listening, my two wish lists would be

1) Bigger battery - I realize I have what I have
2) 220V Charging - I do a lot of errands and always go home. I could plug to 220v and charge so much faster.


---Kent

 

Very nice Jay. You are one of the best PHEV drivers out there.

 

The ICE just shut off and that was it - of course you have no power until the car gets below 52. I was on a big downhill the first time and a slight downhill the second time, so after uttering a few cuss words I shifted to neutral and coasted to the next exit without dropping below the speed limit.

I like your suggested improvements - I would also add a way to charge the Hymotion pack via regen braking (although as most of us have seen, due to the spoofing software, there appears to almost always be some room for regen into the Prius pack).

 

BTW why do youguys want the stock battery charged? I would prefer the stock battery be kept at 50% SOC roughly so that it could actually accept Regen energy. With the hymotion pack there is huge quantities of wasted energy since regen is getting dumped as the stock battery is too full to accept it.

I have been contemplating a method to try and regen again, but haven't quite figured it out yet.

 

I own an 2008 Prius (love it) and am researching whether to buy a 2008 Prius with the Hymotion plug in upgrade. All the posts here are very positive.

2 major questions:
`1) li-on battery life? - I read somewhere that estimated life is 5 - 6 years.
2) Is the Toyota warranty voided if non-dealer installed?

Also what is the 52 MPH hack? On my 2004 I had a gizmo installed that allows me to stay in electric mode up to about 32 MPH.

Martin
[email protected]

 

"They have been tested for over 9000 charge/discharge cycles and still hold %80 charge."

If I leave it plugged in when not in use, is it continually going through charge/discharge cycles? Or is the charge/discharge cycles calculated in a different way? If it is calculated once a day it would tkae 25 yrs. to die.

Martin