Well I am seriously considering "taking the plunge" and getting either a Hymotion plugin or an Enginer. Here's the situation: Enginer has a sale on through the end of the year. On the other hand, Florida has approved a tax break of $5k on a Hymotion install, and Hymotion is the only system that qualifies for that break. I was looking at a 8kw system from Enginer and with their sale I would end up paying about the same for an Enginer 8kw system (installed) as I would after the tax break for the Hymotion (5kw) system (installed). Neither company has a local installer, but the Hymotion installer is closest being a few hours away. I'm not sure how the tax rebate works... I just saw the news item earlier today on Priuschat. At any rate, I was curious what people thought was the better system of the two for the money. I realize there are better systems than either of these two out there but if I get a plugin system, around $5,000 is the highest I'd want to go. I know Hymotion has been around longer than Enginer... on the other hand the Enginer system would be 8kw vs 5kw for the Hymotion system. Anybody know how much of a difference the extra 3kw would make? Any big plusses for one system over the other that I'm not aware of? Most of my driving would definitely be fairly short trips around town. Thanks for any input you might have to pass along.
Short trips around town you would want to go with Hymotion. With Hymotion you can draw about 30-40 amps for EV mode and not draw down the stock battery SOC. 30-40 amps will get you to 40mph and you can even do EV out on the highway if conditions are right. Get the Hymotion and install an EV button. The Enginer kit will limit the amp draw to around 12A or 20A using two converters. Something like that I think. So the amp draw would not be enough to keep a 35mph speed. If you tried that with the Enginer kit you will draw down the stock battery too much. The Enginer kit is better for all highway travel. The question I have for you is how far are you going to travel on these mostly short trips?
You are comparing apples with oranges, these two systems are not at the same technological level, one is a DIY, scalable in power options that will require some sort of maintenance, the other is a factory sealed packaged equipment and installed by selected locations and 3 times as expensive.
Well, my work is about 5 miles from my house so most of my trips will be work and back. But I do other daily trips as well usually around the same distances though. Some trips 20-50 mile round trip weekend types of things, but infrequent highway driving. I also found out a little more about the rebate program that Florida is offering. Probably no surprise but one must pay the full amount of the sale upfront and apply for the rebate to the state. Don't have any idea how long it would take to have the rebate fulfilled, but it would be additional upfront cost to do the Hymotion install, but especially for my needs sounds like the preferable one to go with. Thanks for the input.
As long as your doing about 30 miles or less a day at around 35mph I would go with Hymotion and install a manual EV button. I have the Hymotion battery. I'm just doing my commute to work and back 95% of the time and I'm going 2000+ miles and 200+ mpg per tank. I think with your commute you could do the same or better once you figure the best way to exploit the battery.
Tetris, I am considering the Enginer system also. There is an installer in Port St Lucie. $500 for install.
That's good to know. The last I heard he didn't have any installers closer than North Carolina and it was going to be $800 to have an installer sent to me and have it installed. I am leaning toward the Hymotion install though since the rebate makes it much more affordable. I am going to check on how long the federal part of the tax credit lasts before I make a final decision. I want to make sure the install doesn't have to be completed by the end of the year to get the federal tax credit. Thanks for the response. I have read up on the forum and on each company's website and I knew the Hymotion was priced much higher but really didn't know how much better the Hymotion was than the Enginer. That is to say, I didn' t know if the price difference between a Hymotion and a similarly sized Enginer was really worth the difference. Without the rebate I wouldn't even consider the Hymotion as it would be WAY more that I would consider spending. I knew Hymotion was out first with their system and that there is more history on their system of usage by individuals and fleets (but since they have had their system out for awhile that would stand to reason) but didn't really know if their system was that much better than the Enginer. For ME neither system would be a DIY... I have some knowledge in electronics but I don't feel comfortable poking around high voltage areas in my car.
Enginer vs. Hymotion: are they an option. I have a 2009 (the 05 was in an accident) and I am thinking about getting a PHEV conversion. I drive 75 miles one way to work each day. I may or may not get to recharge throughout the day at work. Which system would, if any will work best for me?
Re: Enginer vs. Hymotion: are they an option. A 4kwh Enginer system ($3K, the cheapest available today) will give you a max 45miles of blended PHEV with about 200 Lbs of extra weight. The rest of your 150-45=105 miles, you will be dragging the extra weight for no gain. If you are NOT fully recharging at work ( 6hs) it will be a waste of money for that sole purpose.
Re: Enginer vs. Hymotion: are they an option. Hmm.. I don't think the hymotion will work for that distance. The typical enginer system won't either. However, you can actually put up to 8Kwh in an enginer setup, which would theoretically give you 80 miles. However, these setups require a certain amount of customization and also you will need a suspension upgrade if you don't want the rear of the car dragging the ground. Of course, on the highway, I don't think either system gives that much benefit, maybe 10-20 mpg extra, depending on your speed. I think the only ones that can work really well (approach 100 mpg) on the highway are the PICC and Plug-in-Supply, but their range is only like 25 miles.
PHEVs, like EVs, work best at limited range and lower speed. At 150 miles between charges, nothing on the market is economically viable -- probably the same is true at 75 miles. The Enginer kit works well if the operating time between charges is 1 hour, and the average speed is 45 mph or less.
I had a Hymotion L5 Kit installed in my '07 Silver Prius in October 2009 and overall, I love it and use it extensively in total EV mode, getting well over 1000 miles per tank of gas. My typical day's drive is in the 20 mile range and I plug it in every night whether I need to or not. Unfortunatley, I have experienced one problem which "TheForce" mentioned in his very first extensive post in this thread. Occasionally, apparently at random, the pack shuts down and does not permit any electron flow from the unit. As TheForce said, usually, it self corrected and came back on for the next drive or the next day ... and life went on. I have been experiencing these occasional "black-outs" about every month or two. I cannot pin-point any threshold that causes it to occur. Certainly, one 90F day when I was travelling up a long 0.5-mile, 30% grade the pack overheated and I had to pull over and let the pack rest for 2 minutes before continuing on my drive. This was understandable and is not my concern at all. Now, for the past 2 days, it has refused to come on and I have been driving around with a 200-pound dead weight in my trunk. I am not a happy camper! The little red LED with the switch is Off and is not blinking. The unit is fully charged. My ScanGauge does not show the SoC of the Hymotion pack. The reset button on the unit is fully in. The Prius drives in the normal Hybrid fashion. I have turned the HSD system on/off many times. I have turned the Hymotion pack switch on/off several times. Temperatures are moderate: cool evenings in 50's and days are in 70's (Florida winter). Humidity is normal. Elevation is 5'. What is wrong? Any ideas? Thanks, ~ Erik KlnAir4U
Your best bet is to contact your Hymotion installer and or contact Hymotion. A completely unresponsive battery could be a number of things. If the reset button is in and the switch on the dash is on and the LED wont light or flash it sounds like you may just have a bad pack. Usually for something like this Hymotion will just swap out the battery under warranty.
