107 mpg. 1,100 mile tank. Enginer system back on track.

I have had my 4kwh Enginer kit for almost 2 months and am very happy with the results, but PHEV in my opinion is still bleeding edge technology. The installer has had to adjust voltages twice.

On one hand a plugin conversion on a Prius is a great thing. On the other hand you have to learn how to play the rules of the Prius computer to maximize your EV driving.

Would I do it again? In a heart beat. Would I do anything differently? No. My main comment is that the only way to learn some things about how to take the most advantage of the Enginer kit is to drive one, experiment, and read the forums with a somewhat discerning eye.

My driving profile: Short commutes, most 3-6 miles. Mainly 30 - 45mph. Force EV mode when I can with Coastaletech.com EV mode switch. Some highway driving, but little benefit there. Averaging 64 mpg. Max mpg 80 on 12 mile trip during rush hour. (The slower the traffic the more benefit.)

 

OP
Can you give us and update status about the customer with 107mpg
plz

 

Well, this person has been the right candidate for the Enginer equipment and kudos for him for his 1600 miles endeavor!!!!
What version of Enginer hi has?

 

Ahhh, the Pacific EV BMS "is" making the difference in the well been of the product.

 

for phev conversions that keeps feeding into the stock HV battery doesn't this reduce its life significantly since your always drawing big amps from the pack and therefore heating it up as well? Be crappy if you got one of these systems and the stock HV pack goes out right after install.

 

I don't have any data on this, but I believe the answer is "it depends". If you usually do lots of low speed city driving, or have a very large hills to deal with, you probably cycle the HV battery a lot. If you're maintaining a higher SOC (and don't forget if you're using the extra amps while they're being supplied they don't really go "in" the HV battery butrather straight to the motor) then you'll be cycling it less, which should produce less heat. If however you used to drive like a good hypermiler doing pulse and glide, and after adding the PHEV instead do lots of stealthing (because you can) then maybe your temperature will be higher.

In either case, I still don't think you'll see temps as high as people driving up mountains in texas in 40C+ weather.

 

i hypermile when i can and with average temps being 30 degrees C, my 15 min drive the hottest cell (using scangauge top battery temp xgauge code) i see the temps rest at 42 degrees C by the end of my drive... higher if I drive in the city (more than 15 mins of course)... lowers by 1 digit every 7 min on the highway with windows down or running fan with no a/c.

but good theory thanks for answering! perhaps a REINVOLT battery AND this addon could make a wicked combo... but 15 amps limitation is pretty weak... i guess it makes sense you see mileage benifit at 55 mph but not 80 mph.

 

You'll still see a benefit, but let's assume 80mph needs 20kw of power, getting only a little over 3kw from the enginer system means ~ 15%reduction in fuel use. Instead of 40MPG you'll get 47MPG. You'll still savethe same amount of fuelif you run the kit to empty, the MPG number just looks less impressive because you're using so much fuel to begin with!

 

can the enginer system have a battery saver mode? so if i were to drive hwy for 1 hour then visit the city I can turn on the system then?

it seems the 8kwh pack is the best deal, does one have to upgrade the suspension to handle the extra weight?

for reference i guess there isn't any ontario dealers that can install the system can they?

 

You turn the system on and off with a switch on the dashboard. Use it when you want. 8kwh would take the best part of two hours to deplete though.

Yes, 8kwh should have a suspension upgrade.

 

now im thinking maybe its time to rust proof the 04 and get this battery upgrade to get more excitement in my drive just got to wait for more data for reliability issues before taking the plunge i guess...

anybody in ontario got these installed? and if so where did you go to get it?

 

I could be wrong, but my understanding is the Enginer pack is best suited to long commutes. This is because the energy stored in the battery is delivered to the system slowly due to the current limitation. The user mentioned at the top of this thread is just about using all of the battery over a 42 mile 45mph commute. At faster speeds you'll see the same amount of gasoline offset (assuming you use the whole battery), but mpgs will be less impressive as the PHEV power will be a lower percentage of the total power required. Remember it takes almost twice as much power to drive at 60mph as 45mph! Just keep in mind it will probably take the same amount of time to draw the battery down (about an hour based on 42 mi @ 45mph, or 4000W / 240V = 16.67 Ah / 16A = ~ 1hr.). So at 60mph you'd need to drive 60mi to completely draw down the 4kW pack.

IMHO getting the most out of a PHEV conversion means buying a battery no larger than you can use every bit of on nearly every trip while recharging at every possible opportunity. Every time you complete a trip with charge left in the battery, or skip a chance to recharge, you've basically thrown away the potential gasoline offset represented by the remaining capacity or extra recharge. If batteries were free it wouldn't matter, but as long as battery capacity dominates conversion price you really want to use it all, all the time

 

Yes and no. By altering your driving style you can take more/less advantage of the PHEV. For instance, if I just blindly drive my 10 mile round-trip commute to work without thinking, I'll get about 65-75 mpg and probably use 1 kwh. However, by modifying how I drive I can easily do the trip at 100+ mpg (usually more like 140). I drain about 2 kwh on my 10 mile round trip. So most days I only use 1/2 the capacity of my 4 kwh pack and from your logic, yes, I am not fully utilizing its potential. That being said, it is really nice on the weekends (or during the week if I go out to lunch, etc.) to be able to run errands and not deplete it and then be driving at 45 mpg. It's hard to swallow when you're accustomed to 80-100+ mpg....

I agree if your purpose is to simply maximize ROI. If you just want to get off gas, then you need to oversize your PHEV pack a bit for those longer trips outside your normal commute (if it is short).

 

I have a 4kw V6 in my 2004 Pri.... the expectation of 99mpg plus is poor in my vehicle. I have cracked the 100,000 odo milestone. I get 55-60mpg if lucky...Enginer to me is a learnin curve at best. Having said that. IMHO the enginer 4kw v6 is just what the sales/marketing states and that is a addition/supplment to the HV traction pack.The reality is the amperage that flows into HV pack when Enginer(ON) is of moderate/weak status at best in IMHO/experience....
In my case with MG1 barely gets me thru the local neighborhood and have depleted most of the LifePo4 pack or 60-70% . The oem HV pack with Enginer 4kw is just overmarketed kit aka golf cart(kit) at best/my case/IMHO and maybe just my vehicle....good reads/research/ follow the following EVTV, Calcars, Mr Frog, Lopez, Plantire, mr plugin, autobeyours, and others I cannot recall.......

 

My experience with my 2kwh Enginer kit is quite similar. I got about 6-8 mpg boost from the kit during my commute. This was no where near what I wanted when I bought the kit, but then I also knew I was buying the smallest kit they had available. Although my experience was disappointing, I got what I paid for... and I harbor no ill will towards Enginer. I still have the 16 Thundersky cells that came with the kit if anyone's interested. I gave up on the kit after the charger died for the second time in 6 months. I was unwilling to throw another $100-$150 at it for such a small return on mileage. I installed the kit in August '09 and used it through March 2012.

My PIS 4kwh system is doing enormously better than the 2kwh system did. But then again, I paid >3x as much for it too. By doing the fuel pump fuse shuffle* to force the car into OOG mode for the last four days, I've been able to drive my ~17 mile morning commute without using a drop of gas. Max speed is 45mph for 3.5-4miles, then ~35mph for the rest of the trip. My mileage on the second tank is currently .531 gal/100 miles or just over 188 mpg. This is calculated from the 542 miles on the MFD and the 2.88 gals shown on the SG2. [edit]My Kill-O-Watt meter shows I put ~3.4 KWH into the pack when I charge it.[/edit]

The above stats are in spite of having depleted the pack and then doing a 20 mile RT run...with speeds up to 60mph for half that distance...all in standard Hybrid mode with the PIS pack turned off.

*Fuel pump fuse shuffle: I have a remote relay on order so I won't have to keep doing this, but it goes something like this:
1. Turn PIS kit off (it won't run if it senses the DTC from this procedure)
2. Turn on Prius and hit EV button ASAP (EV button was installed independent of, but at same time as 2kwh kit)
3. Pop hood and pull fuel pump fuse out...wait 5-10 seconds and reinsert
4. Get back in car and clear codes with Scangauge
5. Turn on PIS kit and drive all-electric, no warm-up cycle--no gas!
The remote relay will allow me to disable the fuel pump temporarily without having to get under the hood and mess with the fuse box.

The above is NOT a recommended procedure. Running all electric in this mode does not allow for fast acceleration in an emergency situation, plus you have to completely shutdown and restart the car before the ICE will run again. A bad thing if your pack depletes before your trip is complete.

 

When driving with the enginer kit is it similar to driving with the ev mod from coastal tech?