how much total to install enginer kit???

The shipping for 2KWH, 4KWH and 8KWH kits are $150, $200 and $300 respectively. The suggested installation fee is $500. However, installer might set different rate based on their service offering and cost of living in their area.

There is a 34 mph limit on pure EV mode. However, you can stay in electric drive only at up to 41 mph after the engine is warmed up to 157F and could stay in 99.9 mpg at up to 55 mph at flat surface with Enginer kit assist.

 

A PIS kit can do EV up to 72 MPH. For either one you can also do a DIY install. Plug-In Supply | Plug-In Conversions for Prius and Escape

 

I can't comment on the pricing difference - but the PIS kit is more complex and more capable. Hence, they feel it's worth more. On the other hand Enginer take the view that over the longer trip it doesn't matter how you inject the "plugged in" power whether it's X kWh from EV only or X kWh from electric assisted hybrid operation. They take advantage of that approach to keep their system simpler and thus less expensive. There are pros and cons to both.

The issue with driving the electric motor at higher speeds is true. However, it is countered by the PIS system (and other similar approaches) requesting the ICE spin without producing power. This keeps the speed of MG2 down, but the overall speed of the car up. MG1, MG2 and ICE all connect via the hybrid synergy drive (which is a planetary gearbox). There are several good explanations of how these drives all interact - the one that I like best is an interactive web page where you can set the speeds of the different components and see the affect (but I don't have the links to hand right now)

 

another cost you may run into is replacement/repair of enginer parts, if you can't diy it. unless installer is willing to do it for free.

 

The one thing that Enginer do not tell you is that the DC Converter can only put out 15 amps at most and when the OEM battery voltage is 242v the DC Converter puts out zero amps. So the throughput of current is small and at times is zero. This throughput is very limiting to the amount of time the Prius can sustain EV mode. So even if you found a way to make your Prius do EV mode over 34 MPH the Enginer kit cannot sustain it for long. The PIS kit can supply around 100 amps and sustain the power required to do EV mode up to 72 MPH. I cannot say it justifies the price they charge. Most users if not all make their choice based on price. However I found the Enginer kit to be a good learning aid. Like JDH said there are Pros and Cons and unfortunately you find out about a lot of them after you buy the kit.

 

Besides the cost for warranty, the replacement/repair of enginer parts were suffering . My BMS is still faulty after 3 times of repairs and the later suggestions from support ticket all can't fix it. I have to buy another more expensive but reliable one like Pacific EV PHEV BMS or MiniBMS to replace it.

 

Enginer do stand behind their warranty and Jack is often generous about warranty replacements. I will not go any further than that and cannot say that PIS have or will not have any warranty issues, as judging by the forum there are a lot more Enginer kits than PIS kits out there. The main reason being because of the low price most people choose Enginer. Once you have an Enginer kit it is almost impossible to convert it to a PIS kit, especially with the RFE battery packs. But I have found that the Enginer kit makes a good range extender with an existing PHEV kit using LifePo4 batteries. Due to the Lifepo4 flat voltage/SoC curve the Enginer kit is almost constantly outputting the maximum current. I have found that a few existing Enginer users learn and evolve and sell their Enginer kit and get a kit similar to PIS or like me they build their own PHEV kit that is similar to PIS.

 

Hi EPA,

I can understand and can empathize with your frustration of being let down by Enginer service as you are outside the USA and have to pay for delivery to USA of faulty parts. Unfortunately they will probably be more likely to help you when you start to make noise on a public forum. But I could be wrong. Keep trying and good luck. On the other hand you could have used the money you had already spent to deliver faulty parts on a brand new Pacific EV BMS rather than using a repaired BMS16D.

 

i think the price of enginer reflects some of the problems they have with quality control. but if you can handle the repair/replacement, the price is right!

 

To be able to stay in EV mode and have the Enginer kit keep up, you would have to use less than about 14amps.
If you have a scangauge, I encourage you to use it to see how little current that actually is.
You need to be on an awfully low grade for an Enginer kit to keep up 1:1 to the amount of enrgy you are using to propel the car forward.

You cannot compare Enginer kit to PIS supply kit. Apples and oranges.

Enginer kits work best in blended mode, as opposed to straight EV.

 

Yup.

 

I agree with all the above. Additionally the two (24vdc80ah) packs 900 dollars and BMS that come with the 4kw kit/pkg I have researched and can be sourced and found fairly reasonable (cheaper than enginer).The huge DC/DC converter that steps up the pack current to 240vdc have not found a direct source replacement on that as of yet.

 

Do you have a link for the 24vdc80ah battery packs?

 

look at the price of the pip and throw that into your equation.

 

The Enginer 8 kwh kit still only uses the one 5kw DC Converter which at most can only put out 15 amps. By getting 8 kwh compared to 4kwh for an Enginer kit only increases the range in blended mode. The Enginer kits are generally described as trickle chargers and improve MPG in the long run. Not really meant for EV mode as sometimes you sacrifice MPG for EV. MPG is great if you can do the whole trip in EV mode using the Enginer kit but this is hard to do. The road gradient needs to be flat and better if downhillish and need to keep the speed below 45kph and HV battery current draw to 14 amps. The Enginer kit is ideally suited for city driving and heavy traffic.

The difference between Enginer and PIS is very significant. The old PIS kit had a ICE kill switch which allowed you to drive up to 85kph in EV only. In this case the MPG was infinite. The Prius becomes a pure EV. The latest PIS kit can do a lot better than 100MPG. Maybe Kietty can tell us. There is no mention of MPG performance on the PIS website. But have a look a this post 2011 Plug-In Supply Product Teaser | PriusChat Unfortunately PIS do a lousy job of marketing and rely on a Engimeer/programmer like Kietty and this forum to promote their product. Just looking at the websites the Enginer website does a better job of marketing their PHEV kit.

Have a look at the PacificEV website Pacific Electric Vehicle Plug-in Kit Installation and see how much they charge for a Enginer kit install. I expect that a installer will charge a lot more than $500 to do a install if they think that during the two year warranty period he will have to deal with replacing faulty parts covered by the warranty. I believe they will not use the BMS16D BMS that comes with the kit but instead install their own Pacific EV BMS. This is not a good thing for Enginer.