Hymotion Plug-in a123 battery pack available for consumer purchase

Hey don't get me wrong, i'd love a PHEV Prius conversion as much as the next guy - but $10,000 is completly insane. Not to mention they are charging way too much for the install (even considering the HyMotion facility is probably 10 minutes from my house) i've seen them driving around.

If it was $5,000 i'd buy it in an instant, I agree, it's not totally about payback, but it's gotta have SOME sort of benefit for $10,000, and clearly there isn't one.

Plus, right now i'm driving a leased vehicle, and I have concerns about warranty - i'm not about to blow the 8 year, 160,000KM warranty I have on my HV components for it. So unless Toyota is on board, then forget it, i'm not tossing the warranty on my entire car away for it.

 

I don't know how to add me to the list - Please add

2) IBCS - Ohio

 

10k is a lot for just an addon purchase. I'm not surprise that in 3-5 years, this addon will be cost lest than 5k.

I would rather put the 10k on stock/saving bond/cd and in 10 years, I might be able to profit and use it as the payment for Gen 4 Prius.

 

Hi all,
I'm new here so i thought i'd introduce myself. I've got an '08 touring ordered with package 6 and no other options. I'm getting the touring because runflat tires only come in the 16" (195-65R1687V). Thought you might want to know that. Since i'm getting run-flats I'm sure you've guessed what else i have a deposit on. Anyway the Micheilin dealer here will give me a $100 trade in allowance on this $200 tire. BTW, there's a $400 price jump in the Prius itself as of May 2nd, so I'm getting stuck with that too. Funny how going green = spending lots of green. But screw it, I don't care.

 

For all those fixated on the spare tire issue, I have a crazy idea. Put the spare tire in the trunk

This is a huge step forward in the PHEV conversion market. Up until now, the only real options have been the cal-cars ~10 mile lead acid for ~$3-5k and the ~$30k 30 mile conversions. $10k is pretty cheap for what you are getting IMHO. Some folks are getting A123 18650s (same as those in the Tesla pack) by purchasing Dewalt tool packs and disassembling them. This yields ~$10 per cell. At that price a 5kW pack would cost over $14k just for the batteries. If A123 has stated they can get to $300/kWh that will be far far into the future.

Its not cheap, and financially it may still not make sense. But this is far and away the most compelling conversion yet offered. If you bought a salvaged rebuilt Prius for $15k (as I did) you could have a 30 mile PHEV Prius today for $25k. I'd call that a bargain. Of course it will get cheaper over time, as pretty much all tech products do. Its all a matter of how important it is to you to start giving OPEC, Exxon, GM, and GWB the finger today rather than in a year or two. I guess you might add Toyota to that list as well

Rob

 

Good point. And a well respected economist in Canada just came out with his best guess on gas prices in the future. Gas, oil prices to double by 2012, CIBC economist predicts

I'm all for a group buy. DaveinOlyWA and I will be getting ours done in Seattle. What about the rest of you?!

 

Looks like an 8 hour drive to Washington. May just have to stop by the
white House to show it off. Unless they get something closer o Ohio.

---Kent

 

Welcome Green Old Man. I just thought I might point out, there are no other factory options to add to a Touring Pkg 6, other than carpeted floor mats and a first aide kit. Good choice. Congratulations and I like you thiniing on the other deposit as well.

 

To which I would like to add my two cents: spend your US dollars now, because in 10 years they won't be good for much. The real after-tax returns to (e.g.) Treasury Bills are negative and in all likelihood are going to get worse. Rate of inflation is unlikely to go lower. So it's not just that gas is likely to go up, it's also that the value of the dollar is probably going to go down. So if you have cash in the bank now, trading current US dollars for future tanks of gas may be a decent investment even at this price (though, obviously, would be better at a lower price). Not because it makes sense in 2008 dollars, it doesn't. But maybe because the depreciation of the dollar and the appreciation of the cost of gas over the life of the PHEV might make it so.

A few weeks back I looked at my investment opportunities and decided to buy as much storable food as I could. Same concept as above. Seemed a bit nutty at the time, but that has now become mainstream investment advice. Which doesn't mean it's not nutty, it just shows how nutty the economic situation has become:

Load-Up-the-Pantry: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

 

Interesting new development. As with most new technology, the early versions are expensive with cost decreasing with increased R&D and production volumes. At the current price of $10K, you'd have to save 2500 gallons of gas at $4 per gallon (and yes, I have no clue what gas will cost next year, or the year after that, or next month for that matter....but believe it will be more than $4) to save $10K, which, at 45mpg average, would mean fuel-savings equivalent 112,500 miles driven, meaning maybe more than 200K miles actually driven, just to break even. And that assumes the Hymotion system requires no maintenance or repair, let alone replacement.

I realize that this isn't all about pure dollars and cents, but for the general public (as opposed to a bunch of mileage/emissions/green-technology enthusiasts) to embrace this sort of technology, there is going to have to be a proven economic benefit at an individual level.

 

its $6500 on a lot of 1000... so i say

PRIUSCHAT GROUP BUY

what the heck?? if we dont throw it out there, we will never know... but why not? lets start a poll, how many of you would do it if it was $6500...

here is the list

1) Daveinolywa

*edit*
Add me, JoeMagnusson but it is a long way to 1000. and over 1000 miles away to the nearest installation center from Dallas,TX

 

Make sure you answer Yes to the poll question. That is the official thread to get our numbers.

PriusChat Forums - Search Results

 

Have you ever run a Group Buy online before? Even on the largest internet boards with 1000's of users, you are lucky to get 50-100 people to join in, no way this will ever reach 1000, even if you do, 20% of the people who claim to be "In" always drop out. So you better plan on 1200.

 

Alright that locks things up for me, this is a useless add-on for me. While I don't have an EV switch in my car, if the speed you need to accelerate to stay in EV is similar to you pressing the gas pedal then that is WAY too slow for any sane person. Not to mention all the hills around here really throw a wrench into any gas mileage, my 3 mile commute to work, both up and down hill both ways I average less than 30MPG.

 

I think it would not be bad in most situtation, unless it is a lot of cold starts.

Even if you cannot get into full EV mode, you could still be driving in assist mode. Just like when the battery is with all green bars. In those situation, the electric motor will be pulling decently hard.

 

So far I see many negatives...

1) Only comes with a one year warranty -- so for $10,000 if the battery starts to go after a year -- i'm out 10,000, and LI-ON batteries have a VERY short charge cycle life. MUCH shorter than NI-MH


2) Voids your vehicle's HV warranty

3) Void's your powertrain warranty

 

Wrong on three counts. Where are you getting this erroneous info?

 

i thought website said like 2-3000 charges... that would be about 8 years or about the same as the Prius NiMH battery life.

now will these also greatly exceed their lifetimes? maybe.... i do know that "some" Li-Ion batteries far exceed their expected lifetimes while a smaller percentage do not.

hopefully this new technology will prove its worth.

 

Very interesting, but not really for me. A "little" expensive for any benefit the way I drive.

As for the loss of the spare, if that worries you, don't buy a Mazda RX-8. The spare is an option that most buyers don't get. The car comes with a "fix a flat" can. The tires are not "runflats". Runflat tires are not a very good alternative. Look at one sometime. "Do not repair" is on the sidewall. At any rate, when was the last time you got a flat? It's pretty rare now.

It appears charging the pack while driving (with an inverter) is probably not practical, especially if it flashes the tail lamps! (but officer, I was just charging my batteries!). But anything can be done!

Most lithium ion battery failures in small equipment are caused by people leaving them to discharge for too long. They will die if allowed to discharge too far. So keep your Li-ion batteries charged!
I've found them to be fairly long lived. In cameras, hand-held two way radios, bluetooth headsets, GPS units, cell phones, etc. Of course all that stuff keeps me busy charging batteries.