Best Plug-in Conversion System - Please Weigh In

In this type of situation I would just toggle the Hymotion to off and let the car regen the main battery over those 8 miles. I do this all the time. If the drive is truly all downhill or flat (maybe some mild incline), I too could get home without using any of the Hymotion charge and ending up with a full Prius battery. Not as nice as full regen for the Hymotion pack, but a way to conserve stored energy.

 

True, but a replaced OEM battery allows for more regen energy to be captured because of the larger capacity. The OEM battery starts reducing the amount of regen it can take once it gets full (if you live in a hilly or mountainous area this happens frequently) and you end up wasting a lot of energy to prevent it from overcharging. The lower internal resistance of a properly replaced OEM battery also results in greater regen captured because less energy is burned off as heat while the battery charges.

Andrew

 

Absolutely - I would definitely prefer that the Hymotion accept regen. That is its biggest weakness IMO. My method is merely a work-around. I usually turn the Hymotion off a quarter of a mile or so before the crest of a large hill so that I can try to burn off some of the built up energy in the Prius battery - this allows me to capture more regen on the downhill side. If I were buying a PHEV kit now it would be a tough call between the PICC kit and the Hymotion kit - the extra $3500 is definitely a consideration, but the PICC setup is more integrated to the car.

 

You never know ... it may be that the best phev 'kit' is the one that comes as oem ... hopefully not too far down the road. ya never know


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Not unless the stated price tag of almost 50K comes down....

 

I like my pluginsupply.com 10 Kw lithium system. It's the only one you can push a button and drive pure elecftric for 30-40 miles at up to 52 mpg.
We do it everyday for 24-30 miles and don't use 1 drop of gas.

The battery charging system is also super, it balances each battery and watched temperature. The system is set to only use 60% DOD on the batteries so I'm sure they will last 10 years or more.

 

Congratulations :cheer2: on your $12,000.00 + investment with out regen system because LiFePO4 batteries can be match to Toyota Hybrid electronic system.

 

I am sensing sarcasm here, but what is your point? Who makes a 10KwH Lithium plug-in conversion that accepts regen? And really, it would be nice to have regen to the large battery, but unless you are driving up and down mountains each day, you are losing very little. What I personally would like is a pure EV Prius - but I suppose the Tesla Model S is not too far off.

 

60% depth of discharge on a 40 amp-hour battery pack (74 thundersky cells in series at 3.3v nominal voltage under load) would be roughly 24 amp-hours (6 kWhr)...the Prius gets about 250 watt-hours per mile (depending on how you drive of course) so that would put the EV range of that battery pack at around 20-24 miles under ideal circumstances after subtracting energy loss due to heat (about 20% at room temperature for TS cells)...? Are you sure it's setup for 60% DOD? If you're really seeing 30 - 40 miles of range at high speeds you probably are going way beyond 60% DOD. The theoretical max for the pack would be closer to 45 miles with 100% DOD.

Roughly: EV miles ~ (kWhr usable x 1000) / watt-hours-per-mile
so assuming 6.04 kWhr: (6.04 x 1000) / 250 = 24.16 miles and then you have to subtract energy lost due to heat which varies based on temperature and of course increased air / road resistance at higher speeds (250 watt-hours-per-mile is more of an average for lower speeds).

Anyway, for the sake of other readers looking at this thread: the Plugin Supply (now known as Plugin Solutions? I think they got bought by someone...) isn't the only system with a high speed electric-only mode. I'm happy with my Plugin Conversions (some may know it as the PICC conversion) system which lets me go up to 70 MPH in electric mode without restarting the car. Not gloating or anything, just saying =).

Andrew

 

No pun intended, was only an informative commentary for the topic that we are treating in this Prius Chat thread ( Best Plug-in Conversion System - Please Weigh In).

With the defunct CAL Cars conversion and "the" 52 hack with Lithium batteries you will never get regen; augmenting the capacity of the NiMH , as originally designed by TMC, you will and... 100%.
It is nice to monitor PHEV values and seeing the regen power creeping UP as intended. Favorable geographical conditions are a plus, though.
Examples of equipment are, PIIC (turnkey and pricey) and Hybrid Interfaces (a DIY and the original one).