getting the best PHEV kit

Drive it for a year stock before you change anything.
Also it might give more time for some of the available options to gain a better track record.

 

For 30K+ miles a year 4KW Enginer kit is a poor choice. That's at least 82 miles a day. Your mileage gain would probably be about 10mpg if that. You will deplete your pack in 40 miles or less. If your an aggressive driver like most first time Prius drivers are then your range could last longer but at a lower MPG. Hymotion would also be a poor choice too. What you need is Plugin Supply's 10kw system. or the Plug-In Conversion Corporation's 10KW system. Both kits have 100+ mile blended range, regen to PHEV pack, just over 70mph in electric mode but at 30-50 mile range. Both are slightly more expensive than Hymotion. Both will be more reliable because there's no DC converter to overheat and burn out.

 

Wow, usually cproaudio is pretty accurate with answers. This time I would have to disagree though. With the one exception that the 10 mpg increase in mileage may be accurate if not recharged during any long trips, I don't have the experience with the Enginer kits.

If we take 82 miles / day, a 4kw Enginer kit would have been used up by 40 miles, and could then hopefully be recharged fairly quickly (several hours instead of 1/3 of a day) for the return trip home. I have also asked this before and never been answered, but I believe that the Hymotion kit is not currently legal for installation in California. The other systems of course would be the ultimate, but at a high price. On the other hand, if the in this case almost new Prius was purchased at a reasonable price, such a kit could be affordable, as opposed to just buying a new Prius. Also, and this is one thing that is often overlooked, all these kits should extend the life of the Prius engine, and thus hopefully the car, beyond a regular Prius.

I would also hope that an "aggressive driver" would be educated fairly quickly by the Prius into a calm, high-mileage, polite driver.

 

You should learn how your Prius works first. Then look at your cost of electricity. The savings may not be as much as you think! Here in NY our cost is $0.25 /KWH, so it is if I remember, nearly $2 a gallon equivalent. Your battery pack cost a few thousand and has a life of maybe 1000 cycles, and adds weight to the car, increasing the energy usage. So, it the battery pack is $4000, and life is 1000 cycles, that is another $4 per a cycle. The economic advantage will disappear really quickly.

 

It is NOT always about the economics......

 

From economics stand point, there's the cost of the mod. Then there's operating cost of the mod. Here's how I look at PHEV mods

You're spending 2k-15k for the mod so that you can improve the mileage. The cost to operate this mod is -10cents to 0 cents per mile pending on electricity rate. The only mod with the possibility of recuping the cost of the mod during its service life. To me, this mod is not only about saving money. It's also about shifting foreign energy to domestically produced energy. I mean seriously, on a worst case scenario, who imports coal? And it's also about mileage bragging rights.

 

This is my first post...and I have been lurking for a couple of weeks. But I have to bring up the point of batteries....where are most of them manufactured? China, right? So really we are transferring using oil from the middleeast to supporting China...so I may be wrong here, but the most expensive part of the conversion supports China's economy, doesnt it? Please prove me wrong because that is a bummer...

 

You can't use that argument because almost everything's made in China, even your iPhone, iPad, iPod are made in China. That means that of the 200 million+ iOS devices that the world has bought are supporting Chinese workers and their economy. The components that made up the LiFePo4 are mostly from China. The battery is merely an expensive bucket made in China but the energy it holds and re-fills are all from the US. It's no different than your Chinese made gas tank holding middle eastern fuel.

 

Actually it is China that has been investing in and supporting the US economy for this last decade. Why is buying anything from China a problem for you? Your car is Japanese.

 

My philosophy is by American first, rest of world second (excluding Europe), Europe & China third (they really don't compete). China has huge leverage with all the $ it holds in reserve. The Chinese economy is overheated, so spreading our US $ around other parts of the world will help other weaker economies more.

I like A123, good high quality American made LiIon batteries.

 

That "Buy American" crap is so dumb. You guys have had a trade deficit since the 1970's.
It is because of other countries that you have the quality of life you have. How many Europeans have now been burden with a lifetime of debt from your defaulted morgages?

I think we should all do more to help each other out in every country, we are all on earth togeather. I bought my chinese Enginer kit from an american company and My Prius was built in Japan, and is powered by canadian windpower.

The A123's are definitely a superior product, but I can't wait till I can afford what willl be a revolutionary american product. (a Telsa, company founded by a South African-Canadian)

 

I think the "best" is relative to personal experience and preference.Obviously opinions run "deep" on this topic. You can draw from "some" that "enginer" is low cost and has some "quality" issues and "yet" they are still up "for sale" and have been purchased in "2012".
The PHEV "mod" is not a "monetarily" recoverable and that has become a "myth" mindset that to me is more sales and marketing "hype" at best. Even "if" you reside in the states of Colorado, Oklahoma, and Cali the "fed and state tax" subsidy is at best 30-50% excluding labor.
PHEV can be done in a variety of methods and or conversion company's(PIS,PICC,BHC, 3Prong, etc.) Choice and comparison can be and are confusing.... So make sure you do your "homework" comparison carefully.... and hope you find the "best"

 

Actually "Japan" assembly however OEM componets are multiple countries. China's political, foreign policy, and human rights records are horrible......
Anyhow I though we where talking about "best" PHEV
:focus:

 

It's because of this narrowminded mentality that I never buy USA stuff.

 

i didn't know there was any usa 'stuff' left.

 

baseball, basketball, and ford focus...........
:focus:
anyhow what "best" phev

 

Let see europe is broke and has no political will to stand up to Iran,China or Russia............
:focus:
what is "best" phev

 

ok back on topic. there's no USA built phev kit. any part will be made somewhere else, probably in china. Even the smallest component is from somewhere else then USA. Just think for example of the metal of a connector, or the nafta that was used to make the plastic and so on and so on. the ingredients from the ink that was used printing the manual and/or box.

The BEST I think it could be refereed to reliability. Plugin supply seams nice but there's many with much more experience then me. the engineer kit seams to have some issues. also it uses NI-MH which isn't the best. LiFePo4 is far better.