Hymotion Plug-in a123 battery pack available for consumer purchase

I will do it if there is a plug-in tax credit.

 

So some questions

1) Does this replace your NiMH batteries you already have in the car?

1b) If it does do they keep the batteries? Aren't they on the order of $3k for the set?

2) Does this battery work in conjunction with the old system, or is it some "extra tank" that needs to be wired into the cars computer system to recognize for it (i.e. is the DIY out of luck)

2b) If you did go on long trips, and obviously drained the battery would your engine go apesh*t trying to charge up 5kWh worth of energy? And as a result do so in a rather inefficient manner.

2c) Does this have all the limitations (except energy capacity) of the EV switch? i.e. 42mph(??) max speed, if you gun it engine kicks in, etc?

Seems like a nice deal, if you can DIY an install, assuming those $300 per kWh worth of batteries numbers are correct, seems like you're paying a lot for the install. And not everyone pays to get their oil changed.

But after May of this year my daily work commute will go from 45 miles round trip to 3 miles, so might be worth it if it was a DIY project.

 

This URL answers most of your questions about the hymotion conversion:

Green Car Congress: Hymotion Unveils Plug-in Hybrid Kits for Toyota and Ford Hybrids

They add onto the battery, the stock battery stays in the car, once the add-on battery is depleted the Prius drives as normal using the stock battery only. It has all the limitations of existing EV mode in the Prius (I think.) For the DIY aspect, I don't know. They aren't selling this as a DIY kit. Calcars (www.calcars.com) has a page for DIY conversions.

 

I accidently put down a deposit, due to my Evelyn Wood Speed Reading courses. I was on my way to a meeting and I HAD to put down my deposit before going to the meeting so I quickly skimmed the page and saw "deposit", "$75" and "refundable". I just made my order without even knowing the price figuring I coud ask to have the $75 refunded if I decide not to buy.

At $10,000, I think it only makes real sense if you can put a high value on reducing your carbon footprint. It probably should be worth it to me to cut my car's greenhouse gas emitions in half, right?

The Hymotion web page includes a calculator where you enter your city/highway ratio, one way commute miles, plug in at work yes/no, miles per year and then shows how many gallons of gas and greenhouse gas emisions you will save.


Saving 235 gallons of gas per year at say $5 per gallon saves me $1175 in petrol, but then I'll be using $.050 - $1 electric power each day so take avay about $200 and my annual savings is $975 per year. It will a little over 10 years to break even.

I can alomost live with above, but like I say, need to lean on reducing my cabon footprint as being very important to really justify. The figures above are based on using current US power plant mix, but they say it will get even better if conversion to clean energy sources moves forward.

 

How about a prius chat group buy --- maybe they'd consider us a fleet and give a discount!

My questions are:
What's the plan for dealing with no spare?
Can this work for an all EV commute? My run is ~7miles one way all sub 35mph with no big hills.
Can the plug in the bumper be integrated with an EBH?

 

Now someone is thinking. A group buy for would be the best group purchase in history.

---Kent

 

Considering the cost of a yearly TerraPass, I'd say that it still comes out cheaper to leave your Prius stock and buy a TerraPass if you are worried about carbon emissions.

I would say the best benefit would come from reducing oil imports - but quantifying those benefits are hard to measure.

 

That's only if you believe that the act of purchasing a Terrapass actually reduces carbon output. I don't.

 

I am! I have been bouncing off the walls since I got my reservation.
Anyone have any suggestions on find a good custom paint/decal job for my plug in hybrid?

 

You are doing better than I am. I have sent Hymotion three emails asking questions concerning the upgrade and have not gotten a reply. Maybe you know the answers..

1) Do you loose the storage between the tire and back hatch floor.
2) Can the Hymotion Battery be charged while at highway speeds. I already have a 10 amp sign wave inverter in the car.
3) Does the Hymotion installation include any displays to show the current status of the Hymotion battery. Scanguage or something like Hybrids-plus is doing with a small guage in the front panel.

---Kent

 

Sorry, those were not considerations for me.
I actually wrote them and got a response back both Friday evening and Saturday. As they just went live with their new website I am sure they are very busy.
My questions were also about the web forms which I am sure they had someone on hand that could answer those questions. Hopefully you will hear back soon if efusco didn't answer your questions.

 

Thank you Evan,

Now I understand the installation. I would create a fake floor to be able to include my computer, sub-woofer and inverter since that space would be occupied. Actually, that does not bother me, since I would simply raise the hatch area floor a few inches and put the standard carpet. When the seats were folded down it would drop off about 5 inches. That would not reduce the storage area, but still supply an area for electronics.

---Kent

 

ok... no brainer here...

9500 each or $6500 in 1000 count lots...

PRIUSCHAT GROUP BUY

sign me up!

 

[FONT=&quot]Just got an email from Hymotion.

I was asking how the their battery status was displayed. Hymotion's answer is below which sounds pretty good. Now we need that group buy.

---Kent

Yes, our system interfaces with the display to give you a readout of the Plug-in state of charge. Additionally, we’ve added a neat little feature that incorporates the taillights to tell you when it’s charging. They turn on, then pulse to indicate charge.[/FONT]

 

Man I want this conversion for my 2004. My wife even likes the idea and thinks $10000 isn't a terrible price. I think it's a little high. If the price ever gets below $7000 I'm selling some stocks and going for it!!

 

Re-do the math.

It isn't going to save you that much cash, even if you drove it like CRAZY, even depleting the battery DAILY, so that's 365 charge cycles per year - you would wear the battery out before you saved $10,000

The economics of this conversion simply don't work out.

 

Hmmmm... I want the price to drop, but I really didn't approach this purely from a economics angle. Saving money on gas isn't my concern. I don't commute with my prius and I don't drive a lot in a year so I know it won't ever pay for itself.

But I want to have a PHEV to show people the potential and the to promote the idea that cars should be made this way, period! I've been writing automakers, politicians and power utilities to get them behind the idea of PHEVs.

I ain't rich and I have a new baby with one income, so I need the price to drop before I'm willing to go ahead.

Some people willingly spend several thousand on.... say a home theatre system for example, which is nuts, but they justify it by the personal satisfaction/enjoyment it provides - especially movie buffs or sports fans. I would get immense satisfaction from driving my PHEV Prius and showing it off to everyone. To each his own....

 

I agree with you 100%. With my current driving and the price of gas the payback might come in 6 to 8 years and maybe never. But the satisfaction of driving past gas station after gas station would bring warmth to my heart. Knowing that I'd be using less foreign oil would bring a smile to my face.

So it's not all about money, sure it matters, but at some point I will probably take the plunge.

---Kent

 

OMG well you're at PC so you are not completely out of it...

gotta say this... (not gonna rant about how there is so much to all this than money)

there is NO WAY IN HELL ANYONE can tell me what the payback is going to be if it involves more than a few weeks. for one thing, i betcha no one here has a clue as to what the price of gas will be in "6 to 8 year" much less what it will be in 6 to 8 months!!

and one said if it dropped to $7,000 he would do it... once again....

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*
and besides... with a 14 mile commute, the thought of getting gas once every other month (or less) is very very cool!