[03Jill]

Could someone help me? I read somewhere about a company that has developed a battery that you can attach to your hybrid vehicle that will charge your battery pack to capacity. They said that you could get maybe 100 mpg because your gas engine does not have to run at start up to charge the battery while the car is warming up.. That at this point it will be running around 9 grand. Does this ring a bell in anyone’s memory. I told my husband about it and now can’t find the article. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[firepa63]

This sounds like "snake oil" to me. The ICE will still run when you power up the car as it has to warm up. Unless you shut the car down with a low SOC on the battery, most of the ICE running time is devoted to warm-up rather than charging the battery.

 

[tochatihu]

battery 100%

This sounds like the "Prius Plus" story, after being passed through several hands. Read up on the original.

http://www.calcars.org/priusplus.html

DAS

 

[drash]

Look here too. http://www.hymotion.com/ They only do fleets though and that LiIon pack that they add to the Prius NiMH pack is about $9500 if you get 10 of them done. So if you can get a group buy with some of the PriusOnline drivers you might be able to get that for that price. Unlike CalCars.org Prius+ where the entire OEM battery pack is exchanged, Hymotion actually just adds their's to the OEM battery pack.

 

[03Jill]

Thanks Drash.

 

[ken1784]

They only do fleets though and that LiIon pack that they add to the Prius NiMH pack is about $9500 if you get 10 of them done.

I saw 100...
"The company is targeting fleet buyers initially. In unit orders greater than 100, the L5 Prius kits will cost $9,500; orders of greater than 1,000 units would see the price drop to $6,500."
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/02 ... nveil.html

[email protected]

 

[drash]

Heh, heh . Oops you're right, I left out a 0. Not that my mistake was going to actually start anything. They did say their fleet installs were available now, while EDrive Systems is actually looking at April (I think) to start their installations.

 

[ehurtley]

So, sounds like we've got 2 ready to sign up...

Only 98 more for the $9500 price, or 998 more for the ultra-cheap $6500...

 

[drash]

Nah, not me. I would still get 44mpg because I only live 3 miles from work and I keep my car outside. The inside car temp would cause the ICE to keep turning on (only 6F, -14C, this AM). It would be rather silly for me although I wouldn't mind having the A/C on while driving around town without it affecting my gas mileage.

 

[DanMan32]

If you have a block heater to go with the battery capacity add-on and plugin option, ICE might not have to start.

 

[drash]

Hi DanMan32. No the block heater doesn't really help with the cabin temperature, especially with the temp hovering in the single to negative digits. It does start to help when the temperature is in the 20s and its been on for a few hours. I haven't tried just leaving it plugged in though. I have it on a timer for 4 hours on before I go to work. Definitely helps with mileage as I gain an average of 6 mpg, even when the weather turned really cold during Feb and the first week of March after a relatively mild January.

 

[Frank06]

How much electricity does the block heater use?

 

[hyperion]

If you are referring to the 110 household plug in, I have read as much as a twenty five watt lightbulb.

 

[tochatihu]

block heat watts

I have read about 400 watt block heaters on Prius, so apparently there is a range of sizes available.

DAS

 

[drash]

How much electricity does the block heater use?

480 Watts.

 

[warpdryv]

I saw a Hymotion prius today in Mississauga, Ontario. Company logo was all over it, so not a private party's car, but still, it's on the road...