Popular Mechanics tries out the A123/Hymotion PHEV Prius
At least a few dozen people around the country have now done one-off conversions of hybrids like the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape to transform them into plug-in vehicles. For those who may not have the hardware hacker gene in their DNA, the first commercially available plug-in conversion kit is now on the market from A123 Systems subsidiary HyMotion. Popular Mechanics Detroit Editor Larry Webster recently had the chance to sample a converted Prius with the HyMotion kit for a couple of days. The kit consists of a 5 kWh lithium ion battery and associated electronics that are claimed to give the Prius a 30-mile electric range. As Larry found out this isn't exactly true. The pack will give the Prius up to 30 miles of driving before the battery is depleted. However, the Prius is not designed as an electric vehicle and the 67 hp electric motor is insufficient to let it operate on electrons alone at all speeds. With a very light foot on the gas pedal you can get up up to about 35 mph without the engine. Even at higher speeds, Larry found the engine would occasionally shutoff allowing the car to run on batteries. At lower speeds however, the engine will occasionally start up depending on the driving condition so that 30-mile range is really mixed mode driving. During Larry's time with the Prius he got about 24-25 miles before the lithium battery was depleted. Given the $10,000 price tag of the kit, this looks likes its strictly for the environmentally-minded rather than those trying to save money.
[Source: Popular Mechanics]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Serge 4:33PM (10/31/2008)
$10K for 5 kWh is pricey. Add $25K for Prius and we are talking about Volt price-range. On paper, the latter gives better value for the money. They better get that price down quick before 2011.
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Spence 6:36PM (10/31/2008)
I wonder if this will qualify for the new $7500 plug-in tax credit in the bailout bill. That would lower the cost to $2500 bucks, which would be a hell of a lot more tempting for folks.
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BGJ 9:07AM (11/03/2008)
No it does not qualify for the new tax credits. Only new cars, as built by the OEM will qualify.
Snowdog 6:45PM (10/31/2008)
A123s are very expensive. The reason GM probably didn't choose them. That might be half the 10K right there. Then throw in the other elements of the kit + labor and profit and then you have $10K.
But the "strictly for the environmentally-minded rather than those trying to save money" applies the Volt as well. The Volt is double the price (or $20K more) of the Insight and has mainly 40 miles of range over it. $20K buys a lot of gas, more gas than you will ever save with a Volt.
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stevefazek 9:43PM (10/31/2008)
does it come with a free fire because the battery pack is designed like turd?
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Andy 5:20AM (11/01/2008)
I'm OK with a turd battery so long as it works.
I'll give them a bit more credit, a lot of good engineering work has gone into it. There's a fair bit of labor in the pack and conversion, so I don't begrudge the asking price.
$10K sounds an OK price for early adopters.Feel better about the environment and get some of the cost back in gas savings.
Who knows $4 gas may be back on the agenda one day too.
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Anon 9:11AM (11/01/2008)
Wow, the ignorance in here.
First, check out all of this data from the google fleet of Hymotion converted Prius. http://www.google.org/recharge/dashboard
Aboutt the fire. That was not even a Hymotion pack. Here is the article on autobloggreen: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/06/18/converted-plug-in-prius-destroyed-by-fire/
So, the problem had nothing to do with the batteries. It was the pack designer (who was not Hymotion!). And to boot, the batteries survived in a workable condition.
So spending $10k for a pack that includes install and is very safe, and gets you 100mpg and more, well... that is impressive to me. So say what you will, just make sure you know what you are talking about first.
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