Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, MPG, Toyota, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, HybridFest
Hybrid Fest VIDEO 3: Ryan Fulcher and Manzanita Micro's plug-in 100 mpg Prius
Coming at you from Hybrid Fest 2007, here's an interview with Ryan Fulcher about his plug-in Prius. Interestingly, Ryan does not consider himself a hypermiler - he doesn't like to worry about his driving habits, and just drives safely. While that may make those of you in the forest green spectrum scoff, the fact that Ryan is a paler shade of green really only makes his Prius' mpg figure more impressive.
He uses a battery charger from Manzanita Micro to not only charge the batteries when plugged in at home, but to have the additional lead-acid batteries charge the stock battery, extending the range of the Prius' electric motor. A simple solution, but unfortunately a costly one. A conversion kit can cost $10-12,000, which would take years to return in fuel savings. However, the point is not to make a business out of this kit. Admirably, it's to show the major automakers that plug-in hybrids are easy to build and that there is a market for them. One would hope they already realize that, but as Ryan says, this "proof of concept" should be pretty good evidence in favor of production.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 11:31AM (8/09/2007)
100mpg sounds great, that means that car would consume just 1500 gallons of gasoline during an expected life span of 12 years/150,000 miles (assuming the batteries last that long). Assuming 50mpg for a stock Prius, figure 3000 gallons.
At $3.50 per gallon averaged over that period, the difference of 1500 gallons is worth $5250. Throw in the non-zero cost of electricity (both financial and ecological) and the fact that the net present value of the savings is probably more like $4000-$4500 and, you can see why a $10000-$12000 upgrade isn't really a sound financial investment in the US.
In Europe, where fuel is much more expensive and standard grid voltage is anyhow 220 or 240V, PHEVs ought to make more sense. Sadly, they are still virtually unheard of on the diesel continent.
Fwiw, the setup of add-on lead-acid batteries feeding the NiMH pack presented here is inefficient, bulky and heavy. Too bad the fancier battery types are still so expensive.
I'd also argue that all-electric drive should be reserved for stop-and-go traffic and bursts of acceleration. For constant-speed cruising at highway speeds, a PHEV should use only its small ICE and a purely mechanical transmission to maximize vehicle operating radius per unit of battery. In other words, the Prius is actually not the ideal PHEV platform.
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A.Brien 12:32PM (8/09/2007)
I think that the actual green knowledge on phev, batteries, hydrogen, solar panels, windmills, etc
is sufficient. The problems that impede it to enter the main streem market is that so much money is made with old polluting and inneficients technologies that actual big compagnies don't really want to change nothing, they accept just subsidies to 'study' these technologies instead and don't put that on the markets. Only new compagnies are interrested on putting new things on the market like tesla and eco-fueler. The hydrogen cars are real since 1998 but just as 'prototypes'.. For these hydrogen cars it takes an hydrogen infrastructure and this is the main stumbling block. It can be unnecessary if someone
build a car with a water tank and the necessary electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen take place into the car. It's easy to do, some have made it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1OWDcWoXHs
how do you put a direct link here?
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mike 5:29PM (8/09/2007)
rg,
as the mov file states, this is really a proof of concept.
They would gladly be put out of business by GM or Toyota.
In essence, you add two batterys, control unit and dc to dc invertor/convertor? If GM were to do this, on a production line, they could probably do it for $1000 extra, with a 100,000 run.
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mike 5:31PM (8/09/2007)
Let me just add, that bigger electric engine'd cars would be more fun then a gas engine, with the full torque at 0 rpm. The future is NOW.
I'd like to see future economy cars, but an Electric Ford Mustang would be interesting as well.
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Chris M 6:43PM (8/09/2007)
Calcars did manage to get Toyotas attention. Toyota is now testing their own version of a plug-in Prius, using a double sized NiMH battery, a charger, more powerful electric motors, and a different gear ratio in their power split device. The result is faster acceleration, 60 mph top EV speed, an 8 mile EV range, and improved regenerative braking. Even better, it would only add $3K to $5K to the cost, making it cheaper than the conversions.
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Richard S. 10:39AM (8/10/2007)
A great benefit of the Plug-in Hybrid is that most drivers drive for short distances: taking kids to school, to work, etc... For this drivers, pluggin in at work or when they arrive at work and recharging the batteries, could mean that the gasoline that they would consume for those longer distances trips, would last a lot longer. They might have to fill the tank once a month or every 6 weeks, rather than weekly. Imagine the drop in gas consumption if most cars being sold are turned into plug-in hybrids.
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