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Hymotion
Click show for a short list of the current PHEV conversion and kit options for the Toyota Prius. |
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For Prius conversion details see the Prius PHEV article and comparisons table.
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Contents
Toronto, ON. February 21, 2006: Hymotion.com unveils Plug-in Hybrid Technology at the Canadian International Autoshow in Toronto to use Lithium Ion Polymer battery.
Links
- Yahoo Group for owners of HyMotion PHEV conversions
- priusownersgroup.com - Day 2 page 2 and Day 3 page 5 - autocross chapter #3 at Tour de Sol
- The Tour de Sol Reports, 2006
- Can a Prius be turned into a Plug-In Prius in two hours?
It just might be possible.
The all-in-one unit fits neatly in the spare tire well and storage area under the rear deck cover.
- Can a Prius be turned into a Plug-In Prius in two hours?
- Specs_PHEV_L5.pdf
- 2006.04.27 - EAA-PHEV_Maillist:2006./4./34 BTW, a website speculates that Hymotion is getting their batteries from Electrovaya.
- 2006.02.21 - greencarcongress.com good comments and more links
- 2006.02.21 - treehugger.com flame comments mostly
- 2006.02.24 - gizmag.com
- 2006.02.21 - Yahoo ETList, Prius-2G, Gridable-hybrids, CalCars-News, Hybrid Ford Escape, EVDL.
News
- 2008.04.26 - Hymotion/A123 announce their L5 kits are now available to consumers.
- purchase price is $9995 (plus a $400 “destination fee”) for a 5 KWh pack with a 4.5 hour charge time, 30-40 PHEV miles, and adding 180 pounds.
- Hymotion A123 L5 Module animation video
- 2006.06.08 - Plugging into the future Hymotion to use A123 Systems Lithium.
- 2006.03.29 - Betting on cars powered by batteries and gas CBC News
- 2006.02.26 - HyMotion's PHEV battery lets you plug in your hybrid
Initially, Canadian company Hymotion is offering the PHEV upgrade in two models: the 5kWh L5 for the Prius and the 12kWh L12 for the Ford hybrid SUVs. This innovation is not cheap, so the company is targeting fleet buyers before individual consumers. In quantities greater than 100, the Prius L5 is US $9,500; quantities over 1,000 drop the price to US $6,500. Other systems are under development for the Lexus RX400h, Toyota Highlander Hybrid and Toyota Camry Hybrid.
Summary
So Hymotion will sell 1000 units for $6,500 each, 100 units for $9,500, or a single (demostration) unit for $12,500 plus an undetermined installation charge or the option of self installation after receiving training. Hymotion and EDrive both go nearly the same distance at 31 vs 35miles, Hymotion is rated 5kWh and 40.9kg lighter than the EDrive at 9kWh, 1.8 times the energy at 1.56 times the weight.
While the battery type could make up the specific energy differance of 69Wh/kg versus 89Wh/kg the range discrepency is still odd. This could be due the SOC range used, though one would suspect that most of the capacity would be utilized as that's one of the things Lithium does well. Perhaps EDrive is being conservative on cycle depth, DOD, as I believe there is no stock battery to fall back on for HEV opperation in their case, while Hymotion could effectively discharge the additional Li pack till it fell off the end of it's abrupt discharge curve at 100% DOD, or 0% SOC.
Anyway, some Electric Conversion guys I know have mentioned that they think a simple "Hybrid battery", as it's known in the BEV world, type setup where a larger battery feeds the stock one would work, which Hymotion. seems to have confirmed. The PriusPlus or EDrive method still has the advantage of being able to replacing the stock NiMH battery with a far lighter Lithium flavored one!
Notice the trend towards the magical $500/kWh at 1000 units on the Hymotion battery packs, figure $1500 for the other hardware... This is about the cost of current mass production small form Li cells, who knows what happens to the cost once you ramp vehicle scale production into the millions? $250/kWh? $100/kWh? Keep in mind that something like the tzero with 6800 18650 cells is about 1000 laptops worth, so each PHEV might represent 200 laptops, 1000 cars = 200,000 laptops...
Service info
CAN Bus
The HyMotion BREM has 2 CAN Bus ports, one connected to the stock Prius battery, one to the rest of the Prius. This allows the BREM to commandeer and modify certain messages from the stock battery to the Prius, while relaying all other messages. However, the BREM only relays to the stock battery the messages it needs. Therefore the stock battery side CAN Bus does not have all the CAN messages that are present on the Prius side CAN Bus. That can be a problem when installing a device that uses PIDs. When connecting an accessory to the CAN Bus (such as a ScanGauge or a Smart Charge device), it must be connected to the Prius side CAN bus, not the stock battery side CAN Bus.