March 25, 2008
150 MPG Toyota Prius with aftermarket lithium-polymer battery pack
We checked the 150 MPG Toyota Prius at the Clean Vehicle Technology Expo in Ontario California. There were a lot of pure electric cars and hybrid cars there, some in early concept stages, other (pre)production. But Hymotion's new lithium-ion battery pack for the Toyota Prius really got our attention. While it may not lower gas prices, it does promise to make trips to the gas station a lot less frequent.
The 175-pound battery pack, which is sold as aftermarket kit, converts the car into a plug-in hybrid and allows it to run on electric power for the first forty miles of a trip. It installs in the spare tire well of the trunk, leaving the entire trunk space for cargo, so you can still drive your spare tire in there, and have plenty room left. In average Prius, the gasoline engine still does the majority of the work and the batteries merely take over at low speeds.
Aftermarket kit from Hymotion however changes much. Owners charge up their vehicles with a regular 110 or 220 volt extension cord and afterwards the car will drive dozens of miles solely on electrical power. As you can expect, total gas mileage goes through the roof and company executives claim drivers can easily exceed 150 miles-per-gallon in the city and 100 MPG on the highways.
Comments on 150 MPG Toyota Prius with aftermarket lithium-polymer battery pack »
We are surely looking forward to a heated up market with Co's like Toyota and ZAP.
Thinking ahead to Prius conversion @ 6:47 am
[...] battery pack conversion, by HyMotion, converts the Prius to a 100 to 150 mpg plug-in Hybrid. 150 MPG Toyota Prius with aftermarket lithium-polymer battery pack Recharging from home AC takes 6 hours, and allows you to drive 40 miles before the LI battery is [...]
When will the batteries be available
$$9,500 Still sounds kind of high on the battery pak. Better do lots of driving to offset costs. Prius already gets good milage as it is. Lets say you drive 12,000 miles per year @40mpg. the Prius would consume 300gal. of gas@ 4.00 per gallon this would cost 1200 per year in fuel. If batteries lasts longer than 8 years, or warrantied, then it would be a good deal
payback calculations cease to matter much when one has to wait in line for rationed fuel as we did during the 70's energy crisis. Now that we are staring peak oil in the face, the probability of future occurances of rationing or very high fuel prices get higher every day.
Don't forget that the benefit to everyones mother. Mother nature that is
I'm not exactly green. I'd rather it make financial sense in my pocket book with a major plus being less carbon and stench in the atmosphere. Plus you can stick it to a very unstable area of the world whose major economies run on "liquid gold, texas tea" 
Batterirevolusjonen du har gått glipp av - Jan Thoresen blogger @ 4:17 pm
[...] finnes til og med selskaper som bygger om Toyota Prius til en pluginhybrid (hybrid som kan lades via stikkontakten) med polymerbatterier. [...]