Just doing a cascual calculation,

a 1.2v 2.2Ah AA NiMH battery cost $1 each (search it from ebay).

So for a HCH II 144v 5.5Ah can be constructed by 120 AA battery in serial, and two (or three) of them in parallel, to have either a 144V 4.4Ah or 144V 6.6Ah.

That mean the 144V 4.4Ah cost about $240 and 6.6Ah cost about $360 ?

So Why the battery cost over 3 grand?

 

In Australia they sell for $2k (US$1.5K)including taxes, however............it's a bit like batteries for your mobile phone. The so called "genuine" battery is 3 times that of an after maket one.


After all......it's got "Honda" stamped on it........hasn't it?

 

It's a little more complicated than just piling a bunch of batteries together to reach 144V. First, these are PREMIUM batteries. They are combined into sets, that are matched for charge/discharge characteristics. There are other differences that I can't recall at the moment, as well.
But I'm with you, there should be some middle ground between $400 and $1500+.

Soon enough, there will be aftermarket versions available. This alone will drive the prices down.

 

Also, if a single AA battery is roughly 0.5" x 2.0" then 120 batteries would be two sets of them 15 batteries wide by 5 batteries tall or 7.5" wide by 10" tall and then doubled. Remember that the battery in the back of the seat is probably more like 3.5" x 9.0" so yes they did make a good product -- oh -- and it will last 100,000 miles. I don't know if I could say the same for my digital camera or remote control batteries. =)

 

I remember following a link somewhere (I can't find it now but it is a pdf) to Honda's brochure for fire & rescue crews where they had a picture of the batteries. They had a picture of one of the cells next to a "D" cell so I think they're a little bigger than AA.

 

He was not suggesting to swap the D-cells directly for AA, but to wire several sets of 144 AA cells into a series-parallel arrangement at the same voltage.

As far as the price of the Battery pack, I believe that has to do with the entire package, such as the temperature sensors, and other components that are "bundled" together.

Also, the batteries used in these vehicles are designed to be lower resistance than a storebought NiMH rechargeable D-Cell, and to be able to last for many, many more cycles than consumer grade batteries. While a homebuilt pack would work, It might fail so much more often as to not be worth the cost-savings.

 

Um yeah, since when did dealers charge ebay prices? :-)

 

Anyone also notices that the battery never goes below 4 bars? For my HCH II if the battery showing 4 bar it won't assist and most of time it forced recharge. I guess this is to avoid deep discharge to keep the battery life longer.

My point is for the price of e-bay battery kit it opens up the possibility to hack the OEM battery, to increase the usable battery capacity and so it can assist in longer time and have better fuel economy.

I'd also like to see the HCH II can recharge it battery to 100% overnight via home power, and optimize the behavior to always use the battery energy first. So in the morning I've 100% battery and when I back home my car got 50%, and recharge it back to 100% the next day.

I guess the HCH II needs some mod kit just like the Pirus. It's a Cvic anyway right?

 

I've had my SoC down to 2 bars a few times. Three bars almost every day. (My commute is quite hilly.)

I hit 8 bars on the way to work (downhill) and 3 on the way home.

 

$3000 because it stamped "Honda" but if the battery stamped "U.S. Government" will cost more than $30,000.00!!!