I don't own a EV but I would think as an option its a great idea.

When I went to test drive a prius II the battery was near dead and this option should help in accel/economy due to not having a load charging the battery and moving the car. Being able to EV out of the neighborhood IMO would be a good thing.

This could allow the ICE to warm up at idle with no load too

 

I'm afraid the HCH wouldn't benefit much from a plug-in. It hasn't the ability to move on all-electric power, as well as having a very small electric motor (it's an assist-type hybrid) The Prius/Ford systems would be ideal for this type of vehicle. I, for one, would love to have a plug-in electric for short, slower speeds in town, then gas to go longer and faster out of town. Best of both modes.

 

It will be interesting to see the pricepoint. The day these "plug-in" hybrids become available is the day that I'm selling my Honda Element gas-guzzler (25 mpg) and purchasing one.

 

This is wonderful news. I live in Sweden were we don't really have a problem withe the capacity of the grid. The grid is mainly fed by nuclear- and hydropower, so CO2 emissions from transport would be drastically reduced if people started using plug-in hybrids.

 

finman got me looking at the difference between Honda and Toyota motors, wow that Toyota motor is a beast 295 lb.-ft. @ 0-1200 rpm, 67 hp and a 500V maximum. But what’s with the HP rating for the Traction Battery 201.6V and are the quoted numbers at 500V or 201.6V. It would be nice if the HCH could run in EV mode but with 13.5 hp and 46 lb.-ft I don't think it would work to well.

 

Price:

The prototype calcars.org built with CSEnergy's help put in a LiIon battery that cost them 15K US$. No idea what the additional electronics cost.

CalCars has said that they expect the upgrade to eventually cost the same as the hybrid premium when battery tech matures a bit, and some economis of scale kick in -- which I take to mean around 4K US$. This is real progress. An 83% unlimited_EV (1 - 25mpg/150mpg) for under 30K US$, compared to 40 - 50K US$ for pure_but_limited EV.

Electricity is a lot cheaper than petrol in the US, costing about 1.5 cents/mile at 7.5 cents/kWh, so that $4K premium is within the ballpark even for people who only would consider the car based on money saved, since the breakeven point would be at about 120K miles.

The US *really* needs a shift away from the current dogma that says "If I'm not benefitting immediately into my pocket, do not bother me" to a slight shift that says "Better for society, and no cost to me ? SIGN ME UP!"

 

The Prius 2 ('04-'05) has an inverter which bumps the 202 volts from the battery up to 500 volts (as well as converting from DC to AC power), then it goes to the electric motor.

The Honda hybrids are mild, in that no electric juice ALONE is used to move the car, it's an 'assist' motor that helps the engine run easier/give a little boost...aiding MPG and power to an otherwise decent gas-only engine.

The Toyota system employs a power-split device that can take power from the battery/motor or the gas engine or both and propel you down the road.

The Hondas have their assist electric motors between the gas engine and the conventional tranny (be it 5-sp or cone & belt CVT). Gas engine HAS to turn in order to propel the car, thus a plug-in wouldn't work in the current Honda system (other than topping off the battery overnight)

And to make this just a bit longer...the Prius actually has TWO electric motors. One is the 50 kW for turning the wheels (as well as a regen generator!), the other smaller motor is a generator and cranks the engine over. Advantage here is electricity can be generated at any time by the engine or by the regen of braking.

 

From what I've read about the Prius battery, it actually is supposed to last you longer in terms of years because it never fully recharges or discharges, so I imagine they need to replace the battery because of that. I would think that even more efficient would be to add some sort of solar panelling to the roof of the car, spoiler, etc. Then again I live in California and would much rather charge while I'm in the supermarket shopping as opposed to plugging in. From what I've heard a good portion of the US uses fuel such as coal to produce that electricity that you want to use to charge your car overnight. Maybe I heard wrong? My point is that somewhere like California we've got problems with our electric infrastructure. As it is they're asking every citizen to conserve because of the brown outs and black outs that occur during the summertime when everyone is running their air conditioning. Now, if I had solar panels and could run my electricity off of that I wouldn't complain since we get sunshine from 6am to about 9pm during summer. Until then I'm not against the plug-in, but it's only going to mean more people ask me if my car plugs in.

 

Hi Red,

You are spot on regarding coal in much of the country. Proponents of pluggables make two arguments:

1. With some effort, coal burning is not dirtier than gasoline, and it does not come from the Middle East.

2. A growing demand for electricity would be a fantastic impetus to develop alternative clean energy, such as wind.

Presumably most of the electrical demand by pluggables will occur at night, when the load is below capacity anyway (even in CA).

 

Presumably, yes. However, where I live in the Central Valley, where apprently we have the second worst smog problem next to the Los Angeles area, it gets real hot, and often we run the air conditioning all night because it's over 100 degrees, and we're not the only ones because I can hear everyone's central air humming if I've got the windows open. Two summers ago we had over 30 days of 100 degree weather, and it does not cool at night at all. So, it can be unbearable. I see near my house a reservoir where they may harness electricity as well as a large amount of windmills because it gets windy enough to tip over RV's and trucks hauling mobile homes (I've seen them spilled over too) so I think it's clean and if I had a windmill or two along with solar panels, I might be able to get off the grid, but even then how many people do so? They tried to jack us a few years ago by hiking up energy prices and they can continue to do so, and what would the public be able to do about it? Not a **** thing.