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It seems congrats are in order, GPS-MAN1.
8kWh, 0.343gal for 45 miles.
Is this your own modification, any details?

Good Luck
Andrew
:flag:

I have been loaning my time as a "hybrid" expert to a new start-up company that is a "battery expert". They have been building plug-in lithium packs for the Prius for about 1 year, but completed the first Ford Escape Pack earlier this week.

I was allowed to take the car on it's first test drive with the lithium battery made of cells from A123 Systems. On day one, drive one, without software optimizations, I got a sustainable 138 MPG to 147 MPG in stop & go city conditions where speeds were under 39 MPH.

Over the highway, at speeds of about 58 MPH I could sustain 91 MPG for 20 miles.
Battery assist occurs at all speeds, not just EV mode.

Right now it's short drive, tweak, short drive, tweak.
Soon, I'm going use it for an entire tank, and see what happens.
Could exceed 1800 miles from one tank of gas with a plug-in every night.
-John

Given that you are supplementing the tank range from an electrical outlet, any ideas how much electricity it consumes for each gallon of gas it saves?

That would be very interesting to know.

Yes. 8 kWh saved about 1 gallon on the preliminary test drive.

8 kWh costs about $1.00 in "middle America".

8 kWh costs about $2.00 in California from what I just heard.
But that is during the day.
Utilities give price breaks, sometimes half price for off-peak power use.

So at night in Los Angeles, you should be able to charge up for a buck a night also, if you arrange for a special power meter that also records the time of day. Most households don't have such a meter, because most house-holds don't use enough power between say 10pm and 5am to make it worthwhile.

Thanks... yes, this sounds like a good use for power during the low demand hours in the middle of the night.

Interesting... 8 kWh is 27,000 BTUs, a gallon of gas has 115,000 in comparison so at 40 to 50% efficiency for gasoline (46K to 57K) I'd think that equates to about a half gallon saved.

I think you just illustrated that gasoline internal combustion engines are not anywhere close to 40-50% efficient. ICE's are more like 20-25% efficient.

"Burning" gas, most of the energy goes into heat, and very little goes into "motion".
With an electric motor, somewhere close to 95% of the energy goes into motion, and only 5% goes into heat. -John

This is a very exciting thread to read! Those are some very impressive #'s for a FEH. If your pratners are ever in need of an '07 Prius for testing...:D

Hi John:

___Anything new? Details and more details are always a plus ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I work out of state now, so not a lot of new info, other than they are making more of them.
Some are going to Southern California Edison with V2G technology.

V2G is "Vehicle to Grid".

Not only can you charge up your PHEV at night, but the power company ( by remote telecom ) can pull power out of your PHEV during peak times, such as a hot summer day when peak Air Conditioner use may cause "brown outs". ( They of course credit you back with all the kWh that thay take out. )

-John

Hi John:

___Hybrid Plus?

___Good Luck

___Wayne