Re: WSJ: Getting 100 MPG Driving to Work In a Modified Toyota Prius

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:04:09 -0700, mg <mgkelson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Aug 7, 6:37 pm, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:46:07 -0700, mg <mgkel...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Aug 6, 1:57 pm, Florida <demeter547op...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
EYES ON THE ROAD By JOSEPH B. WHITE

Plugging In to the Future
Getting 100 Miles Per Gallon While Driving to Work In a Modified
Toyota Prius
August 6, 2007

I drove to work one day last week in a prototype car that is either a
harbinger of a far more fuel-efficient future, or another in a long
line of technological insurgencies that will fail in the end to crack
the auto industry's century-old status quo.

The car was a Toyota Prius modified, by the addition of a 72.5
kilogram (160 pound) lithium-ion battery pack, into a so-called plug-
in hybrid capable of operating for as many as 40 miles almost entirely
on electric power alone. The battery pack is a product of
Massachusetts-based A123 Systems (www.a123systems.com) and its
recently acquired Hymotion Inc. subsidiary.

Here's how my drive to work went. I walked out of the house to where
the Prius was parked, close enough to my garage so that I could run an
extension cord from the wall outlet to a three-prong plug installed in
the car's rear bumper.

[photo: WSJ's Joe White tests a Toyota Prius modified by a lithium-ion
battery pack, to see if it can operate for 40 miles almost entirely on
electric power.]

I'd plugged in the car the night before, and by morning the lithium-
ion batteries installed in the trunk were charged up. I stuck a
plastic key fob into a slot in the dash, hit the "Power" button -- and
then hit it again, because I couldn't tell if the car was on. There
was no engine noise.

Once I had the on-off business sorted out, I put the car in drive and
silently rolled out into the street. And I continued to roll on
electric power. In a normal Prius, the gasoline engine kicks in once
you get past walking speed. In this car, the extra batteries allowed
me to keep rolling in electric-only mode at highway speeds. The
company estimates the electricity cost of an overnight charge to be
around 75 cents for 50 extra miles.

As I dodged fellow citizens in their last-century gas-only SUVs, I
snuck glances at the Prius's information screen, which displayed my
fuel consumption and the flow of power from the batteries and the
gasoline engine. For most of my roughly 20-mile trip to the office, I
appeared to be on electric-only power. Accelerating to merge with
traffic, and avoid becoming a high-tech oil spot under a semi, I
engaged the gasoline motor. But cruising was all-electric -- and
according to the Prius's on board fuel consumption computer, I was
cruising at 100 miles to the gallon. The only awareness I had of the
power generation hand-offs between the gas engine and the lithium-ion
batteries, or the lithium-ion batteries and the Prius's factory-
installed nickel-metal hydride battery system was the videogame
display in the dashboard screen.

My reaction to this experience, drawing on 20 years of covering the
auto business, was: "Wow! Who wouldn't want this?"

It's the questions that come next that have been a problem for the
auto industry: What does it really cost? Is it reliable? What about
the warranty? (Toyota's stance on that last question is that anyone
who modifies the Prius into a plug-in voids the warranty.)
------------------------------

"75 cents for 50 extra miles" is hard to believe. I'm not saying it's
not true, though. It's just an astounding figure. According to their
website, their battery holds 5 killowatt hours of power.
http://www.hymotion.com/pdf/Specs_PHEV_L5.pdf

According to one of the online conversion websites, 1 kilowatt is
equal to 1.34 horsepower [electric]. So 5 kilowatt hours would be
equal to 5 hours at 1.34 horse power or 1 hour at 6.7 horsepower, for
instance.
http://www.onlineconversion.com/power.htm

So, I'm assuming that means that an additional 6.7 horsepower would
somehow have to propel a 3000-pound car for an extra 50 miles. There
is a website that states, "during highway cruising and in traffic,
that is, under the most common operating conditions, only 2-30 hp is
required."
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5343970-description.html

So, I suppose that all sounds sort of reasonable depending on how fast
the car goes and wind resistance and whether the terrain is flat and
whether the air conditioner is on, etc. What I would want to see,
though, is 2 identical cars, except for the battery, make exactly the
same trip and see how things come out. Or, even better, make a variety
of trips under different conditions.

It always makes me a little skeptical when a manufacturer, for one
reason or the other, is able to design, develop and market a product,
but is somehow unable to provide test results like those mentioned
above. I suspect that if the product is really as good as they say,
Toyota will eventually add a battery themselves.

Remember that the Prius already makes considerable use of the battery
and electric motor while driving around town -- without discharging
the battery pack. Almost all the time when you ease up on the gas or
put on the brakes, the battery charger (which is the electric motor
acting as a charger) kicks in. It does it virtually instantaneously,
and completely seamlessly. The only time a Prius owner is aware
anything "different" is happening with the car is when the engine
stops at a light.

Another interesting issue is the cost of electricity for a plug-in
hybrid. I've read comments by owners of electric cars that the per
mile cost of electricity is roughly half that of gasoline. Another
plus is the fact that plug-in hybrids would be charging mostly at
night when the power plants have a surplus of power to sell.

I suspect that at $3.00 gal for gasoline, the electric car or hybrid
might start looking very appealing, even with the cost of batteries,
etc. There is a cap, I think, on how much oil producers can charge for
gasoline before they start running into competition from other
technologies.

Yes, I know. It's called the free market. Beats the Five Year Plan
every time. (-8

Even if GM or Ford won't get off their duff, someone will. It's a big
world out there, and Toyota is more than willing to take their market
share. Same goes for something as mundane as the design of an LED
light bulb, or as complex as a prototype fusion power plant.

Jeff
.

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