One of the most talked about intermediate solutions between a full electric and today's cars is the plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV). Depending on the distance the driver goes, these plug-ins can go a significant part of their drive (mostly) on electric power, engaging the negine only after the battery is drained or when needing special performance boost. Since there is no "experience degredation" for the driver, they can load up on gas and go when they have no electricity, it is fairly simple to adopt - at a higher cost. Think of it as the missing link between neanderthals and Homo sapiens of cars...
The easiest way to get to a plug-in hybrid is not to wait for your dealers to get one (although many car makers are actively talking abou their upcoming releases) - the shortest way is to convert an existing hybrid. One such company that productized the conversion is Hymotion of Toronto, Canada. They converted a few of the leading hybrids in the market, including the Prius and Ford Explorer.
This is one of the simplest conversions you can imagine - basically this is done by adding a new battery pack (Lithium-Ion Polymer) at the back of the car (in the Prius it is done by removing the spare tire). They end up modifying the software in the hybrid to change behavior slightly knowing that the battery is more powerful, sort of what you'd do to a Tivo when you put a bigger disk drive. The result you get is a very nice number right next to the mpg indicator - going into three digits. If you had no infrastructure modification, living only with fuel tanks and gas pumps - that combination is probably the only way to reduce gas consumption.
If you think of the xB to eBox as a complete makeover (100% Fuel -> 100% electric), this conversion is the other end of the conversion spectrum (Fuel based hybrid to electric+fuel hybrid). There are others that do this conversion, first of them was the California Cars Initiative (known as CalCars). These guys used Standard Prius, Which they originally loaded iwth Lead-Acid batteries in the back - to prove their point. Their story is fascinating so go read it on the site. Their picture standing in front of the first conversion is now a cult classic in the PHEV community...
This is a great step in the right direction.
A problem we have is that there are not enough hybrids out there to convert. I am a big believer that a major reason the American car companies are losing market share is because they failed to capitalize on the hybrid car market, unlike Honda and Toyota; which has make Honda and Toyota feel like more "all-around" cars, and can help their mainstream cars, Camry & Civic, sell more easily.
Being a great option to have on hybrids, these mechanics should work with large networking businesses, such as car dealerships, to offer an upgrade to existing hybrids, and additionally offer a warranty. Another opportunity might be in training mechanics on performing this mod, and sell parts around the US and world.
A walk-in mechanic that can do this upgrade and provide an additional warranty stands to do a lot of business in a place like the Bay Area where many carpool drivers have a Prius.
Posted by: Benjamin Bakhshi | May 01, 2007 at 12:54 PM
As you point out, PHEVs are in a point on the spectrum between 100% electric and 100% fuel. In order to move further towards the goal of 100% electric point it might be a good idea to use less efficient fuel engines.
Yes, I said less efficient. As the all-electric range increases and places where you can charge your car become more available the percentage of electric miles will expand to a larger fraction of the total miles driven. The heavy fuel engine then becomes a burden in both mass and cost but you can't quite get rid of it even if you use it only a couple of times per year. Just like people pay for insurance they will pay for having this peace of mind - but they wouldn't want to pay too much for it.
In this case it makes sense to trade efficiency for cost and mass. It could still improve the overall energy efficiency by reducing weight and also the associated energy expenditure in manufacturing.
Gas turbines can have fantastic power to weight ratios and much lower part count than piston engines. The high and narrow RPM range make it difficult to drive the wheels directly but it is not a problem on a series hybrid. Simple gas turbines are not very efficient but as battery range increases we may reach a sweet spot where turbines become the backup engine of choice for PHEV before we go all electric.
Posted by: Oren Tirosh | May 02, 2007 at 12:11 AM
EDrive is another company specialized on the Prius conversion. I'm a long-time supporter of calcars initiative, as soon as the conversion announcement came out I called them up.
My house is solar-powered and I have the vision to feed my surplus solar power into my PHEV. That could easily cover my commute.
Unfortunately the conversion price alone is 32,000 USD ...and I would still have to buy the car first.
Too expensive for me right now, but prices will hopefully come down soon; I will continue to watch that space.
Posted by: Thomas Odenwald | May 02, 2007 at 07:19 PM
Plug-in to charge the batteries pack or.... supercapacitors pack?
With characteristics of both batteries and capacitors, supercapacitors (also called electrochemical capacitors or ultracapacitors) could be used by utilities to regulate power quality. A capacitor is a device that stores energy in the electric field created between a pair of conductors on which electric charges of equal magnitude, but opposite sign, have been placed. A supercapacitor is an electrochemical capacitor that has an unusually large amount of energy storage capability relative to its size, when compared to common capacitors.
Leaders on this market at the moment are http://www.optixtal.com and http://www.maxwell.com
The competition with batteries it's just started.
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