How does a 5 passenger 140 MPG SUV sound?
How does over 2,000 miles per 15 gallon fill-up sound?

I drove one today!
You can have one soon too, and for under $60,000.

I had the luxury of test driving the 3rd ever Plug-In Hybrid Escape today.
The new, larger, more powerful, plug-in capable battery pack was built by Hybrids Plus, of Boulder Colorado, but I helped them disassemble, decompile, and reverse engineer the 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid's original battery pack, and battery management system over the past few months. They needed to have a deep understanding of how the Ford system works, in great detail. And Ford was well, less than forthcoming with the needed information.

The scratch-built battery pack, filled with lithium cells from A123 Systems, fits neatly into the space where the original battery was. The original battery is removed. The prototype lithium battery is slightly taller than the original, but I doubt anyone will notice when the production model comes out. It weighs about 30% more, but fits in nearly the same space, because cells are also stashed where the cooling fans used to be. A123 cells do not heat up much, even with 3 hours of consistent use, so cooling fans or A/C is not required. I used them for 3 hours today, and the cells, carefully monitored, did not even get warmer than the ambient cabin temperature.

I drove in city only conditions, in heavy, congested traffic areas of Boulder CO, from 9am to 12 noon today. There were no pre-arranged routes. No ideal conditions. Lots of traffic. Lots of cyclists and pedestrians. Lots of stop signs and stop-lights. I drove mostly in areas I've never seen before. I drove around the University and Pearl Street areas mostly. I made a few loops, but tried to cover new territory with every turn. I do not live in Boulder. The day was sunny and 85 to 88 degrees at noon, but I chose to keep A/C off, and keep all 4 windows down instead. I had freedom to drive where ever I wanted, as a company engineer rode along and monitored laptops and other instruments attached to the PHEV.

It took 3.2 hours to deplete the battery 1 time.
I covered 48.5 miles of random city streets before the battery needed a recharge. My fuel economy at the end was 141 MPG!
My MPG would have approached infinite, but the FEH needs to run every few minutes to keep the catalyst hot... "just in case".

Scan Gauge Specifics:
141 MPG round trip
48.5 miles
3.2 hours
1853 RPM max.
39 miles per hour max.
15 miles per hour ave.
0.3 gal used

During and after lunch, we gave the car a little bit of recharge, since the battery was near the lower limit after the above drive. We did not have time to give it a full recharge, since we wanted to drive more that afternoon.

The afternoon was a mostly highway drive.
Speeds were 40+ but did not exceed 58 miles per hour.
We drove 10.25 miles on a state highway that had 3 stoplights.
Going north, we hit all 3 red lights.
0-53 miles per hour, stop. 0-55 miles per hour, stop. 0-58 miles per hour stop. Turn around.
Northbound was slightly downhill. Boulder to Longmont.
Northbound with battery assist at all speeds = 134 MPG.

Southbound we hit only 1 red light.
Southbound, Longmont to Boulder was slightly uphill.
Southbound was about 101 MPG with battery assist for the first 5 miles.
Accelerating from the 1 red light, the HV pack wore down to its lower limit.
At this point, the car behaved like a regular FEH.
This is called "sustain mode".
The car just tries to "sustain" the current battery SOC.
It does not intentionally try to recharge, other than Regen.
It also does not try to battery assist, other than heavy "floor it" conditions.

Scan Gauge Specifics:
91.9 MPG round trip
20.5 miles round trip
0.5 hours
2376 RPM max.
58 miles per hour max.
44 miles per hour ave.
0.2 gal used

Note: I did not use any "extreme" hypermiler techniques.
#1 I wanted the tests to be as "realistic" as possible.
#2 I had a company engineer in the car. I didn't want to scare him.
I wanted to be invited back!

( I was )

Hybrids Plus has built a quality product. It works every well, and this was the first time the lithium pack was more than a mile away from the workshop. It has not even been "fine tuned" or optimized yet. Could be, they got it right the first time. Could be it will be even better next time I see them. They are not quite ready for sale yet. They need to work on the cosmetics and "user interface" ( orange plug? or black?).

When ready (in a couple of months) you can have one for about $30,000.
Plus the price your vehicle, of course.

I would be happy to answer any general questions.
I had their permission to write this review.
Hybrids Plus have been very open with most of their conversion process already. They know at this point, you cannot do it yourself any cheaper then them even if you know how! ( these are top of the line battery cells folks... they knocked my socks off! )
-John

P.S. Batteries are included. Electricity is not. Electricity is 2.8 cents per mile. Gas is 10 cents per mile.



*The MPG was 141 when we pulled over to record data. The ICE came on and ran while were were parked for a few moments, lowering the total to 138. I wrote down the data on paper first, then found the camera, and took the photos. The "Tile" preview feature built-into the camera was used for this. The peak was 147 MPG at about 2 hours, and 30 miles into the drive.

 

That's amazing mileage, but can you recapture $30K in gas savings over a regular FEH?

Let's say you average 100mpg and drive 15K miles/year.

Annual fuel cost at $3/gal = $450

A regular FEH average of 30mpg at 15K miles/year.

Annual fuel cost - $1500

You would need to drive 30 years to break even! This is best case as it doesn't include the cost of electricity which I've read is in the neighborhood of $1/charge.

I'm very optimistic about plug in technology and early adoption, but hopefully those costs will significantly drop and soon or it will remain a niche market.

 

Cost isn't the reason for all purchases.
Do you use a rubber band for a wedding band?
How long does it take to get your money back from a bottle of fine wine?
How long does it take to get your money back from a nice stereo?
These things add enjoyment to a person's life, and you can share that enjoyment with others.
Just like a PHEV. It is there for people who enjoy such things.

A PHEV does not allow you to drive for "free".
Electricity costs about 28 cents every 10 miles.

Part of the $30 grand though, includes a contractor grade extension cord, if that helps you decide.
-J

 

Excellent point.

As a "toy", it would be great. People don't tend to think of their "toys" has having any expected payback. They are just for their fun value.

 

John, was the MPG about the same as a stock FEH in sustain mode?

 

This is great news and shows the "American based companies" can compete with the best of them. Most of us don't have a spare $30,000 to invest in a battery pack. Do we need the politicians to give us a $27,000 tax credit?

 

Just curious, comparing the performance of your FEH to this one, did you notice any differences. IE better or worse acceleration under high demand before and after the battery was depleted? I guess as your drive was mostly city driving prior to the battery being depleted, maybe not.

Does sound very interesting & promising with the newer battery technologies.

Do you know or can you tell us if these batteries can deliver more amperage output in addition to much better capacity over the current battery pack?

I think the contractor grade extension cord will make the $30K seem like a bargain!

 

Any guesses about what the mileage/performance would be when not hypermiling? Most traffic on the Diagonal Highway goes faster than 58 on the open stretches. Also, can you accel fairly strongly without much engine assist? With a full charge, my FEH will act as a sort of "virtual" series hybrid from about 45 to 55 MPH, meaning that (with a light touch) the tach won't move much but the assist gauge will go right and I'll speed up noticeably. The engine stays relatively steady and most of the impulse will come from the traction motor, assuming high charge, moderate speeds and low demand. Did you happen to notice if this unit does that, where you speed up but the ICE speed stays fairly steady?

Also, is it safe to assume the ICE still "always" comes on at 40+ to protect the MGs?

 

I remember the first PC I bought in 83 it cost $3500 and had an 8088 chip with a whoping 128K of memory, 2 floopy drives NO HARD DRIVE. I was one of the first shops to have a pc. Now you can get a new pc for under $1000 or less. in 10 years what will be the price of Li-ion batteries? This pack could be quite a bit less in the future. In the mean time this company has established itself in the market. Maybe now Ford will help them, as they are trying themselves.

One question I have is have they broken the "code" or programing for the no ev cold? It would be great to "start" without the ICE then when it needs the ICE start it only then.

 

I wonder if "someone" could implement an EV only mode that would meet Fed requirements? Basically, in such an EV only mode, the vehicle would run only on batteries, and the ICE is locked out. If you run out of battery power, you will just get that (existing) "you have 20 seconds to safely pull over and stop" message. With the ICE locked out, there is no need to keep the cat converter hot.

Of course, you can stop, turn off the key, and then turn it back on, but then in Hybrid mode, with the ICE, amongst other things, keeping the cat converter hot and ready.