True that, about HSD, one can drive as soon as the vehicle is "ready", not that the engine needs to be running yet.

For the Prius, I can drive as soon as the ready light is on...the engine will then start 10 seconds later, REGARDLESS of temp, stop time, etc.

I'm only assuming the Camry Hybrid does the same. It's all for emissions...heat for the ICE (an oxymoron if there ever was one!) is necessary for cleaner emissions.

 

Remember... they don't explode!!! no... according to most of these companies legal departments they "rapidly vent with flame" which is of course totally different.

 

...gunpower, too!

 

Tim K — My TCH (now one year old), like all TCHs, has the SmartKey with push-button start. Yes, you can drive off as soon as the READY light comes on (~1 second in summer), and if you don't push too hard on the accelerator, you can drive off under pure EV power. But, the ICE will fire up about 12 seconds later. Same if you don't drive off immediately. If you push harder on the accelerator, the ICE will start up immediately.

Stan

 

Not saying I don't want one.... I just want to be sure the people making it are EXPERTS at LiIon technology and not just throwing something together from other components.

 

Hi,

Has anyone heard of the Hymotion people having issues? They've had a similar product out for some time (a year or two?) so if their battery is the same, they would have ht the snags by now...

Is there a comparison between the two yet?

Cheers,

rcomeau

 

Depends.... Sony sells thousands/millions of batteries.. only a few had actual problems... how many Hymotion machines have been sold? Not many. I doubt they'd see many problems until full scale production... and frankly if a single car caught fire, it wouldn't take long for the news media to run with that one and tell of the death traps they all "are". I just hope they do it right. I feel it can be done right, but one question for me is if a small "startup" company would have the resources (unless they subcontract it all out).

 

I believe Hymotion's is an "add-on" pack, that sits on top of the original, and is smaller. I also believe the Hymotion pack does not accept regen. I think the Hymotion pack basically plugs into the stock pack, and you use the Hymotion pack to "recharge" the stock pack, vs. use the generator. Once the Hymotion pack reaches depletion, it just sits there and does not accept regen, and the stock pack operates in the traditional sense. So in that case, you double the dead weight (you carry two heavy packs) and loose cargo area, compared to Hybrids Plus, but get no extra capacity for it. But I'm not an expert on Hymotion. One gripe is, with hymotion's battery, in an accident, you have a 300 pound missile, as it just sits on the cargo area carpet.

With Hybrid Plus, their battery fits into the same space as the stock battery, and is bolted to the chassis in the exact same way as the stock battery.
Less Space, Less Weight, Same or better capacity, and no missile!

Hymotion's battery case is made of "impact resistant plastic" though......

 

The Hymotion website graphic display of this add in battery is something like 14 inches high/tall by 40 inches wide/long. I'm assuming it is designed to fit behind upright seats. Thus one drawback--as John stated---is the interference of cargo space. The website states you can purchase one early in 2008!

 

GPSMAN1's point about Hymotion's battery acting as a "battery Charger" is interesting. Because it keeps the HV battery fully charged, you do not recover braking energy until the Hymotion battery is exhausted. Braking energy for this period is wasted.

This may be OK if the cost is much lower!