Those of you with deep pockets and a 2006 Escape Hybrid might want to pre-order your PHEV conversion kit from this location http://hybrids-plus.com/ht/products.html
Company location is in Boulder, Co. There is also an inverter and charger so one can provide power to the electrical grid when needed.

At only $36,000(!) can anyone figure out how long it will take to pay for itself?

 

I live near Boulder, and in a few days, I'm going to test drive one with the lithium plug-in battery pack. I will report back on my impressions. The lithium battery pack fits in the same form as the stock battery. The stock battery is totally removed, so it is an "invisible" conversion. Same shape, but adds about 100 pounds vs. the original, but will have 15x to 20x the output.

I just talked to them last week. The vehicle to grid part is still on the drawing board... not available to purchase yet. Also talking at length with them, it is not their #1 goal to make this an EV car. It is their hope to boost your MPG to 50-75 MPG no matter how fast you drive, by having the battery and motor contribute power for all your miles, not just the EV miles.

 

Gee only $36,000 and no warranty on the new battery...

 

If I had money to blow I'd wait for the Hymotion kit....

 

how about google's try here:
http://www.google.org/recharge/
seems interesting

 

Wow! That is so expensive! I just did some quick math... if I bought one of those and was able to achieve 75mpg and gas stayed the same at $3 per gallon, it would take me 27 years, 4 months to recoup. Now, if gas were to go up to $5 per gallon, I would recoup costs in 16 years 3 months!

 

You would be much better served buying a ~7-10KW inverter type genset, running it on "home brewed" CNG, Compressed Natural Gas. Mount it on a small single wheel, swivel wheel, "tagalong" trailer.

Continuous (re)charging of the hybrid battery without the wastefullness of the HUGE ICE just to "trickle" (in comparison) charge the hybrid battery.

Improve the hwy MPG by 100% even counting, including, the cost of the CNG.

 

Has anyone developed this concept? What would the cost of this device be?

 

It is an interesting concept and I look forward to your report(s). Maybe you can get an executive(?) from this business/company to provide first hand knowledge/report to us. Hopefully this concept will be offered with Ford Motor Company(?) for warranty coverage and significant reduction in retail cost.

 

I talke dto a company in Canada who makes a piggyback pack. The pack sits behind the rear seat and connects to the existing battery pack through an isolation diode.

You charge the battery overnight using a plug in charger. Then, you have enough power to drive about 15 miles in EV mode. I do not know how or if they hold the FEH in EV mode.

They are only selling kits to Ford and the State of California at this time.