Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
#1
Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
Would you be interested in converting your existing car into a plug-in hybrid? A Connecticut start-up claims it is developing a system that will do just that -- for a little under $4,000.
Autoblog Green says that Poulsen Hybrid's "general idea is to take an existing ICE car and convert it to a plug-in electric hybrid with mileage in the 100 mpg range. The system adds two Poulsen Hybrid electric motors that use rare earth permanent magnets and are rated at 5kW or 7hp onto the outside of your car and then adds a 72V 120Ah Deep Cycle Lead Acid battery pack (with six batteries inside) and an onboard charger to the vehicle."
Autoblog Green says that Poulsen Hybrid's "general idea is to take an existing ICE car and convert it to a plug-in electric hybrid with mileage in the 100 mpg range. The system adds two Poulsen Hybrid electric motors that use rare earth permanent magnets and are rated at 5kW or 7hp onto the outside of your car and then adds a 72V 120Ah Deep Cycle Lead Acid battery pack (with six batteries inside) and an onboard charger to the vehicle."
#2
Re: Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
I must admit that it's a neat way to add a little extra juice and make a cheap PHEV. On the other hand, it's pretty useless unless most of your trips are 1-2 mile jaunts to the grocery store (in which case you should bike or walk).
100 mpg claims are completely meaningless without a mile range for that 100 mpg. Since they don't bother giving us a range, they're probably hiding an inconvenient truth. Let's try to estimate it. The Poulson battery pack is 12V x 120 Ah= 1.44 kWh. That's only slighly more than the Prius at 1.31 kWh. Since the Prius goes only a couple miles on the battery alone, the Poulsen PHEV could only do a few miles on battery alone too. Of course, that's not possible, since the car engine is always running.
So let's assume that on every trip you get 100 mpg (instead of 25mpg) for the first 5 miles. That saves you 60 cents per trip at $4/gal gas. At 3 trips per day, that takes you about 6 years to recoup that 4 grand. Sounds marginally OK. But wait....we forgot to add the cost of always hauling around 300lbs. That 300 lbs is dead weight after a few miles since there is NO regenerative braking to recharge it. Better save that money for your next car purchase to upgrade it to a real hybrid.
100 mpg claims are completely meaningless without a mile range for that 100 mpg. Since they don't bother giving us a range, they're probably hiding an inconvenient truth. Let's try to estimate it. The Poulson battery pack is 12V x 120 Ah= 1.44 kWh. That's only slighly more than the Prius at 1.31 kWh. Since the Prius goes only a couple miles on the battery alone, the Poulsen PHEV could only do a few miles on battery alone too. Of course, that's not possible, since the car engine is always running.
So let's assume that on every trip you get 100 mpg (instead of 25mpg) for the first 5 miles. That saves you 60 cents per trip at $4/gal gas. At 3 trips per day, that takes you about 6 years to recoup that 4 grand. Sounds marginally OK. But wait....we forgot to add the cost of always hauling around 300lbs. That 300 lbs is dead weight after a few miles since there is NO regenerative braking to recharge it. Better save that money for your next car purchase to upgrade it to a real hybrid.
#3
Re: Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
Regeneration is engaged via a relay connected with the brake light circuit. A light touch of the brake pedal, without the pads actually contacting the drums or disks, will enable recovery of most of the kinetic energy.
I noticed that Green-Hybrid is not the only place you have posted the same thing. Perhaps you should read a little more carefully before you malign a what might be a perfectly good product?
#4
Re: Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
According to the article the battery pack is 72V x 120 Ah = 8.640KWH. Assuming 333 WH/mile (Prius is around 250 if I recall) that translates into an all electric range of 25 miles.
#6
Re: Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
Sorry for the regeneration mistake.
I did read the Poulson page where it describes the system, and it did not mention regen there.
http://www.poulsenhybrid.com/poulsen.html
(Apparently you have to go to the FAQ to find that out.)
Also, I saw an unrefuted comment on another site saying there was no regen braking.
So apparently there is regen. That makes the whole system a lot better!
I would now say it's one of the best conversion deals out there.
As for the batteries, it says 6pc. 12V 120Ah. That might mean 8.64 kWh.
But Lead acid has power density around 30-40 Wh/kg. (Wiki)
Even if the battery is 250 lbs, that's only 4.5kWh (at 40Wh/kg).
So either 1.44 kWh or 8.64 kWh doesn't make sense. Which is it? Or where is my math error? Maybe they are using some great new Lead acid battery?
I did read the Poulson page where it describes the system, and it did not mention regen there.
http://www.poulsenhybrid.com/poulsen.html
(Apparently you have to go to the FAQ to find that out.)
Also, I saw an unrefuted comment on another site saying there was no regen braking.
So apparently there is regen. That makes the whole system a lot better!
I would now say it's one of the best conversion deals out there.
As for the batteries, it says 6pc. 12V 120Ah. That might mean 8.64 kWh.
But Lead acid has power density around 30-40 Wh/kg. (Wiki)
Even if the battery is 250 lbs, that's only 4.5kWh (at 40Wh/kg).
So either 1.44 kWh or 8.64 kWh doesn't make sense. Which is it? Or where is my math error? Maybe they are using some great new Lead acid battery?
Last edited by Karkus; 06-02-2008 at 09:36 AM.
#7
Re: Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
Somebody is making a killing on batts. Check out these crazy prices:
http://www.hybrids-plus.com/ht/products.html
#8
Re: Start-Up Claims to Convert Any Car into a Hybrid
Wow, at those prices, it's definitely not worth it yet. In order to recover the cost within 250,000 mile, gas would have to cost $8.40/gallon for the cheapest conversion, and that's assuming you were always driving in blended mode and getting 100MPG vs. only getting 50MPG in the standard Prius.
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