Dual Battery modification?

[OneSpeed]

Has anyone installed a second hi voltage battery in their Fusion?

I noticed that my charge indicator shows a maxed out battery condition twice on each drive to and from work. And then the charge indicator suggests a 1/2 - 1/3 discharged condition and starts the engine before I get through the hills.

I want more hi voltage storage capacity AND a plug in charge option.

I think I would be OK if this battery were just 50% larger. But I wonder if I could just get a battery from a total and modify my car to accept it?

[Waldo]

Uhhh, you have heard of the Fusion Energi, right??

[OneSpeed]

No.

I have always been a GM guy. I have had two E350 for work but this is the first Ford car.

And I have always been an extreme anti hybrid person. I put my money where my mouth is on this car and am trying to learn as much as I can. So far I love the car and am very impressed.

What exactly are you talking about?

[Texasota]

What exactly are you talking about?

 

http://www.ford.com/cars/fusion/trim/seenergi/?searchid=163743805|13890252565|29912074937&ef_id=VH9I-AAAAVXccclG:20141209203632:s

[Waldo]

The Fusion Energi is the version of the Fusion hybrid that has a bigger battery and let's you plug in.

 

http://www.ford.com/cars/fusion/trim/titaniumenergi/

[OneSpeed]

OK, that is good to know, but I just bought this car less than a month ago and did not plan to spend that much money. I did not even know about it then anyway.

So can I modify this this car over time and convert it to an Energi?

[Texasota]

So can I modify this this car over time and convert it to an Energi?

 

I can't imagine that being a feasible or practical endeavor given the technology and complexity of these cars. There are way to many technical differences between the two cars. HybridBear recently traded in his 2013 FFH for a 2013 Energi he found still sitting around on a new car lot. Something like that may be an option for you.

[OneSpeed]

Price?

[hybridbear]

Price?

Welcome to the Forum!

 

http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/9227-if-you-could-get-an-energi-titanium-for-nothing-would-you-take-it

 

Also, I hid your duplicate post earlier in the thread.

[Easy Rider]

I want more hi voltage storage capacity AND a plug in charge option.

I think I would be OK if this battery were just 50% larger. But I wonder if I could just get a battery from a total and modify my car to accept it?

 

Sounds to me like you bought the wrong car.

 

Just adding a bigger battery without changing the other electronics to control it would gain you little or nothing because ALL of the energy to charge the batteries comes from gas burned in the engine. All of it.

 

By the time you modify your Fusion to work like a Plugin Hybrid, you could have traded for one and had money left over.

 

No, not a good idea.

[Texasota]

Price?

Only speculation on my part, but to convert a FFH into an Energi would cost way more than the cost of brand new Energi. The FFH would have to be largely rebuilt to transform it into an Energi that complied with all of the federal laws/regulations. In addition, modifications of this order of magnitude would completely void the warranty of your new 2015 FFH.

 

This is only my opinion, but I believe this idea is completely impractical. I agree with Easy Rider, if this is a big issue for you, then you purchased the wrong car.

[OneSpeed]

Thanks for the replies, no I did not buy the wrong car, I modify everything I have ever owned.

My question was what did the Energi cost.

My budget for a car was under 20K. I spent well over that on this car. The Energi is even higher in cost and would not have been an option for me even if I knew about it at the time.

I understand that modifying this car won't be a plug and play ordeal, just brainstorming right now.

[OneSpeed]

One reason I started this thread is a coworker and I were discussing our hybrids, his is a Toyota Prius and my dad has a Camry hybrid. My coworker said that the Prius has an after market 2nd battery.

So I had to know about the Ford?

 

edit: Primus is a heavy metal band not a car

Edited December 9, 2014 by OneSpeed

[OneSpeed]

Sorry about the auto correct spelling stuff. That last post was chopped up:(

[corncobs]

One reason I started this thread is a coworker and I were discussing our hybrids, his is a Toyota Prius and my dad has a Camry hybrid. My coworker said that the Prius has an after market 2nd battery.

So I had to know about the Ford?

 

edit: Primus is a heavy metal band not a car

Maybe a second after market battery after the original died ???

 

Primus - Prius doesn't matter still not a car ;)

Edited December 10, 2014 by corncobs

[OneSpeed]

He said that the Prius has an after market setup that gave it two batteries and all related components with the added bonus of being able to plug in to a land line to charge.

 

This sounds great to me, because electricity is cheaper than gas (for now) and would help lower my gas bill. I drive 100 miles a day but never really saw the potential of the hybrid till I got this one. Now I feel challenged too get as low of a gas bill as possible=high milage.

Ca. has gas additives in our fuels that "help" everything but fuel economy. Typically we see 2 or 3 mpg less than factory estimates.

[Waldo]

Where's that 100lb aftermarket battery going to go in a crash? I'd be more worried about that then anything else. And as has been noted, putting a bigger battery in isn't going to get you better mileage, in fact it will probably be worse since you have to carry around all that extra weight all the time. Adding plug-in capability will help, but then you're back to the point where it would be cheaper to just trade in for an Energi. The Energi is eligible for all kinds of tax credits, in fact in my case I could have had one for less than the cost of the hybrid, but I couldn't live with the compromised trunk space.

[jeffo65]

Here is some reading for you.

 

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_conversions.html

 

http://www.pluginsupply.com/

 

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Convert_Your_Car_to_a_Plug-in_Hybrid

 

http://hybridautocenter.com/HAC4/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=629

 

http://www.motherearthnews.com/green-transportation/converting-your-prius-or-other-hybrid-into-a-plug-in-electric.aspx#axzz3LV6LbFgc

 

http://www.enginer.us/

 

 

Amazing what you can find doing a google search.

[lolder]

I've never heard of an extra battery in a Prius except an extreme modification. They have a plug-in hybrid also but they go less than 20 miles in EV. The FFH and other hybrids are VERY high tech cars that are delicate compromises in their operation. It is a very bad idea to modify the drive trains in any way. The HVB's are not too small. They are exactly the right size for the purpose which is to maximize the thermodynamic efficiency of the ICE which provides ALL of the energy by burning gasoline. Plug-in hybrid philosophy is different and plug-in electric philosophy is completely different. Great design attention is given in a hybrid to maximizing the life of the HVB which has been successful.

In these cars, every system "talks" to almost every other system most of the time. If you change one, the total results would be very difficult to predict. The cars are software controlled and Ford has not revealed much about the code except the results. "Hacking" them is a very bad idea. Sorry. It's a fantastic car as it is so enjoy.

[hybridbear]

Thanks for the replies, no I did not buy the wrong car, I modify everything I have ever owned.

My question was what did the Energi cost.

My budget for a car was under 20K. I spent well over that on this car. The Energi is even higher in cost and would not have been an option for me even if I knew about it at the time.

I understand that modifying this car won't be a plug and play ordeal, just brainstorming right now.

Where's that 100lb aftermarket battery going to go in a crash? I'd be more worried about that then anything else. And as has been noted, putting a bigger battery in isn't going to get you better mileage, in fact it will probably be worse since you have to carry around all that extra weight all the time. Adding plug-in capability will help, but then you're back to the point where it would be cheaper to just trade in for an Energi. The Energi is eligible for all kinds of tax credits, in fact in my case I could have had one for less than the cost of the hybrid, but I couldn't live with the compromised trunk space.

With the Energi tax credit and good timing on Ford incentives you can get an Energi for less than the FFH.

 

I've never heard of an extra battery in a Prius except an extreme modification. They have a plug-in hybrid also but they go less than 20 miles in EV. The FFH and other hybrids are VERY high tech cars that are delicate compromises in their operation. It is a very bad idea to modify the drive trains in any way. The HVB's are not too small. They are exactly the right size for the purpose which is to maximize the thermodynamic efficiency of the ICE which provides ALL of the energy by burning gasoline. Plug-in hybrid philosophy is different and plug-in electric philosophy is completely different. Great design attention is given in a hybrid to maximizing the life of the HVB which has been successful.

In these cars, every system "talks" to almost every other system most of the time. If you change one, the total results would be very difficult to predict. The cars are software controlled and Ford has not revealed much about the code except the results. "Hacking" them is a very bad idea. Sorry. It's a fantastic car as it is so enjoy.

There are a number of shops that add an extra battery to the Prius with a 120V outlet to charge it. That outlet is usually built into the rear bumper and you use an extension cord to plug it in. This modification is usually done to Gen II Prii since Toyota didn't offer the PHEV version until Gen III. Our last mayor of Minneapolis was a big fan of hybrids. For all his 10 years in office he drove a hybrid, first a Gen I Prius, then a Gen II, then a modified PHEV Gen II, then a Gen I FFH, then a Gen III Prius. Many other politicians choose huge luxury sedans or SUVs as their official car, but this mayor chose a hybrid and promoted hybrids around the city. During his time in office the city fleet was converted to mostly hybrids. City vehicles still are predominantly Escape Hybrids and Gen II/III Prii.

[OneSpeed]

Thanks for the replies.

 

A market for the Prius plug in already working out bug means the Fusion system is only a matter of time.

[jeff_h]

I've never heard of an extra battery in a Prius except an extreme modification. They have a plug-in hybrid also but they go less than 20 miles in EV.

 

Actually I think the Prius PHEV is rated at 11 miles on the HVB before it transitions to hybrid mode... great if your daily commute is only a few miles, but the benefit definitely diminishes beyond that.

[hybridbear]

 

Actually I think the Prius PHEV is rated at 11 miles on the HVB before it transitions to hybrid mode... great if your daily commute is only a few miles, but the benefit definitely diminishes beyond that.

And it's only 6 miles continuous EV operation because the Prius electric motor is so weak that it can't properly accelerate the vehicle.

[OneSpeed]

I have read that our FFH is only good for up two miles in EV mode, so a second battery charged over night would make that 2 mile stretch seem short?

[Easy Rider]

My coworker said that the Prius has an after market 2nd battery.

So I had to know about the Ford?

Your coworker is wrong.

 

Many have tried and to date, none has found that simply attaching additional battery capacity to any model of Prius has gained them anything. One exception would be the plug-in model maybe but it already has a MUCH bigger battery than the others.