hankanddara Posted February 11, 2015 at 06:59 PM Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 at 06:59 PM As a hopelessly curious geek, I would love to see what's taking up all that room under the carpet in the trunk (I'm not curious enough to try to open it myself!). Does anyone have photos of the "HVB"? Is it really just one battery? I'm envisioning a large number of batteries wired in series/parallel, like you might see in a golf cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy Posted February 11, 2015 at 07:53 PM Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 at 07:53 PM (edited) Here is what it looks like with the carpet removed. It is a single assembly that can be removed with the proper equipment. Edited February 11, 2015 at 10:25 PM by murphy meyersnole, Hybridbear and Doug0716 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hankanddara Posted February 11, 2015 at 08:13 PM Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 at 08:13 PM Cool! Thanks Murphy. How much does it weigh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted February 11, 2015 at 08:22 PM Report Share Posted February 11, 2015 at 08:22 PM It weighs about 300lbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug0716 Posted February 12, 2015 at 12:02 AM Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 at 12:02 AM If you're feeling extra nerdy you can read through the removal guide:http://elvsolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/2014_C-Max%20Battery%20Removal%20Guide%20Final.pdf It's for the C-Max but it's generally the same concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted February 12, 2015 at 01:24 AM Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 at 01:24 AM I actually find it quite interesting that the actual BATTERY is so small. For that massive hump, just over 50% of that space is battery and the rest is the management system, HVB disconnect, charger, etc. If they were able to hide that charger elsewhere and made that entire hump the battery, I bet we'd get pretty close to a 40 mile average range out of the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevedebi Posted February 13, 2015 at 04:54 PM Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 at 04:54 PM Here is what it looks like with the carpet removed. DSC_0429.JPG It is a single assembly that can be removed with the proper equipment.Good grief, I thought that my C-Max Energi battery eats up the space. I suppose it is similar to the Fusion, but since ours is a hatchback, it isn't as noticeable. It seems to use up a lot more room in the Fusion Energi. I suspect it is the same form factor; it weighs 300 lbs also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy314 Posted February 19, 2015 at 03:45 AM Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 at 03:45 AM I'd happily trade 2 gallons of gas tank space for more battery... Hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybridbear Posted February 19, 2015 at 03:11 PM Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 at 03:11 PM I'd happily trade 2 gallons of gas tank space for more battery...Good idea, but 2 gallons of gas is rather compact and that much extra battery would store a pretty minimal amount of kWh. It'd be nice if the next-gen Fusion is better designed to hold a larger HVB that gets a similar range to the new Volt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy314 Posted February 19, 2015 at 03:15 PM Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 at 03:15 PM (edited) Good idea, but 2 gallons of gas is rather compact and that much extra battery would store a pretty minimal amount of kWh. It'd be nice if the next-gen Fusion is better designed to hold a larger HVB that gets a similar range to the new Volt.I dunno... holding up 2 gallons of water looks like a square foot at least and it'd drop gas range only 90 miles to 530; but yes LiAir for the whole battery would be better. There sadly isn't enough market for anyone to do it. This isn't Tesla. Edited February 19, 2015 at 03:16 PM by shaggy314 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybridbear Posted February 19, 2015 at 09:15 PM Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 at 09:15 PM How many cubic feet does the battery take up now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meyersnole Posted February 20, 2015 at 11:02 AM Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 at 11:02 AM (edited) I dunno... holding up 2 gallons of water looks like a square foot at least and it'd drop gas range only 90 miles to 530; but yes LiAir for the whole battery would be better. There sadly isn't enough market for anyone to do it. This isn't Tesla. LiAir is not in production yet, still trying to solve issues. I think there is a huge market for new battery technology and we are on the brink of several new ideas. Whether it is changing the chemistry (sulfur, aluminum, etc), the design (solid state), or refining the current lithium ion to achieve better efficiency (this is the route Tesla is chasing) we have seen a massive investment in this space the past decade and the batteries are about to get a whole lot better. Unfortunately this will probably not do anything for our current cars, but the future of the plug in seems to be bright. Over the next 2-5 years I think that Lithium Ion will remain dominant with increases in energy density each year. Just read about this one the other day. However, someone will make that break through (my guess is solid state (LiAir)) and it will be a game changer. Probably will take at least 2 years from the time someone says they have a production ready solution before it gets deployed anywhere though. I see a lot of papers with promising research, do not see anyone claiming to have production ready solution... as Elon Musk says, if you have a better battery come talk to me with a price (translation, don't bring me power point slides -- not interesting in potential, he needs to sell cars). Edited February 20, 2015 at 11:14 AM by meyersnole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted February 20, 2015 at 01:16 PM Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 at 01:16 PM How many cubic feet does the battery take up now? Well, the trunk is 16 cu/ft without the battery, about 8 cu/ft remaining with the Energi cars, and if you take say, 60% of that to account for the charger, the battery itself is in the neighborhood of 4.8 cu/ft, maybe slightly less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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