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looking for a kit that will give me electric only range

Discussion in 'Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications' started by Heynow999, Nov 24, 2012.

  1. Heynow999

    Heynow999 New Member

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    I live in Canada. I ideally would like to buy an EV for a second car for my wifes around town use. She does not work so the car would be used for shopping and taking the kids to school and as a family car on weekends. Unfortunately, we have no where near the deals that are available in the US. If I could get a Leaf or a Volt at US lease rates we would have one in our driveway. Both those cars are $600 plus a month for a 3 year lease, even with our generous $8500 EV credit.

    So my idea to get a car where I can drive on electricity is to buy a used Gen II and a plug-in kit.

    Are there kits where I can get ev only miles. I understand that I cant drive totally on electricity unless I am gentle on the accellerator and keep it under 35, and no climate control, but I am looking for ev miles within those parameters. I am fairly capable and feel I could handle a DIY kit. I have worked with batteries, and high voltage DC doing solar installations.

    Any suggestions

    thanks

    Peter
     
    #1 Heynow999, Nov 24, 2012
  2. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    I have not paid any attention to this thread for Canadian Volt owners but it may have some information on how to get the $8500 EV credit applied to reducing the lease rate. That is how the US leases get down into the $200-$350 range.

    OFFICIAL CANADIAN VOLT THREAD
     
    #2 John H, Nov 24, 2012
  3. Heynow999

    Heynow999 New Member

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    Sadly, a 2013 Volt lease with an $8500 down payment is $707 for 48 months in Canada.

    The buyout would be $14,000 after 4 years
     
    #3 Heynow999, Nov 24, 2012
  4. drinnovation

    drinnovation EREV for EVER!

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    Too bad you cannot get a volt.

    I considered a GenII plus kit before I made the decision on the Volt.

    Companyies like Plug in Supply provide a 10kWh DIY kit .. and it will all you high speed (72mph if memory serves me right).

    Do-It-Yourself Plug-In Conversions | Plug-In Supply


    Enginer makes a 8kw kit (which you can put in Gen III prius).
    Technologies from Enginer.us | Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) Conversion Kit

    I have friends that have used PIS and ENgineer.. there are also other companies (Hydro-moton was good but went out of business) There are multiple threads here such as
    Thinking of converting to PHEV | PriusChat
     
    #4 drinnovation, Nov 24, 2012
  5. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    I take it that ALLY Canada doesn't do Volt leases the way they do them in the US.
     
    #5 John H, Nov 24, 2012
  6. pjc

    pjc Member

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    Enginer also went out of business just about a month ago. Hard to get pure EV out of it anyway.

    I don't know where in Canada you live, but also make sure you make allowances for the cold temperatures. In MN, I see a pretty dramatic drop in performance (due to the Prius warming-up cycles and lower PHEV battery capacity)
     
    #6 pjc, Nov 24, 2012
  7. drinnovation

    drinnovation EREV for EVER!

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    Hmm I forgot that engineer formally closed up shop. On the other hand that may jsut mean there are some good deals to be had for a DIY type, e.g.

    PHEV (Enginer) Plug In Conversion Kit. 80 MPG WITHOUT batteries. | eBay
     
    #7 drinnovation, Nov 24, 2012
  8. Heynow999

    Heynow999 New Member

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    I am in the Toronto area so I guess I will get a reduction in range in the winter. The plug-in-supply kit looks like what I need. I took a look for used Gen II's on autotrader, ouch! They do seem to hold thier value, I guess especially up here where we pay more than $5/gallon for gas. I have imported several cars from the US so I will probably look to buy a used prius from Texas or somewhere where the resale price is lower because of low gas prices

    My intention is to get a vehicle with some electric only range as cheap as possible. This seems like the best route?
     
    #8 Heynow999, Nov 25, 2012
  9. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    You could contact Steve at Plug In Hybrid Electric Vehicle PHEV and have him build a plug-in Gen2 for you.

    JeffD
     
    #9 jdenenberg, Nov 25, 2012
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  10. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    Have you looked at a used off-lease Volt and import it? There were some excellent dealer demo Volts hitting the streets a month or so ago. Not sure if there are any left. The dealers were not allowed to sell them until just a couple months ago.
     
    #10 John H, Nov 25, 2012
  11. pjc

    pjc Member

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    I was almost exactly in your shoes about 1 year ago. My solution was to get a salvaged GenII locally and I installed a DIY Enginer kit that I bought from a local installer (RegoElectric). One of the primary reasons I got the kit from Rego was because they "winterize" the PHEV battery with some heating tape and some insulation. The PHEV battery is preheated when it is plugged in and the temp is below some point.

    Now my problem is getting the OEM battery preheated in the winter.... I'm working on that. ;)

    Once you are going, the batteries warm themselves up.

    I would seriously look into winterization of the PHEV battery, though. All the OEM PHEVs/BEVs use battery heaters for that reason.
     
    #11 pjc, Nov 25, 2012
  12. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    Leaf owners have figured out that if they finish a charge session just before departure the battery will be "warmed" by the charging.
     
    #12 John H, Nov 25, 2012
  13. lopezjm2001

    lopezjm2001 Senior Member

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    You can get pure EV (disabled ICE) up to 85kph from a PIS kit but you need to slow down to a complete stop and cycle the power to enable the ICE. PIS call it a "ICE kill switch".
     
    #13 lopezjm2001, Nov 26, 2012
  14. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    If I were you, I would be extremely leary of dealing with PIS. I attempted to install one of their kits but never received the kit (even though I paid for it). I also never got a refund.

    Some additional things to consider are:
    1) Where are all the satisfied PIS customers? Why aren't they posting on here? A: There are very few satisfied customers
    2) PIS claims 72mph in all electric mode. I've yet to hear of one person that validates that claim and all I've talked to have not received the mod that allows for it
    3) The Prius is not designed for all electric operation. In EV mode acceleration is anemic. In "ICE kill", ICE power is not available. This may pose a safety risk for you if you need acceleration to avoid an accident.

    I recommend reading the "Plug in Supply DIY" post in its entirity. The decision to convert a Prius to a PHEV is a personal one and every situation is different. It can be done and I'm sure it can be beneficial. The most successful PHEV conversion I've heard of is lopezjm2001's. His seems to be a personally modified Enginer that has been improved over the years. I'm guessing it is a tinkerer's joy but a plug and player's nightmare.
     
    #14 usnavystgc, Nov 28, 2012
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