Plug-in Prius Battery Upgrade

There's even more oxygen in the atmosphere to ignite all that hydrogen.

Oh, the humanity!

 

In your shoes, I'd rein myself in, buy a Volt next time.

 

The Prius Technical Discussion forum has advice on turning a standard Prius into a plug-in from before there was a PiP. It is relatively easy and should not void Toyota's warranty. Even in Australia, where the consumer protection for cars is more basic (no 'lemon laws', more power to the dealer), Toyota does not mind plug-in conversions. Obviously, Toyota won't cover the new battery and bits.

The PiP is not on sale in Australia, so the only plug-ins here are aftermarket or home-made. But the quality and level of integration can be very high. For example, NIL CO2 does lovely conversions, up to a pack good for EV at 100km/h with 100km range.
Their small packs feed into the standard HV battery to keep its SOC topped up. In the standard Prius, this tells the computer to use maximum EV.
Their large packs replace the HV battery and hack the signal so that handover from EV to engine is more like a PiP; i.e. the engine doesn't run at low speeds unless really necessary.

Now... converting a PiP into a super-PiP... someone must have done it. For a start, all of the hardware [and the system software] is there. 25km range is nothing special when 40km is routine in the aftermarket and larger packs are available. It may be as simple as swapping the battery. And you might get a part-exchange and save more money since a near new PiP battery would give a standard Prius 25km range.

BTW, on solar panels, NIL CO2 stopped selling thin strips that were pasted to the roof (pictures still on the website). At best you could get 240W, but only with the sun directly overhead. The trickle was a few percent at best.

Of course, Coffs Harbour is a long way away, but their website has some nice pictures to give you an idea of what a conversion of a standard Prius to plug-in looks like.

 

Properly engineered, I don't see a problem.

 

Let's explore this a little deeper.

Using your figures and charging at both ends, your commute trip should give you at least 24 miles a day of near infinite "fuel" mileage since it uses no gas. For that to then average down to the high 60's for real gas mileage........it seems to me that your trip would have to be VERY long or your driving VERY aggressive to drop your overall mileage that low.

PIP owners.......is that not true ?

I get high 50's or low 60's with my C.......without plugging in anything.

 

there was one guy who claimed to have added a piss kit to his pip. he laid a couple of their batteries on the back deck with wires going under the carpet and took a pic. after a number of questions, he disappeared into the woodwork. i'm sure the thread is still here somewhere.

 

I don't know these guys

Plug-In Supply | Plug-In Upgrades for the Toyota Prius

But they claim to have a PIP solution. I thought that their 'Competitors' page made interesting reading.

 

I see the point of wanting more EV range in that scenario, but the problem is that adding battery capacity to a Prius is risky if not properly engineered. And the problem with that is you never really know for sure.

 

I agree. While I would like to have more range in my PIP, I am very concerned about that engineering aspect. I think that Toyota faces an interesting conundrum here. I would love to see them make incremental improvements in the existing PIPs but that might eat into new sales. On the other hand, the third party suppliers (such as the one above) don't necessarily have the track record to make folks feel good about their product.

Although I have only owned the PIP for three months, I could see where a 20 mile EV range (or even 30 ish like the Volt) would be of great use in my particular application. Time will tell...

 

Plug-In Supply | Plug-In Upgrades for the Toyota Prius

But they claim to have a PIP solution. I thought that their 'Competitors' page made interesting reading.[/QUOTE]
Are any of these type of company's still in business? Make sure you check. The cost is pretty high I think and very low warranty, one year or less? Be sure to check it out closely

 

About a year ago there was a post on Prius Chat from a person that added an extra Battery pack to his PIP. He posted only a couple of times and never was seen again.

Here is a picture of the Battery without all the makeup on.........

 

I like the stock pack again righton.
I also like the stacked pack. As long as there is monster cooling and extra safeties between them.
If it were easy to understand everyone would buy an engineer kit and double their ev range.
Melting packs can happen from grid charging incorrectly too.

prius NiMh
http://99mpg.com/blog/batterypacksexpose/whathappenstoapriu/

other NiMh
http://99mpg.com/Data/Resources/downloads/miscstuff/meltdowncollagesmall.jpg

Should that stop everyone from experimenting?

 

I've had my PiP for 10 months now. Racked up 18k miles. I should hit about 21k miles the first year. It seems like people are always saying that adding more weight will kill your MPG. I usually carry about 200lbs of tools and stuff. Once, I carried 4 4x4 10ft length inside my PiP and closed all the doors. Had nothing sticking out either. I've put in my 8ft A-Frame ladder inside with all doors closed. Carried 10 80lb bags of cement in the trunk...(first and only time where I felt a little worried that I would blow a tire or something). Folded down the back seats and had sex numerous times in numerous locations.

I can go on and on with the stuff I have done to my PiP.

I drive a little on the heavy foot. OK FINE!!! I'm a heavy foot. Top speed on a similar 2013 silver color PiP was 106mph. About two weeks ago, I saw the same PiP doing 108mph on the 22 freeway. Another time, I was flying in my helicopter , I saw the same silver PiP doing 106mph for 10 mins on the 10 freeway.

My worst MPG: 41mpg with no recharging
Best MPG: 53mpg with no recharging

Worst MPG: 47mpg with recharging
Best mpg: 66mpg with recahrging.

with 18k miles, my average mpg is 53mpg. Keep in mind that I usually carry about 200lbs in my car. My gauge shows that i'm in electric mode 7% of the miles.

No. I'm not a contractor. I will not clear your drain unless your HOT WIFE comes out naked to assist me. haha j/k

I'm a real estate agent and small business owner. I do most of my repairs at my restaurant.

Basically, adding additional 200 lbs did not impact my mpg as much as people think.

On a side note, I had rails installed on my car. Now, I can carry my 24ft ladder, 8ft ladder, 6ft ladder, 5 4x8 sheets of plywood all at the same time. MPG was...WHO CARES!!! I have a carpool sticker and my RX was only getting 20mpg. I'm not going to complain. If you find a good set of batteries to extend your range, let me know. I'm interested.

 

Keep in mind that a good set of batteries will kill your available cargo space. Sounds like you need all you can get.

 

ben must be tied up in the middle of his install...

 

Love to see a picture of your Prius loaded with stuff and ladder on top...

 

I won't say it can't be done safely, but it's hard to know whether it was done safely or not. I'm going to say that the best bet is to stick to the manufactured specs, and if you want better EV range, buy a Volt. If you want loads of horsepower, buy a Tesla. If you only want to EV-commute, buy a Leaf. If you just want to save a bit of fuel, buy any other hybrid. However if you just want the best mix of fuel economy, cargo space and reliability, stick with the Prius.

 

I think you may have drank the kool-aid.

 

I think the Kool-aid tastes good compared to swallowing a huge repair bill and a voided warranty.

 

Your driving technique can compensate for extra weight to some degree, but I think there is always a bit of a penalty. If friction and conversion losses didn't exist, you could recover all the energy spent accelerating a heavier car, by capturing more momentum from a heavier car when you regenerate. Since those losses unavoidably exist, there is always a benefit to having less weight in a hybrid vehicle.