Will Toyota Ever Sell EV Upgrade Packages?

yes, i'm not holding my breath either.

 

I've understood that Prius just doesn't make a good EV/PiP anyway. That's because the inverter can't take that much power from the battery (around 25 kW?), you would have to replace it too.

 

The Prius PIP is hardly priced like the Tesla either.

 

That information is clearly not correct. There is upgrade potential available, for more power in suburb driving.

The current battery delivers 38 kW.

The traction motor is rated for 60 kW.

 

i've put 18,000 ev miles on my pip, it seems to work pretty well as an ev. i would love a 25% battery increase upgrade, not that i think it will happen.

 

Ok, so is 38 kW the maximum from inverter to traction motor battery to inverter, or can it handle even more?

 

Depending on your driving pattern, a larger battery in a plug-in hybrid can be a problem. The issue is one of how old can you let the gas get. Though the manual says to do at least a half tank every 6 months, I would settle for 2-3 months between fill ups as a good target. If I had the EV range of a Volt, I might end up with really old, bad, gas when I needed the range.

 

the engine runs every 124 miles, so you don't have to worry about it. volt also has a method for keeping the gas fresh.

 

I'm not sure the people who purchased the Roadster are too concerned with an upgrade cost. And since its includes a battery upgrade, well they are getting almost a brand new car for probably much, much less than the initial purchase price.

I don't believe Toyota has ever offered "hardware upgrades" for any of their vehicles, unless it was originally defective. Crap its hard enough getting a software upgrade out of them now. And that's to actually fix things.

 

the price of a gps upgrade should include a new battery.

 

Although, Toyota did offer a cruise control hardware update for the 2001 Prius a year or two after it came out.

The car's hybrid controller was already capable -- they just didn't originally offer it as an option for whatever reason. Later, after customer lobbying, they sold an extra control stalk that the dealer could add to the steering column.

 

I suspect that the DC-to-DC voltage converter between the battery and the inverter is limited to about 38 kW.

Even if you just upgraded the battery you could still add more range with the same power output and battery charger limitations and still make some customers happy. I doubt that enough PiP owners would go for it to make it a viable update for Toyota. Perhaps a 3rd party will offer something in a few years when the next step up in improved battery chemistry comes around.

 

As I understand it, the pip's engine running every 124 miles is for the purpose of engine maintenance, not managing fuel age. Hence the bit in the manual about using half a tank every 6 months. But yes, there are ways to deal with the fuel getting old (manual or automatic), and ways to slow down the aging process.

 

Based on what?

It wouldn't matter, since upgrading would require software support as well... which just plain isn't a draw for automakers. What incentive is there, especially knowing Toyota's strategy of the past to get current owners to purchase new so more used models become available?

 

right, i forgot about that, thanks!

 

It was be a useful upgrade for the PiP to give such a message if the fuel was too old. The Volt gives that warning to add fuel
I suppose its not an issue for most but when I had my PiP I recall at least once wondering if I'd added enough gas to satisfy the need

 

Nothing more than Toyota's general practice of carefully designing parts to required specifications (rather than sloppily over designing) in order to save cost and weight.

None of their cars have likely ever required a DC/DC voltage boost converter requiring greater than 38 kW. But sure, it's just speculation.

 

the most i've gone is 4 1/2 months, and i don't know if anyone's driving more ev than me. i never go anywhere, especially in the winter. i think retired doesn't drive much, i'll have to ask him.