Will Toyota Ever Sell EV Upgrade Packages?

Hi! Bisco,
Most days in the winter (Nov-March) I drive about 5.5 miles round trip. A few 15 mile trips. In the summer months a lot more of the 15 mile type trips. So most of my in town is EV.
I drive 4-5 trips a year of about 475 miles round trip mostly all freeway.

So I plan my gas fills so that my gas is as fresh as it can be.

 

I probably wasn't clear - there's no message.
I was at 91% EV shortly before trading it in. I went the full 6 months on one occasion and needed to add 8 gallons so I was pushing "the rules" given that's over 50% of the tank...

 

well, i'm sure they leave a hefty margin ohf error, like the gas tank reserve.

 

We've observed the opposite.

Way back with the Iconic model, it was capable of sustaining 100 km/h (62.1 mph) with the engine off even though there wasn't any plan to actually offer that ability. The 2010+ only utilizes a 27 kW draw, even though the same system can draw 38 kW, as demonstrated by PHV. Then there's the reality of how little Camry hybrid actually differs, yet it uses a 105 kW traction motor.

Remember, saving cost can also be achieved through flexibility.

 

I think you are asking for two different things, Inverter and Converter.

Converter boosts the voltage 201 Vdc to 650 Vdc. Inverter changes that DC to AC.

Remember, MG1 generator (power from gas engine) can supply additional AC power.

 

Is converter the bottleneck then?

 

It was implied to be. Boost converter in the regular Prius isn't suitable for the plugin application and PiP has the revised one (more durable).

As a result of Toyota's and its partners' continuous effort for improvement , the Prius Plug-in Hybrid's Lithium-ion battery pack has a 4.4 kWh capacity -almost four times that of the latest generation Prius- and its SOC (State of Charge) for use has been enhanced to approximately 60%.To manage the increase in voltage output of the new battery, the Hybrid Synergy Drive® system’s revised Power Control Unit (PCU) features a new voltage boost converter with even greater durability.

Source

 

As was just pointed out, the PHV uses a different boost converter because the 27 kW one designed for the regular Prius wasn't able to support the required 38 kW. But now I should believe that the new PHV boost converter designed for the PHV's 38 kW can handle 60 kW?

Supporting higher power typically requires bigger wires and components, possibly different and more expensive IGBTs, and more capable heat sinking. That generally means a physically bigger box that is more expensive to manufacture. Toyota seems to be good at designed parts to the specifications needed but without overbuilding and wasting money.

Going above 42 mph with engine off was apparently deemed by Toyota to be the best hybrid drive tuning due, in good part, to the small battery capacity SOC window and a likely limited ability to sustain higher kW battery output for more than a ~10 second acceleration surge.

The latent ability of the transaxle to support higher speeds with the engine off probably had no negative trade-offs like higher build expense or physical size. It just happened as a happy side-effect of design decisions made for other reasons.

 

IMO, it makes no sense to "upgrade" the battery. Yes, a PIP with a longer range would be nicer and probably sell better and be perceived as better. But, realistically, everyone who owns a PIP has not used up the useful life of the batteries they own. Discarding them after only (perhaps) 1/4 of their useful life doesn't make sense unless there is another use for these batteries, right away.

Better would be for Toyota to offer a PIP with the bigger/better batteries. Then you trade in your old PIP for a new PIP and someone else gets to use the older battery for the rest of its useful life. And you get a new car. This way there is no labor charges for replacing the battery. And you get a shiny new car with bigger battery.

Mike

 

Thanks for clearing this up