2005 Prius to Light Duty Pickup Truck Conversion

I am finally ready for prime time with my recently completed (2005 Gen II) Prius pickup truck conversion . I wanted a serious hybrid light duty pickup truck. Although Toyota has designed and built one, they won’t mass produce it because the market (low gas prices) will not support it. And in that, they are probably correct, but that doesn’t help me.

My personal interest is not so much the incerase3 in fuel mileage (52 mpg) but more in minimizing my “carbon footprint”, and a light duty hybrid PU will do that for me. I set out in November 2015 with a design, and in May 2016, after many technical, structural, electronic obstacles solved, it is a fact, and freshly painted, sitting in my garage ready for action. So please get with it Toyota !!

This vehicle is a 2005 Toyota Prius, a survivor of 4 accidents. The conversion has hopefully vindicated her sordid past. It is otherwise in good mechanical condition and I intend to drive it until some manufacturer finally comes out with the hybrid PU I need.

 

Who is the beauty, the girl or the car. Thank you for the compliment. Yes, I have an extensive picture library of the process as well as structural analyses, necessary electrical changes, table of changes in weights and moments. etc. It has been a 5 1/2 month fairly intense effort.

 

Yes, that has been a major issue. I have had to relocate the cooling fan and use plastic tubing to route the cooling air to the battery intake manifold. Also the battery sits 2" below the (black) cargo bed, and if the PRUCK is parked in the Florida summer sunshine and heat, it gets hot down there. Pretty much the cooling fan is working at maximum capacity. I have a Scangauge II hooked up (for the time being) to monitor the HV battery temperatures. So far so good,,,,,R

 

I will provide whatever detail anyone wants. I am currently exploring magazine article opportunities so I want to sit on the complete construction detail log for a while. In the meantime, I can and will be happy to answer any specific questions.

Actually the battery temperature is staying within normal limits. I have several other options that I can use if it becomes a problem. One is to install an additional "puller" fan in the battery air exhaust duct. The other, since there is no longer a back seat, is to route air from the AC floor duct under the driver seat into the compartment where the battery fan now sits, thereby feeding it colder air. Here in Florida we pretty much run the AC full blast all the time anyway.

 

I'll see if I can find a venue where I can post my construction log, technical problems and solutions and about 100+ pix. As for franchising the idea or selling a kit, no I don't think so. Anyone is free to do something like this. I would recommend the approach I took, buy a wrecked Prius really cheap, and do the conversion. Then if it works out OK, do the remaining body and paint work to restore the car. Be sure to get one with a clear title. I think transplanting the hybrid machinery into another vehicle would be technically, if not electronically prohibitive.