Adding battery capacity to the Prime

A few people hacked the pip over the years, but they were programming geniuses.
I don’t recall anyone hacking the prime, but it would require the same skills.
With so many off the shelf choices these days, there isn’t much interest from aftermarket sources.
For instance, next year’s prime ups the range by 50%

 

This general subject has been discussed at some length; not necessarily for the Prime though.
Have you done any searches here ?

The general consensus is: Not a good idea. If you NEED more battery capacity, trade for a different vehicle that is designed for that.

 

It sounds to me like you want to do something like Project Lithium, done by the guy that does the Dr Prius app?
But, for the Prime, and not the Hybrid.

https://projectlithium.com/products/prius-gen4-nimh-to-lithium-upgrade-pack-14-blocks

Good Luck!

 

Your vehicle is NOT "a few miles short on range". The gas engine will run.

And a battery doesn't know or care what it is connected TO.
That last statement tells me that you should NOT be screwing around with the hybrid battery in your car.

 

It isn’t; those connections are made, when needed, by the CHRG, CHRP, and CHRB relays in the HV battery junction block assemblies, under control of the battery ECU assembly, and ultimately, the hybrid vehicle control ECU. See the discussion in the Repair Manual (more info) procedure for diagnostic trouble code P0D0A11.

I’d suggest starting with Toyota’s Repair Manual, New Car Features, and Electrical Wiring Diagram to review the hybrid control, hybrid battery, and plug-in charge control systems. Those documents are written for service technicians, of course, and omit many details that would be relevant for reverse engineering, but they remain the best published descriptions of the car and how it works.

 

The stuff you are talking about is NOT a part of the actual battery.
The ACTUAL battery cells need only a resistive load for current to flow.

It appears that you know "stuff".
Now you need to be more careful about how you present the stuff that you know.
So far, you are batting about 0.00 with that.

AND......your 30 seconds estimate for running the engine likely will NEVER happen.......unless you turn it off on purpose.
Once it starts, it will run until the internal parts partially warm up.......and the exhaust pipes are stainless steel.

 

A "battery" is NOT a "system".
A battery is a battery; an energy storage device.

The extra electronics that make the battery work properly in a given application are ***NOT*** part of the battery.
They are part of the "system", to use your word, that adapts the actual battery to the device that uses the battery energy.

You can't bastardize the word "battery" to mean whatever you want it to mean.

The entire energy storage and delivery system is NOT a "battery".

 

Why is this a real concern? Your car has a gasoline engine- use it on a semi regular basis. Have ICE-only Fridays or something. It can lead to problems with gas quality if things sit too long.

If you really want an EV, then get an EV.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

OCD ??
Of course it should not be a real concern.
But people obsess over all kinds of insignificant crap.

 

One solution to your question is a 2023 Prius Prime. And that at it current price would be about Half the Cost of doing the compete retrofit to the 2017 Prime, even if you could do all the work yourself.
For Sure enough, it would still be cost prohibitive even is you had a guardian angel electrical engineer with a hobby to make you dream a reality, like has been done in the past with the engineer coversion for the gen2, the boulder hybrids gen3 conversion or the many different configurations the inventor of the manual IMA device had tested on his stable of cars before he retired.

 

unless you own a phev, it is difficult to understand the mindset of getting to and/or from a destination within a few miles of your range.
practically, the worst thing for the engine is to come on everyday for a mile or two.

 

No it isn't.
The worst thing is having it NEVER come on.
If you are in an urban situation, that mile or two might take 5 minutes or more.

As others have suggested, if it is your daily driver, you should plan an ICE only day at least every two weeks.

 

only if toyota recommends it in the manual. we don't know how often the o/p uses the ice, only that they would like to make their commute without the ice coming on in the last few miles.

the fact that the new prime has 50% more range negates the ice argument in more situations

 

Prius Prime already has the added battery capacity option. Simply turn on the charge mode by long-pressing the HV/EV switch.

Anything else is a waste of time.

 

I wouldn't want to try an guess if it is or isn't. I believe it very well could be one of the worse things for the engine under a specific set of circumstances, specially as the systems age and repeated occurrences.

Lots of things in the plugins have changed between gen3 and 4 and I think there will be even more changes with gen5 for all of us to make blanket statements about, that may or may not always be how the cars behave under every condition the cars can be exposed to.
Generally speaking, I wouldn't want to bet either way for all conditions being equal.