New PHEV Install: Plug-in Supply Kit

No.

The Plug-in battery pack is installed on a rack that allows use of the rear compartment and lifts up out of the way w/hydraulic arms to allow access to the spare tire, which is why I like Plug-in's system better than Hymotion's.

 

no switch?

 

Mine has always waited and slowly upped the apmps after plugging it in. Maybe yours malfunctioned?

 

Mine also. On my kwh meter it doesn't get up to pulling the full 1,000 watts for a few minutes. It is not even pulling 100 watts until maybe 15 seconds after being plugged in.

I think it is checking voltage levels to determine if the battery really needs to be charged. If I plug in the Hymotion and it is already full, it just turns off after a few seconds. The rear taillights come on to indicate charging, but it goes off quickly after it figures out that it is charged.

Hymotion really has their act together. They will replace an entire battery if there is any problem. They have come out with firmware updates to fix minor issues, etc.

I know that I am biased in favor of Hymotion. But frankly, the quality of what they have done is really above any of the hobby shops.

1) Crash tested
2) 3 year unlimited mile warranty, and they will cover items Toyota refuses to cover.
3) $10,300 fully installed
4) 20-25 miles of pure EV range, 30-40 miles on the highway with boosted performance at 100+ mpg.

 

Plug-in modification in Europe......

Dear Sir!
My name is Theodore.I am an electronic engineer, I live in Athens - Greece and I have just bought the Advance Model of the Toyota Prius!
I am interested in the PHEV Plug-In modification of my Prius. I have already sent an email to the Hymotion. They answered me, but they have not sent any plug in modification to Europe until now! In the future they may be send!
I found through google a company in England. I sent them an email but I have not received any reply until today!
What can I do now?

Thank you!

 

lithium is the only way to go. They are non toxic, long lasting and much lighter weight. We took the lead out of paint and even gasoline ,let's also take it out of batteries and make real progress.
It's being short term cheap to use lead acid, replace them after 1 -2 years instead of longer better lithium. Life cycle lithium are lower cost and much better.

 

I was surprised as everyone else that your charger pulled power so quickly. I do agree with Plugin Supply that it's a charger related problem. But a few weeks wait!? Sheesh!

My Zivan NG3 charger waits about five seconds before it starts charging the batteries. Obviously we use a different voltage in the UK so my charger is 230V 4.2A - certainly not enough to arc weld a power inlet.

Let us know how it goes.
Good Luck!

Nikki.

 

European plug-In Module

Dear Sir!
Does anyone know something about my previous question, above???

Thank you!

 

Re: European plug-In Module

I don't have any personal experience that would be of any help to you and I'm sure that if anyone reading your post could help you, they would. So, don't take the lack of a response as a lack of desire to be helpful. It may be that the person with the info you need may not have read your post yet.

In any event, lacking specific experience relevant to the topic, here's the only idea that comes to mind. If Hymotion and the British company you contacted can't help you, I think your only choice would be to buy a pre-modified PHEV Prius (or buy a new/used Prius and have it PHEV modified) in the US and then ship it to Europe. That'll probably cost you a bundle, but it's the only idea I can think of at the moment.

Good luck!

 

Re: European plug-In Module

Dear Sir!
Thank you very much for your reply........!
Probably, I will do my personal modification in my Prius....as I believe, I have experience in electronics........but I have to decide what type of batteries to buy......
There are many types of batteries, like batteries for wind generator-photovoltaic panel autonomous systems ect.....
I will post this modification when I will finish with it......if I do not find something from this forum.

Thank you!

 

New modification......

Dear Sir!
I am in a personal research for a special modification of the Prius to generate electrical current using thermomodule attached on the exhaust gas pipe and a dc voltage step up power supply to charge the traction battery of the car though the onboard charger.
I will publish this modification when I will have finished it!

 

Re: New modification......

I attended a rather interesting presentation at a Virginia Tech Energy Harvesting Workshop in January 2009 concerning the development of a thermogenerator "bolt" from a German company called Micropelt. The harvesting bolt also includes DC-DC booster circuitry providing both regulated and direct power outputs.

The energy is gathered from the heat differences of the threaded-in section to the upper aluminum heat sink. The larger this differential, the greater the output. Certainly mounting this bolt in the exhaust stream should provide this ideal condition as the heat sink section will be cooled from the air flow. Unfortunately even in ideal conditions the output power for each bolt is only in the mWatts. Theoretically one could add a number of them in for harvesting but in reality this becomes difficult to recoup enough power to make an appreciable scale difference for recharging a Prius. Perhaps someday our future car will feature combinations of regenerative brakes, solar energy, thermoenergy, and maybe even piezoelectric energy to provide a "hybrid" of options/opportunities for maximizing our conversions of energy.

I wish you well on your investigation as I look forward to hearing about your results.

 

I'm going to be dropping by 3Prong Power, the Plug-in Supply installer, in Berkeley tomorrow to discuss a possible conversion.

I'll post a report here if anything interesting comes up.

Update 3/24/09:

Met Paul & Daniel the owners of 3Prong today and got a test ride in a lead acid conversion.

The lead acid conversion is still the only Plug-in system available right now. Plug-in has a 4.3kw and 10.2kw lithium system available, but 3Prong hasn't installed a 4.3kw yet and the 10.2kw is still waiting for a better BMS (battery management system). However, they are still offering a credit from a lead acid install towards a lithium system, but the value of the lead acid batteries will be discounted depending on use.

The lead acid system weighs the same as the 10.2kw lithium (over 300 lbs) and comes w/a suspension upgrade installed for $6700. The lead acid and lithium 4.3kw systems both fit under the cargo area w/o losing the spare, but the lithium 4.3kw system weighs less and the stock suspension will have to be reinstalled if you upgrade from lead-acid.

Driving the lead acid demo car, I didn't notice any difference in the blended EV/Hybrid mode, but, as expected, when you switch to pure EV mode, performance became very sluggish when attempting to accelerate rapidly. 3Prong installs a little button on the top left of the dash near the little sight window that you push when you go into pure EV mode. This makes the Prius a "pure" electric vehicle up to 50mph, but is only good for about 2mph more in Hybrid mode before it reaches max speed. In order to override the pure EV mode, you have to stop the car and restart it.

The pure EV mode is good for "in town" driving for 10-12 miles and, if you plan drive out of town, you can switch back to pure Hybrid mode to save battery power before you hit the highway and then switch back to pure EV mode when you get back into town.

They are installing about 4 conversions a month right now and I think I'm going to go ahead and get the lead acid system. It's a cheap buy in and I have 2 years (the useful life of the lead acid batteries) to decide whether to upgrade to the lithium system or not (or just buy a new set of lead batteries for $900 more).

 

Is this only a problem with 3Prong Power or is it true for Plug-In Supply?

 

3Prong Power sells and installs Plug-In Supply's 4.3kw and 10.2kw lithium systems.

Plug-in Supply set a Feb/Mar 09 release date for their lithium systems. 3Prong told me that the 4.3kw lithium system is available now, but that if I bought it now I would be their 'first." So, I'm going to pass on it until it is tested further. The lead acid system has been in production for awhile and most of the problems have been resolved. The installation cost for the lead acid system can be credited in full towards either lithium system, less the "depletion cost" for the used lead acid batteries.

The 10.2kw lithium system is simply not ready yet, due to the BMS problem.

 

Just curious how this affects the warranty and do you have contacts in other states to do this. I live near Pensacola Florida (70miles)

 

That is a fantastic idea!

Any chance you could share the photos of the making of the charge status into the reversing light? I'm planning something similar, since my Zivan NG3 used in my conversion has remote LED charge status indicators...

Nikki.