PHEV mod under way, Bristol, UK.

Drum roll....

It's not 100% finished, but at least now I'm getting a proper plug in experience. I have to still build the battery box as the batteries are very temporarily secured in the trunk.

I'm looking at finishing it some time in the next fortnight so it's ready for the exhibition. I'll also add the fan to the OEM packs to make sure they don't overheat.

I just got back from a band-rehearsal I was coaching. I was able to head there and back in EV mode. Result!

(And on a new tank I'm getting 150 mpg so far!)

 

It may take me some time! I'm currently sitting at 80 miles or so, with fuel economy hovering at 79 mpg. Yesterday I had to do a huge number of miles so lost the good start I'd got with 11 miles at 130 mpg!

I'm hoping today I may be able to improve on that as I'll be doing town driving and possibly have the chance to fill up with electrons half way through the day!

Nikki.

 

Hi!

My packs got to 30 degrees C with just the OEM pack being charged.

In the last four days the pack temperature hasn't gone above 19 degrees C - I filmed things just after I'd switched from one pack to three

My cables are 6AWG - so bigger than the EAA-PHEV wiki requires. What size are you using?

Nikki.

 

Hi Mr Flying

I'll start again - because I think my last post was rather confusing.

I initially connected things up incorrectly, so if I had all three packs connected while driving my car's dash lit up like a Christmas tree! I stupidly put the extra batteries in parallel at a point in the circuit which meant that the hall effect sensor in the Prius couldn't measure the correct current drain.

So, to cope, I was charging all three packs together- then disconnecting the two additional ones. I drove the Prius with the single battery and then dump-charged (equalised) the voltage when parked by connecting the two additional packs.

On Tuesday, when I made the video, I'd been driving the car all day with only one pack - so the temperature was higher (30degrees C). I had then parked up and correctly connected the batteries so I could use all three at the same time.

The OEM battery was still warm when I took the video, so it appeared that the pack was warmer than usual.

In the past four days I've not seen the temperature climb above 19 degrees C (and that includes long drives!)

My current fuel economy? 3.62L/100km (about 78mpg UK or 66 mpg (US)

 

Flying,

I think I may still be confusing you. I'm no longer dump charging (I was only doing it for a day). Now I've fixed up my setup I am charging and using packs in parallel. The hottest they've got so far is 21 degrees (just now after a long hilly trip). No big mountain passes though!

So far I have 80.3 UK mpg and 158 miles post conversion. I'm actually sitting in my car waiting for my next school so this is a live figure!

 

I'm charging all three! Because they are essentially the same chemistry and similar enough to charge in parallel I can get away with it!


Flying, glad I didn't cause any confusion!

 

Here's a quick update:

I was able to charge last night when we went out for Sushi. Our new local Mall (6 miles away) has SIX electric vehicle charging points. I was able to charge back to about 2/3 full while we were out eating.

This morning we made a trip into town and back without much use of petrol and again just now. This gave rise to this:



I'm hoping by the end of Tuesday I'll have the figure back up to the low 90s or even into the low 100s, since Mondays and Tuesdays are all about multiple short trips where I'll have chance to charge.

If I keep this up I'll be able to do 800+ miles on a tank .

I am very happy!

 

I'm pretty sure it's using 30% to 85% range, so it is extending it slightly. I hope to get a third additional battery, making four in total. I think it'll make a huge difference.

Your pack is hymotion, isn't it?

Nikki.

 

Exactly!

In terms of energy, I think my pack is able to use about 14 ah (or about 3KWH if my math is correct). I was hoping for more, but I think my batteries may settle down as time passes so I may be able to squeeze more out when the weather is warmer.

I am also now actively keeping my eyes out for pack number 4. We'll see if I can find one at a good price. Then I hope for a 15 mile EV range...