Plug-in Kit for Prius C? worth it?

The Engineer kits don't really turn the Prius into an EV, they keep the traction battery charged so the ICE doesn't have to work to charge it, and allows you to run on battery only longer but under the same limitations (speed, temp, etc). Too pricey currently for what they do, plus I get nervous with anything that comes with a fire extinguisher!

 

not worth it... and i've already looked at various options as well as helping to work on something..

recuperation of the costs will take about, if not over, 5 years for it to be worth it... are you going to keep the car for that long?

 

mine gen 2 is from 2006 so 6 years and planning to keep for years to come
waiting for a plugin EV that i can pay for. ( used of course )
the enginer kit can provide only assist but in the prius c the car is smaller so needs less per mile of energy so maybe the enginer kit kan provide more assist with the same dc-dc thats used in the normal prius.
a small neet prius V plugin ;-) would be nice.
waiting for the day the yaris HSD will have a plug or better the aygo

 

of course
the dc-dc will be adjusted for that

 

Nope, that's where speakers and amp go

If we could get this tech down to 1k it might be worth it if you plan to keep the vehicle over a year and can stay under 42mph on your avg commute.

Perhaps a more feasible option would be to get a battery from a wrecked prius and run in parallel?

 

with plug-in vehicles actually being made (pretty much the PIP and the Volt)..

i do believe they have stopped any type of incentive for someone to do a PHEV conversion.

 

if you mess up, then it's not covered..

 

I'm still wondering about using a simple 144 vdc charger that can top off your standard Prius C battery pack, while it sits overnight in the garage.?.

So, when you unplug and take off in the morning, your SOC is good enough to provide a little better MPG for your first few miles..

 

Only looking at this in "how long it takes to pay off" I feel is kinda overlooking the fact this it is cool.

Go to any car show or cruz night and you will see that every car there has something done it. 99% of the modifications done to the car will never pay off, A LOT of them lower MPGs.

I dont know maybe its just me. Some(most) car guys get there hart racing with big horsepower #s. For me and I bet most of you its big MPGs. Anything that can boost my MPGs get a from me.

 

I'm wondering about topping-off my battery, because the road to our house (from the east) is over a mile long hill.
When we come home up that hill, the SOC is usually pretty low when we pull into the garage.
It's better when we come home from the west, not so many big hills.
We live on the west side of town, so getting home with a low SOC is pretty common.

Seems like converting to a PHEV might not cost a lot and I'm pretty sure it's going to help your MPG.
(If you live on the top of a hill anyways)

 

That would be really cool, really cheep, and really fast. I think the battery could charge to full in about 20min.
Thats only a guess but its based on long some of the EV cars charge and how big their batteries are vs the c battery.

 

Because the battery pack isn't that large on the C, it shouldn't take a lot of Ah to charge it.
A charger that could run off a regular 15A 120vac outlet (1.8kW) might be able do the job.

I read where a lot of the early hybrids used 144Vdc packs.
It would be interesting to hear from some of the guys who have some experience with early PHEV conversions.

If the goal was to safely recharge the standard C pack from 30% to 90% in less than 6 or 8 hours,
what kind of hardware cost are we looking at?

 

How about just putting a solar panel on the Prius C?

 

absolutely, why not?

 

any progress on this?