Hello Forum Members, My name is Michael LeCompte, I am an Industrial Technologist and Design Engineer living in Northern California and before anything else, I'm a car guy. I am not currently a Prius owner, nor do I own or ever have owned any other Hybrid vehicle. My interests lye in performance first, particularly acceleration rates, lateral g force capabilities and ability to cover wide variety of terrain under various weather conditions. My favorite form of automotive racing is the World Rally Championship. My rally car is 2200lbs, all wheel drive, and 270 peak horsepower from an Intercooled and Turbocharged 1.8L 4 cyl engine, which still manages a respectable 35mph. My interests lye in efficiency second, but Efficiency is also very important to me. Third, on my list is emissions. I believe in designs where cars can achieve their performance goals and not end up being an environmental nuisance. It is evident that Toyota's priorities regarding the prius are quite different than mine. By running the Atkins cycle they are showing that low emissions are high on their priority list. So there's a little about me... now I have a few questions... What steps have Prius owners toward weight reduction? How much does a Prius actually weigh. I'm not talking curb weight manufacture listing, I'm talking how much does your Prius weigh when you put it on a scale. How much does a factory wheel weigh? How much weight can be saved by switching to a Li battery? Has anyone rewound the armatures of the electric motors in order to increase the power output? Or used other electric motors from Toyota hybrid line? Has anyone tested the stock electric motor to see how much voltage and current they are capable of handling before failure? How much power gain can be realized by increasing the voltage. Anyone offering turbo kits for the 1nz-fxe 1.5 liter engine? Has anyone bored or stroked this engine to increase displacement? Reduced compression and gone higher boost? Does the 1nz-fxe motor use a MAP sensor or a MAF sensor to get it's air sensor readings. If it's MAF... is the signal 0-5v? If so has anyone used a piggy back control module in order to change the fuel control such as Apexi SAFC Neo, or Greddy Emanage, HKS Fcon, etc... What sorts of times is the Quickest or the Fastest Prius turning? Now if a prius' gas engine output could be increased to say 130-150hp through turbocharging. and you coupled that with the 67hp electric motor which puts out 300ftlbs initially, the prius would be a decent performer, even more so if you could double the voltage going to the motor by running two batteries sources to it in series. Just some thoughts.... Always been curious.... Thanks for taking the time to checks this out! Michael LeCompte
Hello Michael, welcome to PriusChat. Toyota's goal with the Prius is low to zero emissions in a car anybody can drive and many can afford. An Atkinson ICE can be used since the electric motors provide the low-end torque. Regenerative braking captures energy that would otherwise be waste heat. Performance is reasonable for a family car, and the customer satisfaction surveys prove Toyota hit the sweet spot. I feel this is, in large part, because the Prius is in balance. The constant interplay between ICE and motor, seamlessly and smoothly brought together through the Power Split Device, rewards conservative driving with great fuel efficiency. If you want more power, look at the HiHy or a Lexus hybrid. Those vehicles use the electric propulsion to boost ICE output, not balance it. Less fuel efficiency, more emissions, but a lot more power to waste.
Hi High..., The Prius would not make a good rally car. The rear suspension is designed for maximumn interior space, and as a consequence it has a rectangularly shaped beam that would catch on the hump in the middle of unpaved roads when the suspension is compressed. I do like your ideas, but it would be better to implement them in a car with an independant rear suspension. My approach would not to up the engine power much, however. I would tripple the battery, and add a second 60 HP motor to drive/regenerate the rear wheels. Two batteries (or one with twice the power) for the rear motor. As the power for the front motor comes from the engine through the electric torque converter, besides the one battery. The idea behind this is that rally driving has a allot of slowing and accellerating. Which means the rally car needs fast and large energy storage and redelivery.
Blitz, I believe, or Greddy made a turbo kit for a prius as a "one of" prototype. I am sure that anything above 3psi would wreck fuel efficiency, though, judging from what I have seen from my 2.4 litre turbo car. Also, a turbo kit would make heat due to the atkins cycle engine-the intake volume would be lower in a 1.5 atkins vs a conventional 1.5litre, so the amount of boost tolerated w/o a larger intercooler would be low. How low? I don't know. So consider the HP gain with let's say a t25 turbo @3psi, and consider the performance gain (mild), and the net gain with a $4000 turbo kit install....
Hi Highpowered, I'm from a motorsport background too and originally thought that releasing all that torque from the electric motor plus more power from the ICE would be highly desirable and easy. However Drive a Prius for more than a week and you too will be seduced by efficiency over speed in this wonderful piece of engineering. Many other ex WRX and 350Z owners(here) have been converted too. A major influence is the graphic display and how it influences your driving like you were trying to save energy riding a bicycle. except on a bike your legs tell you to go fast downhills and slow up. Also the less weight and wind resisistance the better. The way I would go would be for less weight like my BMW CSL. http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...-bodyshell-been-done-yet-comments-please.html and for you Toyota Debuts Prius GT Prototype at Goodwood Festival of Speed | Toyota Auto Newss | Automobile.com
As an engineer myself (electronics) I am intrigued why you would want to take a superbly built car and change it to something it was not meant to be. And engineering for the reasons you state in the OP makes no sense for this generation. Engineering is about solving problems not creating them. At least is is to my generation.
i also am from a motorsport backround and i would have to say the turbocharging should not be an issue.. i also have a honda insight and developed a turbo system with little to no outside help and hopefully this summer it will go in..others have done it succesfully with great power increases and next to no loss in mpg..
ps it uses a maf and iam not sure but it should be a .5v type but it also has a dbw system so minipulateing the throttle position with a piggyback type tuneing system..
Hi Michael, Someone's actually turboed a 1st gen Prius with some decent results too: Browser Warning I'm assuming that your rally car is an 88' Mazda GTX? Those are fun cars, though I hear the transmissions and secondary shafts give out when you develop too much power. I'm constantly surprised by the number of performance enthusiasts who really enjoy driving the Prius. Edit: I almost forgot: they did rally the 1st gen prius.
