Good news for Gen 1 owners! As far as I know, my 2001 Generation 1 Prius has the first Plug-in conversion in Humboldt County, CA (maybe even California state). Installation was done by 3-Prong Power in Berkeley, CA & the conversion kit was purchased from eBay. The price was $3,000 for the kit & $500 installation. First road tests were done in Berkeley, 6.7 miles, 99.9 mpg on Prius monitor. We are still conducting tests. Neal
Awesome! Please keep us up to date on how it performs. Gen1 Priuses can be had for pretty cheap - throw in the Enginer kit and then get a PHEV on a budget.
Just FYI, in case you don't already have it, I believe the Enginer web site is enginer [dot] us. They have kits for sale on eBay and there is additional info at eaa-phev [dot] org/wiki/Enginer.
Okay where is this website. I am going to put my order down tomorrow! OMG I HAVE BEEN DREAMING OF THIS FOR SO LONG! $3000 is a joke! I will plunk that down for PHEV anytime!
Here's a response to an eBay question I raised earlier today:Q: [FONT="]From what I've read about this option, you need to pay for installation or training to install it yourself.[/FONT] [FONT="] Is this still true & if so - do you have any information on this?[/FONT] [FONT="] I have a 2001 and live in Houston.[/FONT] [FONT="] I know the engine will have to run down here for A/C - but does the add-on change at what speed the engine kicks in and for what duration?[/FONT] [FONT="]A: If you have electrical and mechanical background, you could install it yourself. Please visit www [dot] eaa-phev.org/wiki/Enginer for user manual and installation pictures.[/FONT] [FONT="] To simplify the conversion process and lower the cost, we take different approach than other conversion kits. We don't pursue maximum pure EV drive range. As you may notice when you drive your Prius, the engine can run at very high MPG at light load. Our kit will help optimize the ICE operation by assisting drive power and charging the stock battery so that the ICE doesn't work that hard and uses less gasoline.[/FONT] [FONT="] I started our project on Gen 1, 2002 Prius. You can achieve 65-100 MPG depending on your driving speed.[/FONT] [FONT="] Jack [/FONT] [FONT="] Still sounds promising, but now I think I understand why the 100MPG pictures show ambient temps so low. There is more information here too: www[dot]enginer[dot]us/products/conversion_kit.php The Gallery is somewhat confusing, as the pictures appear to have been altered (look at the artifacts around the arrows) rather than pictures. Neal, Do you see an alteration w/ respect to your display? Also, with temps in your part of the country in the 50's & 60's can you check for MPG variances with the A/C off & on? Thanks. Neal [/FONT]
Hi Neal, Congratulations on your purchase. I will receive my 4KWH system this weekend. Jack Chen tells me as of August 26th there are four Gen 1 Prius conversions. Mine will be the 5th I believe. I'd love to hear some follow-up on the results of your installation. Dan
Hi Neal I just joined priuschat today to find out about gen 1 conversions from members, so far you're the only one that has done it and reported it here. I too am waiting to hear how well this enginer kit works so please keep us all up to date on your mpg data as well as any bugs you might experience with this kit. Thanks Gene
Neal has us remove the system shortly after it was installed. He had purchased the system direct from Enginer USA (now bankrupt) and hired us to install it. Bottom line, It didn't work very well in the Gen1. I don't recommend trying to add PHEV to a Gen1, it simply doesn't work very well (maybe 15% improvement in city MPG), it causes the car to code a lot it you don't keep an eye on SOC and you lose a lot of trunk space. If you want an aftermarket PHEV the best platform is still the Gen2 prius (2004-2009).
