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Battery charger

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Demetrio, Oct 19, 2005.

  1. Demetrio

    Demetrio New Member

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    Sep 25, 2005
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    Does anyone know if a battery charger peculiar for Prius has been developed? I live in Italy and there are frequent gasoline stations strikes here. I have to commute for a few miles in the city and it would help, with no gasoline, just to go to the office, recaharge the battery and come back home. Where, of course, you recharge during the night just to go back to the office the day after. with today switching technology it shoul not be difficult nor so expensive to manufacture such a device.
     
    #1 Demetrio, Oct 19, 2005
  2. jeromep

    jeromep Member

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    Dec 8, 2004
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    Location:
    Eastern Washington State
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    The only charger available for the Prius today is a service bay item sourced through Toyota corporate by Toyota dealers. The charger is used for keeping the 12v battery on the car full during any kind of diagnostic process or when updating software on the vehicle when the system needs to be in IG-ON instead of full READY. If you read the documentation for SSC 50P you will see a reference to the Prius battery charger and its use during the software upgrade.

    What you are suggesting is more in line with the Prius+ concept that some are doing. This is basically a more robust (read: larger or more batteries) battery system for the Prius which will allow it to drive longer distances electric only. A simple battery charger is not going to do anything for you. In fact even at full safe battery charge level, which is 80% of total capacity, you can't drive for more than a couple minutes all electric before the battery reaches minimum state of charge which is 40% and the vehicle powers up its engine to start recharging.

    Sounds like what you want is an electric vehicle for your commute rather than a hybrid.
     
    #2 jeromep, Oct 19, 2005
  3. cgraham

    cgraham Member

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    To my knowledge, having read the forums quite a bit recently, there is no such device. I think I have seen the question addressed before. I expect there is a good technical reason for the lack of such a device, besides the hazard of messing with a high-voltage battery. The price of a rectifier to provide the right voltage from the mains might be quite expensive.

    I expect someone more knowedgeable than I will confirm this positively.

    C
     
    #3 cgraham, Oct 19, 2005
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