Converting the prius into a full electric car

[sola]

I am wondering whether my current, 2004 Prius will be elligible for retrofiting when new, powerful batteries become widely available.

By hearing about the progress Valence, A123, EEStor...etc have made recently, powerful batteries may become cheap enough in 5-8 years which doesn't seem too much for a 2004 Prius.

Do you think it is possible to make the Prius a usable full electric car provided, the electric power source is ready?

As far as I know the Prius has only a 70kw electric motor which is not too much alone. Of course, it has good torque but it may not make the car dinamic enough without the help of the engine. It is also a question whether the design of the car makes this conversion possible at all.

[itsme]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sola @ Mar 30 2007, 05:04 PM) [snapback]415152[/snapback]</div>

I am wondering whether my current, 2004 Prius will be elligible for retrofiting when new, powerful batteries become widely available.

By hearing about the progress Valence, A123, EEStor...etc have made recently, powerful batteries may become cheap enough in 5-8 years which doesn't seem too much for a 2004 Prius.

Do you think it is possible to make the Prius a usable full electric car provided, the electric power source is ready?

As far as I know the Prius has only a 70kw electric motor which is not too much alone. Of course, it has good torque but it may not make the car dinamic enough without the help of the engine. It is also a question whether the design of the car makes this conversion possible at all.
[/b]

As far as converting your 2004 if out of all warranties and paid off I would convert to all electric the car can handle it IMO.
Well I think the 70kw motor is fine as a stand alone system as I am using a 15kw in a VW Fox curb weight approx 2300 pounds and on 72 volts only it scoots. And with new battery technology improving everyday I see no reason why it could not , new batts are much lighter and more compact. here is a link to my ev
http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/896


it is a commuter car for around town only gets approx. 40 miles per charge , does not sound like much but for most trips used is only 15 miles total. cost to charge over night cost .25 cents. I will be converting our 2007 prius to all electric when warranty expires or paid off whichever comes first.
I THINK IT WILL BE A GOOD CANDIDATE

[sola]

Sounds good.

At the current rate, there will be a million Prii on the roads in a couple of years. It would be a waste to crush them when gas becomes too expensive and batteries cheap enough to build electric cars with them. (and electric cars starts selling strong.)

The Prius is a sophisticated car compared to the electric cars currently on the road today and if it could be retrofitted easily to make it full electric, than it is a very good investment now.

[iaowings]

Ok so is it possible to keep the ice and set up as it but add enough batteries say lio so you can get 100 maybe even 150 miles without using the ice I would not want to loose the back seats though. Maybe some trunk space though. This would essentially make it an electric car for around town drives but when you want or need to go farther it drives just as it does now. But how long before the gas you are hauling around goes bad? Well actually you could just leave a couple gallons in the tank just in case and when you know you have a long trip fill it up so never mind that.

[Charles Suitt]

The Prius is based on a very comprehensive overall design. Such a major conversion could not possibly result in the desired 'all electric' vehicle. Perhaps the Prius' low-drag body design could offer a start for the 'shell' of an all-electric 'Prius-like' vehicle. By the time electric motors and batteries are 'ready,' a shell design will likely be very different that the current Prius.

One Prius feature that we tend to forget... The Prius is the most 'recycleable' vehicle on the road today, so the waste of the elements is reduced somewhat.

My 2¢ worth...

[amitandrima]

In future if I had to take advantage of efficient betteries and retrofit an old car, prius would be an ideal candidate. I also strongly believe that it is just a matter of time before we see mass production of efficient battery packs. In fact, I am looking forward to when my Prius gets a little older so that I can carry out this type retrofitting (as of now I do not have either the courage or time to do this to my dear Prius).

[Godiva]

I wouldn't be surprised if Toyota came up with plans on how to retrofit a Prius for the time when newer technologies become available.

[D0li0]

Here's a very similar thread titled
Can we purchase and install the Third Generation Lithium-Ion Battery Pack to our 2004 - 2007 Prius.

While you may not be able to make it "all electric" ie a freeway capable electric vehicle without some major changes to the drive train. I am already driving a PHEV Prius with 10 miles of 100% electric range around town and twice the gas mileage for 20 mile freeway trips per charge. I usually recharge in about 3 hours but can get it done in less than 30 minutes, which is plenty fast for overnight charging. I'm using PbA (Lead-Acid) at the moment but perhaps someday I can install some Lithium for 30 miles of all electric range. Anyway, as I discussed in the other thread such an upgrade is totally within the ability of Toyota, they could surely create a drop in replacement/upgrade for 2004+ Prius to turn them into PHEV's with 30 or more miles of range. While you might loose some storage area under the rear deck it shouldn't take up any more space than that.

[Bob Allen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sola @ Mar 31 2007, 07:04 AM) [snapback]415152[/snapback]</div>

I am wondering whether my current, 2004 Prius will be elligible for retrofiting when new, powerful batteries become widely available.

By hearing about the progress Valence, A123, EEStor...etc have made recently, powerful batteries may become cheap enough in 5-8 years which doesn't seem too much for a 2004 Prius.

Do you think it is possible to make the Prius a usable full electric car provided, the electric power source is ready?

As far as I know the Prius has only a 70kw electric motor which is not too much alone. Of course, it has good torque but it may not make the car dinamic enough without the help of the engine. It is also a question whether the design of the car makes this conversion possible at all.
[/b]

I think a straight conversion to an all electric Prius would cost more than it would be worth over the cost of a car designed from the wheels up to be all electric. I'm thinking more about a plug-in hybrid modification rather than a straight conversion to all-electric mode. I think it will be a while before battery technology gets to the point where a vehicle the size of a Prius can be made all electric and yet practical for anything more than 20 mile commutes at less than 50 mph. Plug-in technology will arrive sooner because some of the load for longer trips will be borne by the engine rather than the batteries, thus allowing the use of less efficient (i.e. cheaper, already available) batteries.

The cost of a retrofit to all electric will likely be prohibitive for quite a while, making it more cost effective to simply get a new vehicle. By the time the technology you're thinking about reaches the general public as something more than a science fair project, your Prius will be five years old or more. Plug-in conversion, however, is already possible for about $10,000 (still too high, but closer) which is still vastly cheaper than converting a car to all electric mode. There is an outfit that will convert a Scion XB (box) to all electric, for $55,000 ABOVE the cost of the XB. As the technology improves, of course, the cost will come down. Who knows what will be out there and whether you will still feel such attachment to your 2004 Prius.



By

[bwilson4web]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sola @ Mar 30 2007, 06:04 PM) [snapback]415152[/snapback]</div>

. . .
Do you think it is possible to make the Prius a usable full electric car . . .
[/b]

It is but the receipt is not trivial:

1) remove the engine and weld ICE shaft - medium
2) develop two resolver uprocessors - medium hard
3) acquire second Prius inverter - easy
4) write software to power inverter to the motors - medium
5) add repackaged battery pack in engine location - medium
6) integrate system - medium hard
7) refurbish batteries - easy

I would recommend starting with a salvage Prius. In a perfect world, one with a blown engine. If not, one that was rear or side impacted. I'd recommend a 2001-2003 Prius and order the full maintenance manuals. Don't worry if either traction battery is considered 'bad'.

A more interesting problem is keeping the Prius NHW11 a hybrid and giving it an electric vehicle mode. This is much more interesting because the electric vehicle mode would allow some very interesting operational modes. But we can talk about this another day.

Bob Wilson