Prius complete power plant changeout: Going Full Plugin-EV!

I wish I had some info to help, but this is way out of my league. I will definitely be on the sidelines watching.

So, once you remove the entire drivetrain, what motor do you plan to install and how would it connect to drive the wheels? Is there some aftermarket kit available or will this be total custom fabrication?

 

Buy a junked PiP and transfer the drive train? That is only 11 miles EV though. The old PHV conversion kits are long gone.
I doubt the range you desire is feasible. You need high voltage experience to try any of this safely.

 

I think you have two “easier” choices. Neither one of them is easy.

Option one just replace the engine with electrical motor. You would need to somehow get the engine control unit to control the new electrical motor controller instead of the engine. You would have the regenerative braking into the original Prius hybrid battery pack. Efficiency would not be as high as other vice because the control unit would still control the electric motor as original engine and also the limits of original hybrid battery pack for regenerative braking.

Option two would be to replace the transaxle and engine (and inverter) with new transaxle and electric motor. With this approach you would have more work with getting it working with original Prius components. Might actually be easier just to use Prius as a shell only.

Anyways keep us posted about this project.

 

How will you make the car legal in California?

A Leaf modified drivetrain might be a good choice.

 

Though things might've changed in 30 yrs, you would take it to one of these locations: Referee Program

 

welcome!
agree, it's a monumental task, but anything can be done.

looking forward to watching your progress, but you may want to visit some ev forums. no one here has ever attempted to do what you are about to. all the best!

 

I didn't know how liberal California is with home brew cars.

 

+1 leaf drivetrain. but your gonna have to know or be a genius to figure out how to extend the range enough to make it worth it. my brother liked his leaf a lot, but he had to ditch it cause he needed more range. replaced it with a volt.

 

There are a few conversion shops out on the coast and one I know of in TX. search criteria zombie222
for a bit of excitement I recommend plasma boy specially if you're into sleepers. It was current a few years ago
but looks like sharing interesting stuff on the interwebs these days is few and far between.
as always YMMV - mileage variables

 

I commend your ambition, but designing and building a practical battery-electric vehicle for highway use would be a major project, even for a team of experienced engineers and skilled technicians with the resources of a university or corporate laboratory.

I think the approach of trying to reuse the car’s ECUs and their software is unlikely to be successful. The Prius software is fundamentally intended for hybrid operation: the HV ECU, for example, is programmed to use the engine, when necessary, to meet demands for motive force, and it continually exchanges information with the engine control module. (See the “MPX Communication” table on page EG-16 of the New Car Features book for 2004, NCF255U.) No amount of sensor trickery would make that software work properly without an engine.

There is also the serious problem of interfaces: Toyota’s multiplex bus message formats and other essential details simply aren’t disclosed in the service manuals or other open literature. In many cases, without access to proprietary source code and internal engineering documentation from Toyota and its suppliers, I’m afraid it would be easier to design replacements than to attempt to communicate with the existing ECUs.

If you want a safe, reliable vehicle, I’d suggest repairing your present car, without changing its architecture, or selling it, with the hybrid battery still installed, and buying another car that fits your budget.

That said, here are a few books that might give you an appreciation for the engineering task, and if you insist, some ideas on how to go about it:

• Hideshi Itazaki (trans. Yamada & Ishikawa), The Prius That Shook the World: How Toyota Developed the World’s First Mass-Production Hybrid Vehicle. Tokyo: Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, 1999. (Not much technical detail, but useful to understand just how big an undertaking it is to design a modern car.)

• Bosch Automotive Electrics and Automotive Electronics: Systems and Components, Networking and Hybrid Drive, 5th ed., Springer, 2007. (An accessible overview. See also the Bosch Automotive Handbook, 9th ed., 2014.)

• John G. Hayes and G. Abas Goodarzi, Electric Powertrain: Energy Systems, Power Electronics and Drives for Hybrid, Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles, Wiley, 2018. (More rigorous. Both authors worked on GM’s EV1 program.)

 

First off18650 lithium’s suck, even Tesla’s are terrible to work with
If you go 18650 expect it to not work long, get imbalanced or light on fire.

An infinitely cheaper option are $700 Chevy volt batteries
They don’t degrade and stay in perfect balance, two things you need as a hobbiest

Next check out
Diyelectriccar

State your intents and you will get very frank feedback.

My guess is you need
1. A toyo compatible manual transaxle
2. A Nissan Leaf Motor with inverter
A) a can device to control the leaf inverter
3. Some form of charger
4. A volt battery or two or a bolt battery
5. Ability to fabricate a custom lovejoy and flex plate adapter motor to transaxle
6. Fabrication of custom mounts and boxes

You will not be able To have a working ECU


Otherwise the easiest path would be to buy a junked PIP and do a swap of everything.


You have a good year ahead of you
Good Luck

 

Pick an EV chassis and put the Prius body on it, much like the Firebrid, only opposite. @Bill the Engineer is a mechanical engineer, though.

Firebrid: The Prius v Powered Hybrid Convertible | PriusChat

 

Probably a bit easier if just swapping drivetrain, wheel speed sensors, wiring, drive controls, control units, batteries, etc. That is if you still want to keep it as front wheel drive and choose a suitable donor.

 

it can be done. several years back there were 3 registered EV's in Loudoun county. 2 teslas and a homemade EV.

 

The last I checked, Loudoun county was not in California nor in another CARB state. California is known for strict vehicle laws.

 

My guess is the op never posts again and never returns

 

is it done yet? pics, or it didn't happen.

 

The plan described by the original poster has many problems, but the California Air Resources Board’s regulations aren’t among them. As @SFO kindly mentions, a vehicle converted to battery-electric operation just has to be inspected by a Smog Check Referee, who confirms that the engine, fuel system, and related parts have been removed. See the ARB’s page, “Facts about electric vehicle conversions by individuals,” and 16 CCR § 3340.5(a)(2).