Featured Add a 5 or 10 kWh battery to your Prius

Here's an Amazon listing. $4,641

Looks alot like Enginer.
Enginer | Solar Powered Prius Plug-in PHEV Conversion Kit with Lithium-Ion | Hybrid

If anyone purchases this and needs installation, let me know.

 

wow, that looks bad.

 

The Enginer system did let you keep the spare tire in the PiP if I recall.

 

that looks.... ridiculous!

If Prius drivers are already being coal rolled off the road, this might get them killed.

 

Such kits were available long before the PiP, and people have successfully used them. The PiP may not have arrived without those companies being successful.

 

The kits we're good in theory.
Components ended up not being reliable enough.
Unless things drastically changed it would be hard to recommend.

Plus for the price you could probably buy a used EV instead.

 

I've long felt a small trailer with engine-generator would be a better approach. Used for long range, highway driving, the engine-generator can be optimized and otherwise used as emergency power at home. For example, the 640 cc engine-generator in our BMW i3-REx weights a little over 200 lbs ... a light trailer load.

Bob Wilson

 

Rent a ICE car if you need to. Few enough of us know how to back up a car with an attached trailer. I'm amazed how cheap car rentals can be if you aren't at an airport and they fill the gap for the rare times I need more capacity than I have. How many miles would you have to drive with this trailer scheme to make the cost make sense?

 

A range extender trailer built during the time of the EV1 and first Rav4 EV had its own automated steering to make it easier to back up.