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adding battery to plug-in prius

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by tekstyle, Feb 24, 2015.

  1. tekstyle

    tekstyle Junior Member

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    Nissan announced that a replacement 24Kwh lithium-ion battery for the NISSAN LEAF at $5500 with core return which is about $1000. so we are looking at $6500 without core I assume. about $270.83 per kwh. spec here Battery specs - Electric Vehicle Wiki

    after calculations, to match the prius's 207.2V lithium ion, we will need 28 modules from the 48 modules within the LEAF battery to build a 210v lithium ion battery with a 2S2P configuration. 112 cells total, about 52.5 kW, 14kWh. this battery is about 4.2x the energy storage as the prius's 3.3kWh. that should give the prius plug in a total of 62.4 miles EV range (4.2*12+12). maybe a little less due to the added weight of 324lb. All at the price point of $3792 if you can sell off the other 20 modules for $2708.

    only thing needed is a BMS to manage how it delivers power to charge the prius's own HV pack. I think the additional components is about $1000 or so.

    Anyone think this is a doable project financially?
     
    #1 tekstyle, Feb 24, 2015
  2. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    You would need a serious quality BMS for this batteries if you want to preserve quality and durability. My suggestion would be to use an Orion brand BMS. Then a well performer charger integrated to the BMS. That would add another 1800 to 2200.
    Lastly a sealed and ventilated secure case for the batteries.
     
    #2 mrbigh, Feb 24, 2015
  3. gallde

    gallde Active Member

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    Maybe save the money and time and put it towards a Tesla Model 3?
     
    #3 gallde, Feb 24, 2015
    rxlawdude likes this.
  4. roflwaffle

    roflwaffle Member

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    Nissan may not sell to you unless you have a core. If possible, it's also likely better to put the new pack in parallel (hybridinterfaces and I think a commercial plug-in kit had this) instead of dump charge into the stock pack.

    If (and this is a big if) the new Prius is anything like the old one, it uses the Ah info to determine when to pull current/etc... So you would need something to spoof that.
     
    #4 roflwaffle, Feb 24, 2015
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    anything is possible. what's practical? what are the battery dimensions and where will you put it? what do you mean, 'financially'? with $2. gas?
     
    #5 bisco, Feb 24, 2015
  6. tekstyle

    tekstyle Junior Member

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    I am not sure how the new prius draws power. I have been looking for a complete shop manual but i cant seem to find it. Right now, wiring the add-on pack in parallel seems like the best way but might need relays to switch between the 2 when the prius's is depleted to prevent the 2 from discharging each other since there are variations in the cells voltage and chemistry. The switching mechanism is going to be hard to implement.

    The dimensions of the leaf pack is 5'×4'×10". so about half that would be needed to get 210v in a 2s2p config. Or 1/4 for all in series But this will require taking apart the modules and rewiring the individual cells. Not too hard i dont think.
     
    #6 tekstyle, Feb 24, 2015
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you've got chutzpah, i'll give you that.;)
     
    #7 bisco, Feb 24, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2015
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    shouldn't be hard to find the shop manual on line.
     
    #8 bisco, Feb 24, 2015
  9. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    You will NOT be able to parallel the 2 pack with out pulling major error codes and temporarily disabling the HSD.
     
    #9 mrbigh, Feb 24, 2015
  10. tekstyle

    tekstyle Junior Member

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    how is the gen II NiMH able to parallel 2 packs while the gen III can't?
     
    #10 tekstyle, Feb 24, 2015
  11. roflwaffle

    roflwaffle Member

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    I'm curious about this too. I know that in the gen ii if you parallel 2 packs, the BCM still counts it as one, so there isn't any benefit w/o a spoofer, but I'm wondering why paralleling 2 packs in the pip would cause trouble. Maybe b/c of the monitoring associated with the Li cells?
     
    #11 roflwaffle, Feb 25, 2015
    tekstyle likes this.
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i too, am curious.
     
    #12 bisco, Mar 23, 2015
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