anyone have experience with plug-in conversion kits?

Yes. Its a terrible company with poor customer service. Many false claims are made on their website. I personally filed a complaint with the BBB against them. I also recommend searching "Plug-In Supply" on ripoffreport.com.

 

i love fiction myself.

 

Then read the Plug In Supply website, there's plenty of it there.

 

exactly.

 

Where should I be looking for plug-in conversion kits, then?

(Thanks.)

 

Honestly, nowhere. The Prius in general (Plug In excepted) is not a good candidate for "PHEV" conversion. Here's why:

1) It is designed as a gasoline (primary) car with electric assist. It is for this reason that the electric motors do not have enough power to propel the car. With electric mode only, the car is severely underpowered and not safe to drive on the streets
2) The Prius has advanced, high-tech monitoring systems (called ECU's) that all work together to make this engineering marvel work. Adding more battery capacity requires modifying what one ECU sees which causes multiple problems with other ECU's.

The old adage that "every time you fix a problem you have to solve another" has major application here. A typical scenario may go like this:

Problem/Fix: The battery runs out or low in "EV" mode, I need a bigger battery (thousands of dollars)
New problem: Adding a bigger battery requires spoofing or/reprogramming the Battery ECU
Fix: Then I will reprogram/spoof the ECU so I can use the bigger battery (hundreds of dollars)
New problem: Now that I have this bigger battery and the ECU spoofed, the ICE still wants to come on when I accelerate normally (to assist the weak electric motors, giving the motors more battery power doesn't make them any stronger, just makes them last longer without a recharge)
Fix: I can use OutOfGas mode to stop the ICE from coming on (cheap)
New problem: The stock electric motors/inverter setup are not strong enough to power the car in most situations and... if I want to use the ICE, I have to pull over, turn the car off and then back on to allow the ICE to be used (then you have the above problem of the ICE coming on too much)
Fix: I need to install a larger electric motor (thousands of dollars)
New problem: The inverter cannot power the new motor
Fix: I need a new motor controller/inverter (thousands of dollars)
New problem: I've spent so much money on converting my Prius that there is no return on investment and I can't sell it b/c noone wants a car that's had this many mods
Fix: I need to take every mod off and return the car to its original state (thousands of dollars)

It reminds me of a story I heard in grade school where a king had mice in his castle and wanted to get rid of them. So... he brought in cats then, he had too many cats so... he brought in dogs. This continued until he brought in elephants. Having too many elephants, the only thing he could think of to get rid of the elephants was mice. He brought back the mice, the elephants left and he lived happily ever after)

There are other numerous reasons why the Prius shouldn't be converted unless you're going to gut the HSD and add an electric drive system that can handle the requirements. The stock Prius electrical system cannot handle the requirements on its own. It needs the gas engine and the gas engine needs the electrical system. They have a symbiotic relationship.

 

read mjfrog's thread. if you're still interested, have at it.