Featured Every future Prius a Plug-in

Some people have installed a block heater, which does about the same in regard of the ICE temperature.
The operation mode changes to S3/S4, which inhibits preheating of the ICE and thus the exhaust system (also thermochemical conditioning) ...But a friend of mine had a catalytic pot failure at 120k (Toyota personnel found probable cause the block heater...)...

Just my two cents...

 

And preheating the catalytic converter would be hard to do cost effectively without using the ICE. Cabin preconditioning would be useful, though, and wouldn't cause emissions issues. (It's amazing how even a 30 minute stop affects MPG, due to the HVAC system having to recover.)

That said, how many people would plug in just to get 60-70 instead of 50-55 MPG? Even the PiP gets mocked for its limited EV capability, and it's more of a PHEV than this idea would be...

 

Having 'plug-in lite' designed into the Gen-5 solves a lot of problems because it can also address the control laws. Although I suspect (haven't tested!) the Gen-4 has taken a bite out of the warm-up penalty, done right, this would be the nearest 'low hanging fruit' before ... exhaust heat recovery to vehicle power.

Even with a 40% efficient engine operating in peak efficiency mode, about 30% should leave via the exhaust and 30% from the cooling system. The temperatures in the cooling system, ~100C, are too low (today) to support effective energy recovery (although I have an idea.) But the exhaust temperature after the catalytic converter should be in the 600C range. Here is where a heat engine could do some good.

Now if the engine coolant could be replaced by an ammonia-water mix, it might provide enough to operate the air conditioner. For sure the exhaust temperatures are high enough to operate the air conditioner. In effect, free air conditioning when the engine is in use ... WOPPIE! Note there are other gas-liquid mixes whose temperature range might be better.

When not operating the AC for cabin cooling, the backup compressor could be operated in motor-generator mode to make electrons at a high enough voltage to improve MPG.

Bob Wilson

 

Would a slightly taller vehicle matter? I swear the prius eco and non eco feel different in the back seat. Could the back seat actually be half an inch lower? I'd imagine the only large factor is aerodynamics which would look slightly different in the front. But would that matter? Of course there's the new inverter tech that could help... And battery tech.

 

If using stock NEMA plugs, I would and know others who would too. Even if they forget, the higher fuel cost and 'uncomfortable' cabin would remind them. But these power levels are in the range where magnetic coupling begins to make sense.

Bob Wilson

 

Magnetic; We talking inductive? Who's liking the loss/hit of around 10-15% ....
That's ~ 20 miles off of juice that would otherwise get you 200 miles. Seems like a big hit on our already flimsy grid.
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I could be the test subject for this. I got the block heater installed when our 2010 was brand new, and we use it virtually without fail, for every first, cold start of the day, typically about 2 hours plugged in. The car's driven on average every second day, I would say.

 

Without having done the experiment, I am pretty sure the power would be low enough that even the losses are 'in the noise' compared to the total energy savings. Warm-up runs around 0.15 gal (some earlier tests.).

Bob Wilson

 

I always liked those ideas...and without plugging in (wireless).