Get 180MPG out of Prius upgrade

This is like the ultimate mod. I do alot of city driving... and stop and go on the freeway (more stop than go) so this seems like a very cool enhancement for the prius.

I know it's not really a 'free lunch'. Since any power we suck from the grid is going to create more pollution (since most power comes from burning fossel fuels). But it's exciting to think we could be even less dependant on foreign oil.

Can someone break this 'mod' down for us. I'm sure there must be some negatives too (price? the battery is really expenseive right? (L-ion?)). Voids the Toyota warranty? Does it come with it's own warranty? probably not a 10 year one though.

thanks,
Peter B

 

I heard from the horse's mouth that it cost about $12,000 to convert the first Prius (whatever that means; parts only, total cost with labor and R&D, I don't know for sure).

Nate

 

Please refer to following thread...
http://www.priuschat.com/forums/new-plug-i...ced-vt7693.html

Ken@Japan

 

Ya, I heard about that mod as well. I'd be affraid of voiding the warranty and all that. I do think it'd be cool if Toyota offered a larger battery size as maybe another package in order to get better fuel economy. You are usually able to get a variety of engine sizes when purchasing a new car, but different battery sizes would be pretty cool.

 

My prediction. Toyota will do everything in their power to block a plug in hybrid until they are sure that the public has totally bought into the non plug in hybrid first.

And I don't blame them. I still get people joking at my car about the electric cord that I need and how bothersome it would be to plug in. When I say it doesn't, they still seem to not believe me.

Once Toyota sells their 2 millionth hybrid, only then will they take it to the next step, IMHO. And I'll be first in line.

Don't forget, with clever marketing American's will swallow anything. Just look at who's in the White House. And with the right marketing, American's can be convinced that hybrids are stupid. Toyota is on a roll right now. They certainly know that they can blow it, and coming out with a plug in now could just blow it for the future.

 

This is why we would charge it at night when all of america is dim. a lot of electricity is waisted while we sleep. you can't turn off power plants at night.

i'm curious how much electricity is waisted at night. Then we could possibly start looking at how to save it (plug in hybrids or electric cars. )

 

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Not true. Electric utilities pay very careful attention to load demand. Some plants need to run at pretty constant output (for example, nukes) while many others can be adjusted quite quickly (for example, natural gas driven turbines). But the power companies pay real money for fuel and plant operation, so they don't really waste (or even waist!) power overnight.

It is true that they often charge less for electricity delivered overnight and some large customers take advantage of that (for example, your water utility may pump water into water towers overnight). This is part of their management of matching load demand.

 

Power companies do not waste electricity at night when demand is less. They just adjust generator output to produce less power.

Thanks to computer automation, generator control systems can quickly sense changes in load demand and adjust the generator output to meet that demand. It takes much less fuel to spin a generator that is loaded at only 20% than it does to spin one that is loaded at 100%. This true for both nuclear and fossil fuel plants, it's just a matter of controlling the amount of steam being generated.

 

We purchased and installed a solar power system last year. This mod would be great, it would basically mean a lot of free driving.

Since PG&E in California pays 3 times more at peak times than what we use at non peak times, I've got plenty of extra juice for Mr. Roboto (my Prius).

Well, ok, it would not be completely free, since our solar power system cost some money. But this mod would allow the the solar power system to pay for itself 2-3 years earlier than expected.

And for me this would be "a clean lunch" since the solar power I produce a feed back into the grid is 100% CLEAN!

 

Sweet! Your own solar power grid! I gotta get one of those. It makes total sense.. so much sun here in the Southwest.. why not take advantage of it.
"Hey until the sun burns out, let's go ahead and take some of that free energy!"