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DIY PHEV Prius c?

52K views 28 replies 12 participants last post by  petebarchetta 
#1 ·
Ok, I am far from electrically competent, and it IS a brand new 23k car...
But I have an uncontrollable urge to change thing around and tweak the damn thing till its getting triple digits at the pump :)

I have a lot of aero goodies I want to build, wheel enclosures, grill block, boat tail etc, but my question for the folks here is this:

What exactly would one need to conquer in order to add a "second string" of batteries, I am thinking ts-60s and a charger that would charge either the second string, or the whole pack from the wall?
 
#3 ·
Ive been interested in hybrids for a while now as well as building 2 super high mpg trikes from scratch, they just take so damn long to complete :-(

I live about 40 miles from "civilization" in either direction so any practical ev is going to need a 100 mile range to work for me, also, I put a LOT of miles on my cars.

The Prius c is only 6 weeks old and has almost 5k miles on it already for example...

I personally am interested in saving money mainly while still driving a new car, and also, the various parts will likely become a "mpg kit" for the prius c. I am an entrepreneur and it hasn't escaped me or my partner that the Prius c is currently selling like hotcakes, dealers cant keep them on lots and some (not mine) are commanding 8k premiums over list.

And this is for a car, take it from me, people are clearly not buying for its roominess or acceleration, so me thinks an "aero kit" and a "battery kit" might be a good part time venture :)
 
#4 ·
The more miles you put on em the more you can save with electric. That 100 mile range you need can be had for half the price of the C.

About the aero kit, have you looked at ecomodder much? I don't know what the market is for those mods, but from what I've seen it seems like most people who are willing to go that overboard are fairly few in numbers and probably enjoy the build at least as much as the results.

As for a phev conversion kit, have you looked to see what's out there? I know there are several kit vendors, even Toyota has done factory plugin conversions for years.
 
#5 ·
You are asking to double the rated fuel economy rating of the Prius C. The only way that will happen is to add battery capacity, modify the computer and rely on electric power as much as possible. The hardest part will be installing the extra batteries and charger.
 
#10 ·
That's what I am thinking too.

I've done some research and apparently the "regular" Prius up-converts a 168v pack to 650v and the Prius C up-converts 144v to 550v going to the electric drive.

So one would think the mission at hand is to add a string of 48 calb 60s say to make 144v for another 8.6 KWH

I (Potentially Nievely) think that since the car is limited to 34mph in ev only mode, that there shouldn't be any problem with c rating on the calbs.

Which would be "upstream" of the up-converter..

So would it be as simple as finding an appropriate 144v charger and adding the calbs to the main pack and (with luck) the main pack would simply think it was at a higher charge state then it really is (Thanks to the Calbs?
 
#18 ·
The 'C' stands for City.. That's where the C does it's best work.
If you look at your average speed around a congested city, it's not that fast.
My wife's 'C' can easily stay in EV up to 44 MPH (slightly downhill).



I can go get a pizza over in Lexington (it's close by) and get 70 MPG roundtrip.

My idea of a simple upgrade would be an 8A 144vdc nimh charger built in.

Topping off a half-drained pack might help the MPG.?.
We always park the 'C' in the garage between trips during the day.
If it was charging during those breaks between (mostly very short) trips,
it seems like our MPG would be improved..
Since a high percentage of those trips are in EV mode..
 
#15 ·
No idea, thats why I asked :)

My vague understanding of charging is that the charger charges to a certain (set) voltage then shuts off.

If the charge voltage on pack 2 is within the "safe zone" of the main pack (IE lower then fully charged so as to not even be in danger of frying the main pack)

What I dont know (among other things) is what the operating voltage of the main pack cells are?
 
#19 ·
It certainly is possible to make a C into a Plug in Prius.

There are aftermarket kits, such as the one from Enginer, that use a separate LiFePo4 battery pack to slowly charge up the Prius' main pack.

I have done many of these kinds of conversions on Insights, Gen1, Gen 2 and Gen 3 Prius. Should work on a Prius C as well. Would take up a bit of the storage space room though.

There are also other people I know who have made a "Universal Grid Charger" that you can use to directly charge the main hybrid pack. Wouyld just need to set it for the Prius C pack voltage.
 
#20 ·
The pack voltage is 144v. It seems like it would be pretty simple to make a 120vac to 144vdc smart charger for topping off the pack.
A regular 120vac outlet is rated for 15A, so it could raise the SOC, if left on charge overnight.

I read the early Insight had a 144v pack, so maybe there are some chargers out there.?.
 
#24 ·
I have a similar but much less demanding requirement.

I am retired and live in a very small remote town.
I would put on 2 - 3 miles every other day or so around town.
It's more of a show & tell than a gas savings strategy.

Is there a small trickle charger for the stock 2013 Prius C traction battery?
A DIY would be nice.


The speed limit here is a whopping 20 MPH and so EV mode around town would be great. Just want a way to charge the traction battery without using the ICE. Electricity here cost 7 cents a kWH. That calculates out to 1.5 cents per mile or less than 5 cents a day, just to rub it in.



John
East Carbon, Utah
 
#25 ·
I have a similar but much less demanding requirement.

I am retired and live in a very small remote town.
I would put on 2 - 3 miles every other day or so around town.
It's more of a show & tell than a gas savings strategy.

Is there a small trickle charger for the stock 2013 Prius C traction battery?
A DIY would be nice.
yes any that work on a G1 insight will work on the prius C, just understand that prius batteries last longer than G1 insight bats because they do not fully charge and are a different structural style.

The prius style cells do not tolerate overcharge like the old style insight batteries, so your charger must be more kid gloves than the original insight spec and a pure dumb charger would need to stop before filling the battery completely.

The speed limit here is a whopping 20 MPH and so EV mode around town would be great. Just want a way to charge the traction battery without using the ICE. Electricity here cost 7 cents a kWH. That calculates out to 1.5 cents per mile or less than 5 cents a day, just to rub it in.

John
East Carbon, Utah
Your prius battery is really only good for about a mile, though on my test drive I eeked out a little more.

Even still 1 mile is better than nothing and using the prius C's neutral you can pulse and glide the rest of the way without the irritating mandated recharge once the battery level drops.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I own a 2013 Prius C and love it. Thought Toyota switched from NiMH to Li ion in the C? My 2008 Prius base model has NiMH. The C's EV mode is basically useless. It won't allow you to use it on the. Car when cold, even to swap cars in the driveway (where an IC engine start is really wasteful ). You'd need to do some serious hacking and reprogramming of that system to get it to be a useful plug in hybrid. The other downside is that the fuel economy AND fuel economy recording accuracy of the onscreen display both fall off in the winter like a rock. Still better than the 2008 Prius which was a nice surprise, but the summer performance was awesome and would like to exend that into colder weather to the extent I can. Will need to do grille blocking and consider a block heater to prewarm the engine next winter. Found these made some difference with the 2008 but not enough to bother with.
 
#27 ·
I own a 2013 Prius C and love it. Thought Toyota switched from NiMH to Li ion in the C? My 2008 Prius base model has NiMH. The C's EV mode is basically useless. It won't allow you to use it on the. Car when cold, even to swap cars in the driveway (where an IC engine start is really wasteful ). You'd need to do some serious hacking and reprogramming of that system to get it to be a useful plug in hybrid. The other downside is that the fuel economy AND fuel economy recording accuracy of the onscreen display both fall off in the winter like a rock. Still better than the 2008 Prius which was a nice surprise, but the summer performance was awesome and would like to exend that into colder weather to the extent I can. Will need to do grille blocking and consider a block heater to prewarm the engine next winter. Found these made some difference with the 2008 but not enough to bother with.
To clarify my understanding of Toyota Prius HSD Gen 2 and 3.....all currently use the nimh HV traction battery with a limited range less than 2-3miles.....without any addtional modifcation to oem hv pack.. The gen 3 prius is a tiny bit more ev efficent than gen 2 and comes with actual ev switch
 
#28 ·
oh yea toyota tech enginers change up the coolant flow pattern from gen2 to 3 because of cold climate declined performance mpg. I am considering a good thermal hood blanket next winter season almost like the never ending winter here and hope the past ice storms driving did not do any unseen damage to my vehicle
 
#29 ·
asking the rather obvious question i know, but what is stopping you from obtaining another Prius Battery pack and connecting them in parallel. you then get increased range, charger would take longer as its trying to fill a bigger bucket, if you go for something like a solar roof mod, you can charge as you drive / park

Just a suggestion..... wiling to take the flack now :)
 
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