# Recycling Prius



## MaverickNZ (May 14, 2008)

as far as charging it from the mains there are definatly mods that have added extra battery packs to extend range and added a charging system to charge from the mains. They have set them up so that the ice is not used for day to day commute around town


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## Wingnut (May 17, 2008)

MaverickNZ said:


> as far as charging it from the mains there are definatly mods that have added extra battery packs to extend range and added a charging system to charge from the mains. They have set them up so that the ice is not used for day to day commute around town


Yeh, I've seen/heard of that too... somewhere. The series III in California had kits designed for it so that it would modify the Prius to become a "plug in Hybrid" and extend the range to about 70km for electric only commuting. I am not sure where I saw the info, may have been on the web, or in the Documentary " Who killed the Electric Car"..... ?? 
Anything is possible, go for it I say!!


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## locost_bryan (Aug 18, 2008)

Sounds like the A123 Hymotion Plug-in conversion ($US9,995). Check it out here.

I was thinking more along the lines of "tricking" the Prius computer/controller into think the 240v supply was coming from the motor/generator (iirc PriusII motor generates 273vAC?), so it would handle the charging and battery management.


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## carrott (Aug 19, 2008)

locost_bryan said:


> Wonder if you could remove the ICE engine, and use the rest of the HSD powertrain?


The electric motors are partially supported by the ICE crankshaft and housings. You would have to reproduce this.



locost_bryan said:


> Could the computer be tweaked to run without the ICE, and charge the batteries from the mains?


The computer would likely have a fit without the engine attached.

Modifying a Prius would be much harder than starting from scratch with an off the shelf DC or AC motor.


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## John (Sep 11, 2007)

locost_bryan said:


> Would any parts of the Prius be suitable for using in an EV? Wonder if you could remove the ICE engine, and use the rest of the HSD powertrain?


 
Check out http://www.99mpg.com/Projectcars/evinsight/ .This guy is trying something similar though he isn't very far along yet.

Apparently the Japanese and European Gen III Prius's had an EV mode switch that was omitted in other markets but the connection still exists on the computer. This could be used to prevent the car trying to start its engine. http://www.eaa-phev.org/wiki/Prius_EV_Mode_Button .This feature is exploited I think on the plug in conversions.


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