# old Prius electric engine?



## sonic (Jan 3, 2009)

What about a used electric engine from an wrecked Prius? Is it possible or are the engine to complicated to reuse? These engines go for about $130-200 here in Sweden from an salvage yard. 

Anyone heard of such a project?


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## Bowser330 (Jun 15, 2008)

I think its very usable....

the only thing would be to disconnect the gas motor and "trick" the controller/ECU to use the electric motor at all times and in all conditions...

things like...low battery capacity and higher speeds traditionally turns the electric motor off..so that would have to be bypassed somehow...

you could also use the CVT trasmission that the motor is imbedded into for all the necessary gear ratios...


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## nimblemotors (Oct 1, 2010)

The 2001-2003 Priuses are now old enough that they are inexpensive sources of used parts. I just got one today for $400, and will be working on getting it useable as an EV, or perhaps a hybrid with a smaller ICE.

There are a couple issues with the prius motors/transaxle. There are two motors that need controlled. Without an ICE, holding the input shaft stationary, the same EV only limit of 35mph is a problem that must be solved. 

Mike is approaching it by locking the planetary gears, so both motors spin together, and the ICE input shaft is an output shaft:
http://99mpg.com/Projectcars/evinsight/
Seems this was back in 2007 ?

Anyone know of anyone else trying to use these motors/transaxles independant of the prius? 
It looks like the prius inverter can be controlled with a custom CPU,
so it can be used to run the motors without using all the Prius algorithms and limits, etc.

The motors/transaxle is pretty heavy, it weighs in at 260lbs,
but it is also the "transmission" and the motor, so if you consider a 150lb 9" DC motor, and 100lb transmission, its not that porky.

My thought is to add a third electric motor as the input, possibly using another modified transxale motor attached to the ICE input side.


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## nimblemotors (Oct 1, 2010)

Toyotal will sell a brand new genII Prius transaxle with the 67kw BLDC motors for $3,300 retail. This makes this setup rather inexpensive compared to what else is out there. Just need a controller to confirm it works with it.


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## Coulomb (Apr 22, 2009)

nimblemotors said:


> brand new genII Prius transaxle with the 67kw BLDC motors


I believe from the Wikipedia page that MG2 is 67 horsepower, or 50 kW. But there is also MG1, which could be the other 17 kW, or it might be more.
The transaxle would also include the differential, I believe. So yes, that could get interesting, if you could figure out how to use it effectively.


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## Coulomb (Apr 22, 2009)

In fact, from this document http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cov...D809802A1B4FF5B17B3F959F?purl=/890029-WIfqPO/, it states:

"During periods of maximum power demand from the IPM/PMSM system, the converter provides ~20 kW and the vehicle generator supplies ~30 kW. This power split allows a reduction in size of the high-cost HEV battery and the converter. Therefore, the power rating of the converter is ~20 kW, not 50 kW."

They're talking about the 200-500 V DC/DC boost converter only needing to be 20 kW, since 30 kW can come from the generator. So the generator (MG1) inverter must be capable of 30 kW, and MG1 must be able to supply 30 kW electrical. As a motor, therefore, it should be capable of about 30 kW as well.

So that's 80 kW (peak) of brushless electric motor there. But you'd need a different inverter to get that sort of power from it. Or maybe you could live with only 20 kW of power from MG2 at high speed, as long as you had 50 kW at low speed. MG1 might need a separate inverter perhaps. Or you could run the whole thing from a ~ 500 VDC pack and ignore the boost converter; there are AC conversions that use higher voltage than that. The Prius inverter should presumably be able to handle 80 kW through it, even though MG1 is usually generating.


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## Peter S (Mar 5, 2009)

In our plugin prius we can drive 82km/h on MG2 without the gasengine running at all

Performace is ok up to 60km/h but up to 82 its a bit slow

Remember that driving 82km/h forces MG1 up to 10000rpm , some people means that its unsafe

We have driven the prius in ev-only for 6000km and it works fine

I still think that the best way to build a EV fast is to convert a prius, it have everything alredy done like : AC , powersteering , powerbrakes etc


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## Coulomb (Apr 22, 2009)

Peter S said:


> In our plugin prius we can drive 82km/h on MG2


What plug-in conversion brand is that?

Or is that a leased Toyota plug-in hybrid?


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## Peter S (Mar 5, 2009)

We have build it in sweden with parts from pluginsupply in CA and TS batterys from China

Take a look at our evs at : www.automek.com/elbil

Right now are our ridinglawnmower the next to be converterd,9hp BLDC and 25pc 90ah TS are waiting in our workshop


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## nimblemotors (Oct 1, 2010)

Prius would make a good EV. Biggest problem is they are relatively expensive as a donor.
Now some don't care about cost, $120k Tesla makes a good EV too..

If you can buy just the motor/transaxle for $3k, it will cost relatively little to build another car using the parts, instead of paying for the whole car.

Jack Murray


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## Automcdonough (Sep 1, 2010)

I want to get one to use as a generator, using separate motors for the wheels.
checking ebay right now actually...


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## nimblemotors (Oct 1, 2010)

You can use them as a home generator too.. in fact, having the ICE in your car can make it a portable generator. Wonder if anyone has thought of marketing this feature to contractors?? 

I may use this one as a dyno for a small ICE that I'll be tweaking for highest BSFC (i.e. mpg). You can control and measure the load on the ICE
using the generator.

Jack Murray


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## Automcdonough (Sep 1, 2010)

yes, I HAVE thought of that.. shhh!!


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## rac780 (Dec 4, 2017)

nimblemotors said:


> The 2001-2003 Priuses are now old enough that they are inexpensive sources of used parts. I just got one today for $400, and will be working on getting it useable as an EV, or perhaps a hybrid with a smaller ICE.
> 
> There are a couple issues with the prius motors/transaxle. There are two motors that need controlled. Without an ICE, holding the input shaft stationary, the same EV only limit of 35mph is a problem that must be solved.
> 
> ...


It looks like the prius inverter can be controlled with a custom CPU,
so it can be used to run the motors without using all the Prius algorithms and limits, etc.


Witch one will you use?? im doing the same and try to move a little go kart usong inverter engine and battery so if you have any recomendation illbe great


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