My Prius EV! Well sort of...

[edcastrovalley]

I recently installed a Coastal Tech Prius EV button in my 2007 Prius and made my Prius into an instant ev! As long as I don't go over 2 miles and I recharge it with the gas engine. At first I was a little disappointed with it however, it does have it's advantages. I found out that since I live in the hills of Castro Valley that I can engage the EV button before the engine starts and drive down the hill in ev mode. Heck, I even get a little regen action on the way down. Then, before the freeway on ramp I engage the gasoline engine for the rest of the way to work about 17 miles. At the end of the day when I leave the 3rd floor of the parking garage, I engage ev mode again and inch down the down ramps and drive a little through town battery permitting. I found that it's best not to go below 1/2 the battery capacity or the engine will run a lot to charge the battery back up. As a comparison of my results I normally get 47 to 48 mpg without EV mode driving to work but with EV mode I get 53 mpg. Not bad but that's only one sample. I need to do it a few more times to compare.

The EV switch actually is a chip that uses the cruise control cancel stalk to engage EV mode and you have to hold it for 2 seconds to do it. Installation was not too hard, you have to remove the glove box and find the right wire harness connector and switch out a couple pins with ones from the ev mode chip and then plug in the spade connectors. The biggest thing is to get the right pins otherwise not to hard. Installation time is about 1/2 hour. The switch is only $45 plus some shipping which seems reasonable.

Anyone else have one of these? You only need this in the North America otherwise you already have this button on the dash.

 

[Hillhater]

I can engage the EV button before the engine starts and drive down the hill in ev mode. Heck, I even get a little regen action on the way down. Then, before the freeway onramp I engage the gasoline engine for the rest of the way to work about 17 miles. At the end of the day when I leave the 3rd floor of the parking garage, I engage ev mode again while inching down the down ramps and will even drive a little through town battery permitting........
....I normally get 47 to 48 mpg without EV mode driving to work but with EV mode for the first mile or so I get 53 mpg..

.But surely if you are in "EV" mode for the first mile or so. you should be getting 1000 + mpg ??

 

[edcastrovalley]

But surely if you are in "EV" mode for the first mile or so. you should be getting 1000 + mpg ??

Yes, you're right. I'm not using any gas at all in EV mode. The only reason I used my 17 mile commute as an example was because a regular Prius runs 100% on gas. What happens is the gasoline engine and generator runs a little longer once back in gasoline mode. It's kind of the reason I wasn't happy with it at first. It's really only good for moving the car around in a driveway without the engine coming on which is nice because a Prius engine comes on at high idle to warm up the catalitic converter and stays on a minute or two. But since I live on a hill, I have a unique situation where I can coast down the hill in EV mode and start the gasser in town before I get on the freeway. The car still wants to warm up the catalitic converter and seems to continue driving in EV mode with the engine running at high idle. So I have to switch to gas mode early before the battery gets low.

What I would like to do is parallel a lipo pack to the Pruis traction battery with a contactor between the two and close the contactor once under way. Later I would charge the lipo pack back up with a charger at home. Even better would be to buy a plug in conversion kit and up grade the car to a plug in Prius.

 

[dnmun]

i was expecting there would be a lot more plug in conversions done than has occurred.

saw a tesla on my street, woot. passed another in lake oswego, i was waving the peace sign from my ZENN, what a contrast, they had no clue about the V. i have only seen about 3-4 plug in hybrids, all prius, on the freeway or street.

 

[edcastrovalley]

i was expecting there would be a lot more plug in conversions done than has occurred.

saw a tesla on my street, woot. passed another in lake oswego, i was waving the peace sign from my ZENN, what a contrast, they had no clue about the V. i have only seen about 3-4 plug in hybrids, all prius, on the freeway or street.

You're right. I should have converted mine long ago. Now that I'm getting a little sample of it makes me want to do mine as soon as I can.

 

[Samd]

Seems to be a few companies offering battery upgrades to exploit this. Electric EV around town, switches to petrol on the freeway.

Perfect.

I can buy a Prius for $8k in australia, and spend $5k on batteries, and get a good EV that can run petrol for highways. Who'd buy a iMiev?

http://www.electric-vehiclenews.com/2009/08/australian-company-launches-prius-phev.html

 

[dnmun]

i would. i actually like the mitsubishi a lot except there are very few around. i am hoping they will be available in the secondary market in a few years for a lot less if the EV prestige thing wears off here.

i would not wanna have a big car for an EV, which a Leaf feels like to me, so the iMiEV is kinda the best solution imo. except you guys have to pay a ton of money for them down there.

 

[edcastrovalley]

Seems to be a few companies offering battery upgrades to exploit this. Electric EV around town, switches to petrol on the freeway.

Perfect.

I can buy a Prius for $8k in australia, and spend $5k on batteries, and get a good EV that can run petrol for highways. Who'd buy a iMiev?

http://www.electric-vehiclenews.com/2009/08/australian-company-launches-prius-phev.html

That's a great price $995 for a 2 kwh enginer system. Around here they're more like $4,000 I believe. Also, that's a good plan for getting an ev. I know new cars cost a lot down there.

 

[jkbrigman]

Here's the kit I plan to install in my 2011 Prius 2 Gen3:
http://www.pluginsupply.com/

They have a DIY option where you can start low and add packs over time as budget permits. If you already have some cells you want to use, you can buy their parts and integrate your own cells and BMS. But they've got good quality cells at a reasonable price with a nice BMS, so I'm planning to go with their parts all the way so as not to have any warranty troubles.

I've already asked the dealer about their kits. They knew who they are and didn't have much to say, but they don't "hate" them.

 

[edcastrovalley]

Here's the kit I plan to install in my 2011 Prius 2 Gen3:
http://www.pluginsupply.com/

They have a DIY option where you can start low and add packs over time as budget permits. If you already have some cells you want to use, you can buy their parts and integrate your own cells and BMS. But they've got good quality cells at a reasonable price with a nice BMS, so I'm planning to go with their parts all the way so as not to have any warranty troubles.

I've already asked the dealer about their kits. They knew who they are and didn't have much to say, but they don't "hate" them.

Yes, I like the Plug in Supply system too. Plus the fact they're local to me makes it even easier. I just have finish work on my house first but, do let us know how it goes.

 

[jkbrigman]

Ed - thanks for your comments. Wanted to ask you a little bit more about the item you installed on your 2007 Prius: it appears to me, what you installed does the same thing as the "EV" button on my 2011 Prius, right?

I can go up to 2 miles at less than 30 mph using the "EV" button on the console of my Prius. I live down a 1/3rd mile long dirt road, where I'm going 10 mph just to keep the car from being torn up by the potholes. This tiny bit of pure EV range can make a tremendous difference in overall gas mileage for the tank, since at very slow speeds, the electric motor does a GREAT job and the car engine does a LOUSY job.

There are some times when I've gone out to get gas very late at night - when there's no other traffic I have to worry about - and I go all-EV all the way home. It's about 1.3 miles the entire way and I trundle along at about 28 mph. When I get home, the "consumption" reads 99.99 MPG and I've not touched the fuel I added to the car. That allows me to put every drop of fuel I bought toward the commute and not spend it just getting home from the gas station. On weeks when I can do this, plus rolling down the dirt road in EV mode, I easily make 56mpg that week on the readout.

Only disadvantage of the EV button is that sometimes the computer will override and run the engine. If it needs vacuum or temp falls too low, the computer will drop the car out of EV mode and put it into ECO mode. Same is true if I go over 30 mph.

The important thing I realized (I think it's exactly what you started the thread for) is that having a car with ANY EV capability at all, no matter how small, gives you opportunity to take advantage of what little electric power you do have to save a significant amount of gas. Until I started trying out the EV capability of the Prius, I thought adding a 2KW pack would be futile - now I see (especially if the PIE system allows a "blended" mode at high speed) that ANY amount of added electric power is going to have a big benefit!

 

[MitchJi]

Hi,

They have a DIY option where you can start low and add packs over time as budget permits. If you already have some cells you want to use, you can buy their parts and integrate your own cells and BMS. But they've got good quality cells at a reasonable price with a nice BMS, so I'm planning to go with their parts all the way so as not to have any warranty troubles.

You can get better cells for much less by using Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf packs.
Chevy Volt:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=62445&hilit=+Chevy+Volt
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=60460&hilit=+Chevy+Volt#p911769

Nissan Leaf modules (2s2p -7.2v nominal, 60 Ah) available for about $140 shipped. Check the links in my signature for more information.

 

[edcastrovalley]

Ed - thanks for your comments. Wanted to ask you a little bit more about the item you installed on your 2007 Prius: it appears to me, what you installed does the same thing as the "EV" button on my 2011 Prius, right?

Yes, that's what I installed. I wish I had the dash mounted variety. When I hit the engine start button I have only have about 2 seconds to engage the ev button and sometimes my cruize control stalk is pointing in at different direction when my steering wheel isn't parked with the wheels straight ahead. Then the engine will start anyway. Luckly this doesn't happen too much.

I can go up to 2 miles at less than 30 mph using the "EV" button on the console of my Prius. I live down a 1/3rd mile long dirt road, where I'm going 10 mph just to keep the car from being torn up by the potholes. This tiny bit of pure EV range can make a tremendous difference in overall gas mileage for the tank, since at very slow speeds, the electric motor does a GREAT job and the car engine does a LOUSY job.

There are some times when I've gone out to get gas very late at night - when there's no other traffic I have to worry about - and I go all-EV all the way home. It's about 1.3 miles the entire way and I trundle along at about 28 mph. When I get home, the "consumption" reads 99.99 MPG and I've not touched the fuel I added to the car. That allows me to put every drop of fuel I bought toward the commute and not spend it just getting home from the gas station. On weeks when I can do this, plus rolling down the dirt road in EV mode, I easily make 56mpg that week on the readout.

That's pretty much what I see except more like 51 to 52 mph because of being one generation older. I'm still happy because it beats the 46 mpg I always got before. It funny because I feel a little less familiar with my gas station. This must be adding an extra day or two between fill ups.

Only disadvantage of the EV button is that sometimes the computer will override and run the engine. If it needs vacuum or temp falls too low, the computer will drop the car out of EV mode and put it into ECO mode. Same is true if I go over 30 mph.

Yes, mine does that too. Maybe once out of 8 or 9 starts. For some reason mine kicks out of ev mode at 34 mph.

The important thing I realized (I think it's exactly what you started the thread for) is that having a car with ANY EV capability at all, no matter how small, gives you opportunity to take advantage of what little electric power you do have to save a significant amount of gas. Until I started trying out the EV capability of the Prius, I thought adding a 2KW pack would be futile - now I see (especially if the PIE system allows a "blended" mode at high speed) that ANY amount of added electric power is going to have a big benefit!

I know! I have begun to realize this too. I keep thinking "if the battery was a little larger"...

 

[edcastrovalley]

Hi,
You can get better cells for much less by using Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf packs.
Chevy Volt:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=62445&hilit=+Chevy+Volt
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=60460&hilit=+Chevy+Volt#p911769

Nissan Leaf modules (2s2p -7.2v nominal, 60 Ah) available for about $140 shipped. Check the links in my signature for more information.

That's a heck of an idea. I'll look into this when I start this project. Thanks

 

[Samd]

Anyone know if there is a hack to make 34 mph cutoff just a bit higher in a gen2? Sorry if its off thread...
Local speed limit is 60kph in town, a few mph more.

I guess I could use slightly larger wheels and take the speed inaccuracy...

 

[jkbrigman]

Anyone know if there is a hack to make 34 mph cutoff just a bit higher in a gen2? Sorry if its off thread...
Local speed limit is 60kph in town, a few mph more.

I guess I could use slightly larger wheels and take the speed inaccuracy...

Hi Samd (and to answer edcastrovalley from question above);

When I bought my Gen3 prius, it could go as fast as 35mph in pure EV mode before the engine kicked on. At the last firmware update (which was part of a recall of the car, BTW), the max EV speed dropped to 29mph.

If I press the accelerator too hard on startup in EV mode, the car will drop out of EV mode no matter what speed it's running, and tell me something like "too much power demand". So if I ever do EV mode, it has to be in a parking lot, on a very slow road or with no traffic in sight behind me.

 

[edcastrovalley]

Anyone know if there is a hack to make 34 mph cutoff just a bit higher in a gen2? Sorry if its off thread...
Local speed limit is 60kph in town, a few mph more.

I guess I could use slightly larger wheels and take the speed inaccuracy...

If someone had a way to hack into the software, that would be the way. Short of that you could buy one of the controller assemblies (probably the front controller assembly) from Plug In Supply but that's $350. With that you can drive up to 52 mph in ev mode. Expensive way to do it but the nice thing is you're one step closer to building a plug in Prius.

Keep in mind that the relatively small battery in the Prius would go quick at those speeds. The one place I could use the higher speed is when going downhill on a fast road like when I leave my house in the morning. That's when I sometimes get the dreaded 3 beeps (at 34 mph) alerting me that the gas engine is starting.

 

[jkbrigman]

Anyone know if there is a hack to make 34 mph cutoff just a bit higher in a gen2? Sorry if its off thread...
Local speed limit is 60kph in town, a few mph more.

I guess I could use slightly larger wheels and take the speed inaccuracy...

If someone had a way to hack into the software, that would be the way. Short of that you could buy one of the controller assemblies (probably the front controller assembly) from Plug In Supply but that's $350. With that you can drive up to 52 mph in ev mode. Expensive way to do it but the nice thing is you're one step closer to building a plug in Prius.

Keep in mind that the relatively small battery in the Prius would go quick at those speeds. The one place I could use the higher speed is when going downhill on a fast road like when I leave my house in the morning. That's when I sometimes get the dreaded 3 beeps (at 34 mph) alerting me that the gas engine is starting.

Change the wheel diameter and you screw up everything - nothing will work right, none of the numbers will be correct. You won't even be able to understand what kind of gain, if any, you got.

I used to ridicule the 2kw Plug-In-Supply battery and configuration but after having a Prius with an EV button, I can tell that even 2kw is better than nothing, by far. And that's really not much battery - I have more than half that on my ebike right now.

 

[Samd]

It's not unprecedented (well during my childhood) to increase the wheel size ten percent, it makes speed adjustment pretty easy.

I know it's not elegant, but it's simple. 34mph is 55kph.
My drive to work is 60 kph most areas. Ten percent would get me close.

 

[jkbrigman]

It's not unprecedented (well during my childhood) to increase the wheel size ten percent, it makes speed adjustment pretty easy.

I know it's not elegant, but it's simple. 34mph is 55kph.
My drive to work is 60 kph most areas. Ten percent would get me close.

Have you priced wheels at a junkyard these days? I paid $50 for the last one I had to buy.

Two ways this would hurt:
1) There are several screens of informatics information. "Wh/mi" in the last 30 and last 5 minutes. Not to mention three different odometers, Trip A, Trip B and ODO. Then there's the maintenance minder, which is supposed to trigger every X miles (5000 or 7500, depending).

2) Computer control of the transmission, and when the motor turns on and off would be skewed by a couple MPH.

If you own a Prius, get some Bridgestone Ecopia tires in the OEM size (Costco has 'em in stock, Sam's Club won't), very slightly overinflate (1 or 2 psi), and enjoy the extra 2-2.5mpg AND having your Prius work correctly. (ref: Priuschat forums and personal experience) I went back with new versions of the OEM tire that came on the car and saw 1 mpg improvement: the tires the car ships with are softer than the aftermarket tire.

Even the crappy F-150 I bought from my brother "knew" tire size and had to be reprogrammed for it. He put huge tires on the truck and totally screwed up the mileage, shift points and computer control of the engine, because then it became impossible for the computer to know mileage and speed correctly.

After I swapped out for a more-accurate tire size and had the dealership put the correct value in the computer, shifting improved, engine performance improved and mileage improved 2 mpg over the measly 11 mpg I was getting. After a year's worth of efficiency improvements, I'm getting 17.8mpg out of that truck reliably. I'm hoping for 20mpg after new O2 sensors, adding a "Gotts Intake" and modifying the engine computer eeprom profile for 87 octane.

BTW: nice videos on YouTube, good work....

JKB

 

[marcexec]

Anyone know if there is a hack to make 34 mph cutoff just a bit higher in a gen2? Sorry if its off thread...
Local speed limit is 60kph in town, a few mph more.

I guess I could use slightly larger wheels and take the speed inaccuracy...

If someone had a way to hack into the software, that would be the way. Short of that you could buy one of the controller assemblies (probably the front controller assembly) from Plug In Supply but that's $350. With that you can drive up to 52 mph in ev mode. Expensive way to do it but the nice thing is you're one step closer to building a plug in Prius.

Keep in mind that the relatively small battery in the Prius would go quick at those speeds. The one place I could use the higher speed is when going downhill on a fast road like when I leave my house in the morning. That's when I sometimes get the dreaded 3 beeps (at 34 mph) alerting me that the gas engine is starting.

Change the wheel diameter and you screw up everything - nothing will work right, none of the numbers will be correct. You won't even be able to understand what kind of gain, if any, you got.

I used to ridicule the 2kw Plug-In-Supply battery and configuration but after having a Prius with an EV button, I can tell that even 2kw is better than nothing, by far. And that's really not much battery - I have more than half that on my ebike right now.

The EV only power is limited by the DC/DC boost converter (20kW), unless you have a NHW10/NHW10 Prius.
Maybe they dropped the setting a bit to prevent overheating?
BTW guys please use the proper units, Enginer sells the kits by capacity, measured in kWh.