How to Eco-Pimp Your Prius With a Plug
For those of you who already own your own hybrid, and weren’t tempted by these 6 electric cars you can buy right now, we’ve gotta tip for you. Give your old hybrid a plug. While getting 50 miles per gallon in your Toyota Prius surely feels good, with gas prices rapidly approaching $4 a gallon how does 100 mpg sound? You can get that with a not-so-simple conversion into a plug-in hybrid. Below is a list of companies who will pimp your Prius with a plug for better mileage and less carbon emissions.
| Company/Location | Cost | Battery-Type | Applicable Car Models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poulsen Hybrid Shelton, Conn. | $3300 for purchase and $600 for installation | 6 pc. 12V 120 Amp hours lead/acid deep cycle, or 4 KWh Lithium-ion battery pack (Expected available from several sources by mid 2008) | Almost any gas car |
| Hymotion San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, Boston and Washing D.C. | $9995 – includes 3 year standard warranty and installation | A123 Nanophosphate Li-Ion battery | Toyota Prius ‘04-’08 |
| Hybrid Plus Boulder, Colo. | $21,600 – $36,150 for conversion (kit and installation, car not included) | 26650-size Li-Ion cells | Toyota Prius ‘04-’08, Ford Escape Hybrid, Mercury Marines 05-’07, Mazda ‘08 |
| EDrive/EnergyCS Monrovia, Calif. | $10,000-$12,000 | lithium-ion battery | Toyota Prius ‘04-’08 |
| OEMtek Milpitas, Calif. | $12,500 | Lithium Phosphate 18650 Cells | Toyota Prius ‘04-’08, Ford Escape Hybrid |
| Plug-In Conversions Power, Calif. | $9,750, $14,900, or $19,750 (dependent on battery pack size) | Nilar NiMH batteries | Toyota Prius ‘04-’08 |
| Plug-In Supply Petaluma, Calif. | $6,095 plus shipping, installation $1,200-$3,000 | Lead Acid, LiPeFO4 when available | Toyota Prius ‘04-’08 |
But we’ve got to warn you. Even with skyrocketing gas prices, investing in a PHEV conversion isn’t likely to save you much money. If we make the math super simple and say a kit and installation costs $10,000 and it allows you to make your 50 mile, round trip daily commute without any gas (which would normally take 1 gallon of $4 gas in your Prius) it would still take you about 10 years to get your money back.
CalCars, a non-profit startup formed by entrepreneurs, engineers, environmentalists and consumers, has lots more information on how you convert your car and how plug-in hybrids work. Also, if you do have a plug-in hybrid make sure to add it to their Google map which tracks PHEVs all over the U.S. and Europe.
Meanwhile, if you don’t have a Prius and $10,000 to shell out but do have a camera and 90 second to say why you want a plug-in, make a video and send it to Google.
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What I would do for ~$10K if I was still working and not retired – is convert my old pickup to diesel.
There are much smaller turbo-diesels available as a crate engine for ~5K + install that would decrease my fuel consumption a minimum of 50%. Same torque, same performance levels.
But, I drive so little now that I’m retired it doesn’t make economic sense. If I was still rolling around northern NM for the subcontractor I last worked for – the payback would be 8 years tops.
I only want to plug the hybrid to charge its current batteries ! That way I have a full charge on the batteries next day.
A complete 2KW Li-ion conversion kit is available under $2000
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200344551230
Check it out!
I’m with Tuto, I only want the capability to 110V charge my stock battery for the next day’s drive. I use up about 3 to 4 power bars of the battery on the final 3 miles on the way home. I average city/fwy of 49 mpg. If I can top off my battery pack I should be able to get low to mid 50s easily.