Switch over Chevy Volt, there’s an alternate, now! Take into consideration enhancing the gasoline mileage of the already best at school Toyota Prius an additional 25% on in-town journeys. I discovered that’s attainable with the arrange of the 4KW Enginer plug in enhance. This boosts the battery functionality 4 fold from the underside 1.3 KWH system throughout the base Prius. For the ultimate 18,000 miles now we have now averaged 43 mpg with our 2005 Prius in precise world driving throughout the hills of NE Tennessee. With the Enginer package deal, now we have now seen our mileage bounce to 55 mpg over the previous 2100 miles. A buddy throughout the Knoxville EV membership claims 120 MPG nonetheless admits he drives VERY slowly. The system, put in on Feb fifth, has given us our 5 best tanks thus far. Our outcomes are confirmed below.
Having reworked my truck to a plug-in hybrid and setting up an all-electric Jeep with Leslie Grossman of the Knoxville Electrical Automobile affiliation, I anticipated to hunt out challenges all through the arrange. To my shock, the package deal received right here with all important gadgets and components and after about 12 hours of labor the system was up and dealing. If I understood how the extreme voltage relay labored on the Prius, I might have saved about 5 hours as I panicked when the automotive would not start. A revised arrange information comprises these additional particulars.
The image below reveals the package deal with the charger, DC to DC converter, BMS, and batteries collectively in a neat discipline that matches beneath the current trunk floor of the Prius.
The package deal retains the inside battery of the Prius (and completely different hybrids) completely charged for about 20-50 miles, relying upon driving conditions. Because of the inside battery maintains the subsequent state of price, the automotive slips into EV mode further sometimes allowing the engine to stay off plenty of the time. Since we not usually run in pure EV mode with the entire hills, we drive about 50 miles sooner than the Enginer package deal is out of power. After plugging in for a various hours the system is as quickly as as soon as extra in a position to go.
The package deal is simply not for the faint of coronary coronary heart, as a result of the dash should be pulled apart to place in a change on one side and to make 3 connections on the other side. Then, the appropriate side channels and rear side panels are eradicated to run the wires to the dash change, tie into automobile power and feed the BMS. Lastly one ought to drill six holes via the trunk floor and physique to secure the sphere.
The downsides to the package deal are that the spare tire is buried beneath the system, so for most people it is not accessible. We solved this topic by sticking a can of Restore-a-Flat® throughout the automotive, similar to what Tesla does. One different draw again is that you just lose the helpful hidden storage beneath the bottom. Nonetheless the Prius nonetheless has about 20 cubic toes of storage: nearly double what’s accessible throughout the Volt. When completely put within the system is invisible. Our “trunk” looks as if that of another Prius. The one obvious variations are the plug mounted on the rear bumper for charging and the change on the dash to indicate the system off with the standing LEDs
After wrestling months getting laborious to hunt out components and prepared for different components on my completely different conversions, it was gratifying to have the power to finish a enterprise in a weekend and experience the outcomes. Whereas one does not obtain a full EV “grin” from such a conversion it does take us one other step in the direction of lowering our need for imported oil. At a price of $2995, the Enginer system is further moderately priced than completely different conversion decisions s and a good way for people on the fence to attain experience and a better notion of what is involved in a full conversion. For further particulars and completely different sustainability initiatives please see Hrivnak Family Web Pages or Enginer for further package deal particulars.