[AlexanderB]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Our public transportation system is quite extensive and intensive (we have the highest per mile rail use in the world).

And expensive, haha. (per km, I pay slightly less for my car. And I can totally bring extra passengers for the same price.
And I get there in half the time in my car (door-to-door).
And I can carry large/heavy luggage, I don't feel like carrying several toolboxes and boxes of material in public transport, thats why I have a car in the first place. (to take those items to my work locations.)
And I can travel between midnight and 6 am.
And in my car I don't have to share my legroom with others.
Etc.. (Yeah, I really don't like public transport anymore..)

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Utrecht, the city that wants to ban old diesel cars, is the biggest rail hub.

True, but still, I'd rather not carry lots of cargo on foot/public transport.

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Not having a car makes more sense over here.
Depending on your situation of course.

Certainly makes more sense to not have a car compared to the USA, but theres still plenty of people with a car. And I wouldn't go back to the public sardine tins for the world.

Originally Posted by RedDevil

I too doubt using a Prius as an EV would cause issues. Especially if you don't overdo it and keep the speed low in EV mode. It would void whatever warranty is on the car though.

Well, warranty is not the issue on a 10-14 year old car, since its already long expired.
The real question is, is the car practical enough? Worth the possible extra expenses? Reliable enough? And I'm getting a "no"s and "maybe"s on those questions so far, with more support towards electrifying a different car.

Originally Posted by RedDevil

For practicality the second gen Prius is more suitable as the rear seats fold down and the boot is not small even with the seats upright. It is more economical and a better car, though less reliable than the 3rd gen.
Planetaire did a succesful EV conversion on the 2nd gen Prius.

Drivetrain between Gen 1 and Gen 2 is the same though, just different body style (the gen 2 is is slightly better for aero).
Planeraire is the one who inspired me in the EV direction.

Originally Posted by RedDevil

Budget may be a problem, prices start at €5.5 K for a 10 year old high miler.

Indeed, and thats pretty much out of my reach financially. I'm willing to spend about 2k~2.5k on the car, then an additional 2.5k to 5k for batteries.
Currently working on filling a jar with money, and obtaining cheap used laptop batteries to assemble into a pack.

Originally Posted by RedDevil

If budget allows I can recommend the 2nd gen Insight; comparable to the 2nd gen Prius in practicality and FE but cheaper to own.
The "Consumentenbond" tested it as the most reliable smaller midsize car on sale.
It is newer; prices start at €6.5 K for a 5 year old high miler.

Still well out of my price range though. But sounds good.

Originally Posted by RedDevil

It is less suitable for a EV conversion then the Prius as it has the motor bolted to the crankshaft so the engine always turns over adding some drag in EV ('D'FCO) mode.

I always wondered though, what would happen if I buy 2-3-4 extra of those IMA motors, stack them all together instead of the engine, and built a bracket to the stock motor mount, custom controller, an a pile of batteries... Bit pricy though, those aren't cheap motors..

Originally Posted by RedDevil

But a constant surge of EV support will reduce the fuel usage greatly anyhow.

Thats always nice, and using a plugin pack like that was 1 of my 3 hybrid based options. (stock hybrid, modified with a "small" pack to have constant assist and get very low fuel consumption, or a bigger battery and rip out the engine to make it tax-exempt, saving something like €624/year in tax alone, which is nice to offset the battery writeoff cost.)

Originally Posted by RedDevil

PM me if you like to test a parallel battery pack out on my Insight

I might, I might. First I gotta build the pack though..