Enginer,Plug In Supply, or DIY PHEV

[TexasCotton]

I am interested in doing a plug in hybrid aka PHEV.
I have seen where Prius Gen 2 owners have done one of the following.

Enginer plug in kit 4kw rough cost with shipping $3750.You get charger,RFE battery packs, bms, converter

Plug In Supply rough cost 4kw $6000 installed unit

DIY
No cost details currently available
Would be based on simliar PIS/eaaphev/mods.Would require bms from hybrid interface, battery pack 40ah LifePo4 tall 6kw, and contactors.
40ah LifePo4 $50 per cell plus ship
BMS from hybrid interface $400

[Daox]

It all depends on how much you want to get your hands into it. I have one of the early enginer kits. I've been tinkering with it from day one to get it working right and working better. I hear the new kits are much better, but component quality is still an issue I'm sure as all the components are from China. Install is pretty easy. Mileage benefit varies widely. My best tank with the kit was 80 mpg (65 mpge) last summer. I normally average 55 mpg in the summer without the kit.

I only breifly got to ride around in Ben Nelson's new/used Prius with a hymotion kit. It seems much more capable of EV mode and assist power than my enginer kit does.

If you're looking for payback on any of these kits, I doubt you'll ever see it. It is a blast tootin around in EV mode though.

[Ryland]

The big advantage to having someone else install a kit like this is that it should then have a warranty, so someone else is then tinkering with it to get it to work right and replacing components that fail, at least that has been the case with the Enginer kit that I've seen installed on some friends Prius.

[TexasCotton]

Here is the thing(go to Prius Chat)
Enginer Kit owner's from what I have read have had componet failures either with the dc-dc converter ,bms, or other componets. Enginer has address some of those concerns. These failures have occurred whether diy self installed or "pro" installs.
Some Enginer phev owners have changed over to hybrid interface BMS plus to gain a more reliable,quality, and control with battery pack.
Plus enginer has the drawback of limited amps going into the oem pansonic battery pack versus the other guys which use a contacter with a 200amp transfer.
I am not of the "mindset" looking to recover gasoline cost. I just "like" the "mod" and "like" a challenge.
Plug in Supply is currently selling DIY items now for phev.
For further reference go to prius chat/gen 2/modifications/plug in mod/plan "canview" and bms with lithium. Read the entire thread.also read phev eaa.

[govman6159]

I would not recommend Plug In Supply for a PHEV conversion. I attempted to purchase a 4kw DIY kit and had nothing but problems receiving the components. I know of one person who purchased his kit on 6 Feb and has yet to receive all his components. I purchased mine on 22 Feb and have only received the batteries/cells. Several promises were made to me that the kit or certain components would be shipped "tomorrow" or "next week" or, "in two weeks" but all timelines passed without receiving any components. It has been a terrible experience for me. I hope this post will spare someone from going through the same experience I went through. I have been promised a refund but since I posted about my experience on the web, I'm now being threatened with legal action. I don't believe I will ever get a refund nor do I believe I'll ever receive the kit.

The sad thing is as a consumer, there are really no avenues to address an issue like this. The only thing I can do is kiss my money goodbye and warn others about Plug In Supply and Robb Protheroe (owner).

If you're thinking about doing business with Plug In Supply, my advice to you is "Buyer beware".

[nimblemotors]

The Plug-in mod for a Prius sounds really good, until you find out all the real actual details and limitations and issues with them. I don't think they are worth it after I looked into them as possible a business installing them.
The Enginer keeps the heavy OEM battery, and in fact, overuses it so it won't last as long and gains you very little and adds a lot of complexity (and failures) The others are expensive and then you don't even really have an PHEV, you have a prius hybrid with more battery, not an EV with gas backup, because it NEEDS the gas engine to operate properly no matter what some want you to believe.

[govman6159]

I totally agree nimble. I got sucked into the hype then got screwed. I can't say if they work our not but, I haven't seen any really happy customers either.

[EZP 545]

Having explored and used Early, and now more recent Enginer DC-DC converters on an energy transfer project, of Wood to produce electricity for powering a Prius or other EV vehicles, I have now installed an ENGINER system into my 2004Prius NHW20. (Japanese import to New Zealand)
This is operating better than my extectations, and I can see a number of changes that need to be made, but it seems that EV operation for 90+% and 10% on petrol is feasable. This will requir 2 DC-DC converters.
I purchased the early and one later converters from Enginer directly, and Now this complete used system which is installed from another person.
My 2004 Prius now has a Plug in Auxillary 4Kwh which on a run today returned 3 times the regular distance, for the fuel normally used. There is the electricity to add, but it still approaches halving the running cost. So perhaps my 700km per week @ $70 will be halved, and more importantly fuel that is stretched further.
To summarise it managed 18km driving mostly in EV mode included one steep hill 1.5km long, and 6km of motorway kept at a moderate 70-80kmh ( trying maximize range) . Results were 0.29 L of petrol used, and required 1.9KWH to recharge. Showed 62.4 km/L (170mpg)for this run. This ended with a weak lithium cell dropping to min V of 2.5, and BMS shuttdown. The weak cell was already known before installation, and will be addressed once the reality of effectiv running for my daily use of 60miles( allowing for 3 charges per day) has been established . This was at attemped economy maximisation, and did not account for the possible depletion to 40%soc of the main HV battery. At best there is 500wh that could be having an effect, but probably only 250wh. Longer distances and general commuting will answer this in time, but at present I am very plesed with how it is operating.


On the not so good front, this has caused a warning to do with the High Voltage System to make an alert, as in the attachment. My Japanese reading is still not useful enough, although I now recognize the return to previous page symbols. I am hoping to be able to operate without this alert occurring, but first need to know what it says. Probably has a take me to Toyota Doctor Now statement, as it is seeing the additional power as outside possible normal operation. A battery disconect reset cleared this, and then a second Triangle warning self healed after ignoring it for 30km of Phev driivng.
On a test run I did managed 18km driving mostly in EV mode included one steep hill 1.5km long, and 6km of motorway kept at a moderate 70-80kmh ( trying maximize range) . Results were 0.29 L of petrol used, and required 1.9KWH to recharge. Showed 62.4 km/L for the run.
All early days yet, but quite intriguing. The above promising recordings are from one occasion only, and I am hoping it is repeatable for my general usage of 90-100km per day.

Question : Has anyone knowledge of how to trick the Prius Nhw20 , it does have a factory installed EV mode button ,into running at up to 52mph ( my present limit is 36mph on the speedo, which is actually 33mph). I believe that if sufficient charge , and if its made to think the fuel tank is empty, then this higher speed can be obtained.

Thanks George S

[EZP 545]

Hi all,

Progress on the NHW20, is that it now has 13.5kwh of Lithium Storage, and with 3 converters , 10.5 kw of charge transfer is available.
The aim of this is to reduce the use of the original HV pack , to optimise the EV operation, and not overwork the HV pack.
I have used a Torque scanner program, with a bluetooth OBD 11 adaptor, and can nicely display the HV amps, and evaluate when and how many converters to run, to maximise the effectiveness. The intention is to automate this by observing the current flow in or out of the HV battery, and switching the converters as required.
The present set up, allows for 75km of EV driving, at 70% DoD. This has been an interesting sideline to achieve the main aim, which is to then use the Woodfired 10Kw trailer either towed behind the Prius, or pushing into the firms network, and then extracted for charging at other times.