Turbocharged Hybrids

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by ismailkho

To summarize, there are several reasons why there are no turbocharged hybrids on the market. The Atkinson cycle, which is commonly used in hybrid vehicles, is designed to optimize fuel efficiency rather than power. Adding a turbocharger to a hybrid powertrain would introduce additional complexity and cost, and may be difficult to integrate with the hybrid control systems in a way that maintains good fuel efficiency and performance. While it is possible to turbocharge a hybrid vehicle aftermarket, it may not result in better efficiency compared to a non-hybrid vehicle with equivalent power. The best way to increase power and maintain good fuel efficiency in a hybrid vehicle is to use a larger, more powerful hybrid powertrain from the factory.

I do believe the original question was about adding an aftermarket turbo to a Prius. Yes, it can be done. You can get a small increase in power. Is it worth all the effort for the bragging rights? Or would it be better to replace the battery with some LTO cells with perhaps a better battery cooling system or super capacitors so you can get full amperage all the time?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

The more intermittent operation of the ICE in a Prius, or any other hybrid, would also not be so favorable to turbocharging.

[Appletank]

Ironically the one successful turbocharged Prius didn't even get more power, it did however solve the turtle mode from ever appearing since the engine now produces enough excess power to keep the batteries charged. The power that goes to the wheels is tightly controlled by the ECU and the motors, and without completely replacing the code and motors, you can't really go any faster.

Modern prius engines have enough power to keep the batteries topped off 99% of the time so the turbo isn't really needed for this usecase anymore.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Appletank

the turbo isn't really needed for this usecase anymore

Not even somewhere with an extremely high altitude I guess...

[Appletank]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Not even somewhere with an extremely high altitude I guess...

That's the 1% of the time a turbo would be useful, perhaps, but you'd have to carry around dead weight the other 99% of the time.

Somewhat impractical, but being a hybrid does mean you could park at the side of the road half way up the mountain to charge up the battery before going up some more, a non-hybrid wouldn't be able to do that.

On the flats, yeah that's just gonna be a HP hit, though it'd probably won't be too noticeable unless you need 80% power a lot.

[Isaac Zachary]

My thoughts is that if I ever get the 2006 Prius going (I am working on it, really) a bigger battery would be beneficial. Not only would it help with the high altitude here (7,000ft to 13,000ft) but would also help regen and capture more energy on the way back down.

[Appletank]

There have been EV mode retrofit Prius projects before, so yeah a bigger battery should be doable. It really does fill up fast on down hills.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by Appletank

There have been EV mode retrofit Prius projects before, so yeah a bigger battery should be doable. It really does fill up fast on down hills.

Thanks! One mod I'm looking at is a NiMH to LFP conversion, which should triple the capacity with half the weight (or so says the salesman).

The Avalon hybrid fills up way fast. On one particular downhill segment it will fill fully charged in what seems to be a 10th of the whole downhill slope.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Thanks! One mod I'm looking at is a NiMH to LFP conversion, which should triple the capacity with half the weight (or so says the salesman).

The Avalon hybrid fills up way fast. On one particular downhill segment it will fill fully charged in what seems to be a 10th of the whole downhill slope.

I've gone from empty to fully charged on several occasions in the Prius plug-in, which has just over 3 kWh of usable charge. Coming down from Creator Lake, and coming down from Yosemite. I don't think I can get a full charge coming down from Mt. Hood, which has at least 10 miles of continuous costing/regen.

The annoying thing about the Prius is the engine kicks on for some reason when regen has been going for a long time, or when nearing full charge.

Nice to recover that energy, but the reality is a full charge is like getting an extra 1/5th of a gallon of gasoline.

[Appletank]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

The annoying thing about the Prius is the engine kicks on for some reason when regen has been going for a long time, or when nearing full charge.

I'm pretty sure the car is doing that to prevent the battery from maxing out, via wasting energy by spinning the engine with electricity and warming air a bit. You shouldn't be using any fuel in those cases.