Prius has arrived

[zpiloto]

Prius is supposed to arrive this week. Going to pick it up in Longview this weekend. That will give me a 300 mile drive home to get aquainted with it.

[SVOboy]

Dang meng, you're going to be killing us all. 60% over one some 99 auto! You're nuts!

[MetroMPG]

Nice. You're going to have some fun!

[zpiloto]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Dang meng, you're going to be killing us all. 60% over one some 99 auto! You're nuts!

I don't think so my wife will be driving it mostly but it will be fun to see what I can get out of it. I'll be lucky if I can get a tank or two like Metro. But one way or the other for now I'll be in the top ten since there are only 2 hybrids.

[JanGeo]

Had along discussion with Dan at eCycle about a buck-boost controller to connect a low voltage high amp hour battery pack to a Prius to add more capacity to the battery - seems when you start adding power to the battery the programming starts getting confused about the battery charge level so there was supposed to be a bunch of additional things it needed to do to "fool" the on board computer into seeing a properly functioning battery. Turned out to be a big mess of things that in the end would void the warrentee and would not be something that the typical car owner would be able to do to their car without getting electrocuted.

[rh77]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

Had along discussion with Dan at eCycle about a buck-boost controller to connect a low voltage high amp hour battery pack to a Prius to add more capacity to the battery - seems when you start adding power to the battery the programming starts getting confused about the battery charge level so there was supposed to be a bunch of additional things it needed to do to "fool" the on board computer into seeing a properly functioning battery. Turned out to be a big mess of things that in the end would void the warrentee and would not be something that the typical car owner would be able to do to their car without getting electrocuted.

That stinks -- I'm afraid the mentality that marketers wanted to ingrain into the buying public is that Hybrids don't have to be plugged-in (remember the HCH-I commercials with the kid at the Science Fair and he had to explain that it didn't need to be plugged-in). BUT, in recent months, the average person is aware of "hackers" being able to plug in overnight, and get awesome FE. I know it's complicated technology, but Toyota should make the option available and highly educate the public like Honda did. They've been ahead of the game for years, and they should stay that way.

But, most of all, congrats zpiloto! Even if it's the wife's primary driver, you can get your hands on it from time to time

RH77

[krousdb]

You're gonna love it if you can get it away from your wife. As for the additional battery capacity, been there, done that. Absolutely correct that the battery ecu will not let you benefit from additional capacity. I read that the next gen will have the plug in option, but that may have just been speculation. I'm waiting to see what Toyota and Honda come up with over the next few years, saving my money for that time. If any of those future offerings can woooop the VX, I will buy it lickety split.

[zpiloto]

Yea I would loved to drive it all the time and see what I'm capable of with it. The whole hybrid thing will be interesting. I'll see how long the learning cure will be.

[schmeep]

yeah, the next generation prius is supposed to have a much improved battery life that will allow the electric motor to do more of the driving than it does now, i've heard over 100 mpg won't be out of reach.

apparently to fully charge the battery (from empty) by plugging it in won't cost much more than $1 in electricity. not too shabby.

[JanGeo]

Couple of problems with NiMh battery in the Prius - First NiMh have poor charging efficiency meaning you put a lot more energy into them than you get out of them if you fully charge them. The Prius keeps the battery at about half charge avoiding a lot of heat at full charge also. Second problem is managing 245 volt battery pack went each cell is 1.4 volts = about 175 cells in series. Each cell has its own little leakage rate and can get out of balance or over charge sooner than the one next to it. Third - running it full cycle in pure electric driving mode will shorten the battery life. Forth the oil companies have the patent on NiMh powered vehicles and do not allow large capacity batteries to be used with more than about 10ah - not that there is a voltage limit however.

It would be interesting if you could power up the motor winding in the electric motor with grid power and have it charge the battery that way. Maybe just feed it with raw AC power with the windings disconnected and let the circuitry regen it right into the battery like you were riding the brakes down a long hill. Anyone try running down a long hill and see how much charge they can put into the battery??