Gizmodo: phev

Hymotion Prius Plug-in Conversion Kit Gives 100+ MPG For Short Distances

Jason Chen — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Like the previously released EDrive kit, this Hymotion Prius conversion package lets you convert your stock Prius into one that can be plugged in for charging. After a 4.5-hour charge time, your Prius will be able to use more battery power over about 30-40 miles in order achieve that mileage.

The kit isn't cheap—it's $9995 with three-year warranty and installation—but it is slightly cheaper than the 2006 $10-$12k price of the EDrive (we haven't been able to find a more current price). Most of us probably wouldn't pay an extra $10k on top of the $20k or so you paid for a Prius in the first place, so you might want to sit tight for factory Plugin EVs in the next few years unless you really, really need to smell your own farts now. [Hymotion]

100 California Households Get to Test Drive Plug-In Priuses

Matt Buchanan — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:18 EDT

While they're not getting behind the wheel of the 2009 plug-in Toyota Prius Popular Mechanics took for a spin, 100 households in Northern California are going to put rubber to asphalt next year in the first large-scale consumer test of plug-in hybrids in the country. The 100 green guinea pigs will be picked from the 4 million members of AAA of Northern California next spring and will rotate between a fleet of 10 converted Priuses loaned out for two-month intervals.

The $15,000 conversion packs in batteries twice as powerful as the stock ones, as well as the plug-in mechanism, allowing the car to roll along at 100 mpg. The 2009 prototype is using a similar setup while Toyota works out the kinks with Li-ion batteries, and the garage doing the conversion has been performing the voodoo for several years, so potential green road warriors needn't worry about horrible, battery-related deaths due to wishy-washy engineering. [SF Gate]

2009 Toyota Prius Prototype Plugs In, But NiMh Batteries Stick Around

Matt Buchanan — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:40:04 EDT

Popular Mechanics took a prototype plug-in 2009 Prius for a short test drive, which might be the first PHEV to market. The Prius they ran around still uses the Prius's current nickel-metal hydride battery packs—a pair, actually, with the charging system jimmied in between them—though Toyota hopes to switch to lithium ion, which are more efficient and smaller (thankfully, since the jiggered NiMh packs leave only two medium suitcases worth of trunk space).

Jibing with a Boston Globe report that Toyota's having problems getting the Li-ion batteries ready, the car might launch as regular hybrid at first, making the jump to plug-in action after the Li-ion tech is good to go. The other possibility is that'll be a plug-in from the start, but with the NiMh pack initially before moving to Li-ion when it's ready. Still, the new, more aggressive EV mode which allows acceleration up to 50mph before jumping to gas is reason enough to want one. [Popular Mechanics]