hbpowerwall said:
http://www.electric-vehiclenews.com/2009/08/australian-company-launches-prius-phev.html
Post so I can go back to it later, thought it was a great idea tho..might be a cheaper way of getting into ev that's still practical
Im familiar with prius cars since I have had two. I also have a Toyota Avalon hybrid.
they are using a 48 volt pack with a DC to DC buck converter to bring the voltage up to the 215 pack voltage for the NImh packs.
It looks promising to do it this way. The DC to DC buck converter is a lot easier to findthan a 215 volt battery charger would be.
A kick ass idea would be to turn the car into a backup generator. I have seen a lot of them that will convert from 12 to 220 volts or 110 volts, but
the 12 volt charging system in these cars is much more limited than the 215 volt charging system.
So getting an inverter that could work off the same 215 volt charging system would be something.
If you had that, then it might be simpler just to come up with a 215 volt charger. Maybe dig into the prius plug in hybrid hardware. should be cheap by now.
In fact, it may be much cheaper and easier to just get rid of the whole car and buy a plug in hybrid by default.
Unless of course you already have the prius on hand like I do.