Plug in Prius?

 

How difficult is it to perform one of those plug in conversions I've heard
about?  It certainly seems like a good idea.  Thanks in advance.
David

 



The folks doing it have gotten a little 'cagey' about the technology.
However, my understanding is the major problem is dealing with the
interface between the hybrid vehicle ECU and battery ECU.

If you tie the extra power source to the bus between the existing
battery and the hybrid vehicle, the two controllers notice there is a
difference between the 'used' current versus the 'battery' current. This
is treated as an error and raises an error code.

If you tie the power source behind the battery ECU current sensor, the
existing software reports "State of Charge" to indicate whether or not
there is available battery power, not the actual battery bus value. The
problem is the battery ECU doesn't realize it has a much larger capacity
that has been recently added.

From what I can tell, they have reverse engineered the hybrid ECU and
battery ECU interface to spoof the values needed to use the additional
battery capacity. But I understand for a reasonable fee, they will do it
for you.

Bob Wilson