09-08-2014, 08:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2014, 12:13 AM by WaWa.
Edit Reason: typos and adding things
)
My name is Walter and I am from Brussels, Belgium. I have been dealing with computers since 1979. So you can guess that I am rather 'old' At the time of writing 71... I was given a first opportunity to work for a multinational company. Followed were three more, one at the beginning of the 80’s, with a product that had been heavily computerized, with large wall-filling machines for text and image manipulation. PhotoShop Avant-la-lettre. Then, 300 MB was a lot! A disc drive was as big as a washingmachine! A service engineer was armed with a smoking soldering pistol. Everywhere I was part of senior management, even VP in a multi-million $ company. Had to travel a lot for business, training and lectures. Also, often, I had to reside relatively long time abroad, from Scandinavia to the Middle East and from Russia to Canada and the U.S. I am still surprised about the capabilities of today’s Pc’s. Now finally, I have rest but I keep myself busy with interesting hobbies:
►Frustrated by the short electric range of my Pius-II automobile, I decided to transform my 2008 Prius into a plug-in hybrid with 100 km / 60 miles electric range - instead of 1.5 km. - with all Hybrid functionalities unaltered.
Therefore I used 2040 18650-type batteries in following configuration:
30 clusters of 3.6 V, 2.2 Ah in parallel (= 66 Ah) from these: 68 in series to arrive at 244.8 V. ► 244.8 V x 68 Ah = 16156 Wh = 16.15 kWh ◄
In order to install the battery pack, I got help from an electro-mechanic, Nico de Visser, from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The Prius was finished with a plug under the rear bumper in order to be able to charge easily from the grid (you can see that in the pictures-link). The battery pack is nicely put under the trunk-panel so the cargo space remains unaltered. The cooling of the battery pack is taken care of by the blower that sucks air from the cabin at a higher speed with a thermostat.
So, my Prius doesn’t use any gasoline during normal day-by-day usage, since it is never more than 60 miles. This means I can go for several weeks without using a drop of gasoline. Still, I do 15.000 km / 10.000 miles/year.
To see a lot of pictures:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cbfr9gbmu5wwuds/AAC9FXrN6NAHoaVSLvTyr9y_a
also:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cbfr9gbmu5wwuds/AACanaxKcPr9rDT5gQdeNqIpa/Artikel
I had my reasons to keep myself busy with this project. If I may, I would like to make you understand why: I had a very active professional life in a high-tech business. I am now retired since five years or so, and in order not to end up in a ‘black hole’, I had to compensate for the sudden stop of being busy. Therefore, I joined a small group running a computer help-site for people with problems on their Pc (we do this free of charge – as a hobby). I would be pleased if from time to time I could help some visitors here, although it may be me asking for help more often...
At the same time I spent – almost obsessively - a lot of my free time on the internet looking for information on electrifying my Prius. Once knowing how to deal with it, I looked for proper help as I did not have a good workshop and all the necessary tools to end up with a decent product. Another six months of so went by until we had a working system. In doing so, I am sure that I avoided a depression or at least an uncomfortable time.
As I said before, I now enjoy driving a quiet car and also (almost) never have to make a stop at a service station. I make a middle finger to the gas-stations and the sheiks, while I treat my car like my cellphone by connecting it practically every evening to the grid and have it ready in the morning for 62 miles in EV for $ 2.00. On longer trips my fuel consumption is only 1/3th of before (now: 2L/100 km | 120 miles/USgallon) , due to a more efficient use by having 16.3 kWh of battery capacity.
A bit long, maybe...
Kindest regards,
Walter
Hobbies are/were: Scuba diving, Travel, Gadgets, Electric Plug-in Cars, and PC.
►Frustrated by the short electric range of my Pius-II automobile, I decided to transform my 2008 Prius into a plug-in hybrid with 100 km / 60 miles electric range - instead of 1.5 km. - with all Hybrid functionalities unaltered.
Therefore I used 2040 18650-type batteries in following configuration:
30 clusters of 3.6 V, 2.2 Ah in parallel (= 66 Ah) from these: 68 in series to arrive at 244.8 V. ► 244.8 V x 68 Ah = 16156 Wh = 16.15 kWh ◄
In order to install the battery pack, I got help from an electro-mechanic, Nico de Visser, from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The Prius was finished with a plug under the rear bumper in order to be able to charge easily from the grid (you can see that in the pictures-link). The battery pack is nicely put under the trunk-panel so the cargo space remains unaltered. The cooling of the battery pack is taken care of by the blower that sucks air from the cabin at a higher speed with a thermostat.
So, my Prius doesn’t use any gasoline during normal day-by-day usage, since it is never more than 60 miles. This means I can go for several weeks without using a drop of gasoline. Still, I do 15.000 km / 10.000 miles/year.
To see a lot of pictures:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cbfr9gbmu5wwuds/AAC9FXrN6NAHoaVSLvTyr9y_a
also:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cbfr9gbmu5wwuds/AACanaxKcPr9rDT5gQdeNqIpa/Artikel
I had my reasons to keep myself busy with this project. If I may, I would like to make you understand why: I had a very active professional life in a high-tech business. I am now retired since five years or so, and in order not to end up in a ‘black hole’, I had to compensate for the sudden stop of being busy. Therefore, I joined a small group running a computer help-site for people with problems on their Pc (we do this free of charge – as a hobby). I would be pleased if from time to time I could help some visitors here, although it may be me asking for help more often...
At the same time I spent – almost obsessively - a lot of my free time on the internet looking for information on electrifying my Prius. Once knowing how to deal with it, I looked for proper help as I did not have a good workshop and all the necessary tools to end up with a decent product. Another six months of so went by until we had a working system. In doing so, I am sure that I avoided a depression or at least an uncomfortable time.
As I said before, I now enjoy driving a quiet car and also (almost) never have to make a stop at a service station. I make a middle finger to the gas-stations and the sheiks, while I treat my car like my cellphone by connecting it practically every evening to the grid and have it ready in the morning for 62 miles in EV for $ 2.00. On longer trips my fuel consumption is only 1/3th of before (now: 2L/100 km | 120 miles/USgallon) , due to a more efficient use by having 16.3 kWh of battery capacity.
A bit long, maybe...
Kindest regards,
Walter
Hobbies are/were: Scuba diving, Travel, Gadgets, Electric Plug-in Cars, and PC.
