2010 Toyota Prius
Science Project: Building a 100+mpg 'Plug-in' Hybrid
The 2010 Prius is a beautifully crafted automobile. It is spacious (room for 5 inside, plus a huge cargo area for hauling bulky items), drives nicely, is loaded with advanced features (auto parking, radar - drives itself around corners, pre-collision avoidance system, nav system, bluetooth audio, iPod integration, etc.), plus it can be converted into a 'plug-in' hybrid via the addition of more high-voltage batteries that can be hidden under the cargo area.
Here's the 2010 Toyota Prius Brochure
Here's links to the technical aspects of converting this car to a plug-in hybrid:
Norman Dick's fantastic Hybrid Interfaces web site
There are potentially significant differences (electrical, computer software, etc.) between the 2010 and earlier Prius hybrids so Norman Dick is assisting me in the task of reverse engineering the car and designing the optimal conversion for it.
To date I have ordered Norman Dick's CAN-View V4+ electronics kit, plus the USB programmer and touch-screen LCD unit, and a 2007 Prius hybrid battery pack (low miles - from a wrecker).
Stay tuned for more updates as this project progresses.
Back to my 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid web page
Back to my Automotive Overview web page