I have a 2007 Toyota Prius which I have been very happy with. I have averaged better than 54 miles per gallon of gas used, with no modifications to the original design. In looking ahead, though, I would like to be able to nearly eliminate the need for gasoline, and be able to run mainly with the electric motor. As a test, I took the Prius out on the highway at a speed of 65 miles per hour, and allowed the engine to run out of gas. I wanted to see how far I could then proceed on the 67 hp electric motor alone before the battery pack was depleted. I was able to go only 3 miles before this occurred, even though I slowly reduced my speed. I have read about conversions that replace the stock Panasonic 202 volt, 6.5 Amp-hour, 168 cell nickel metal hydride battery with one of greater capacity, and that utilize a home plug in attachment to maintain a relatively high charge prior to departing on the road, but such conversions are very expensive. One man I read about shelled out $32,000 to convert his brand new Prius. Also, once the higher capacity battery loses about half its charge, the gas engine will then kick in and work harder to maintain the charge. I have thought about Hydrogen boosting, as I currently do with my Mazda pickup truck, and that would definitely get me more miles per gallon. Even with Bob Boyce's Prius installation, though, he only achieved around 60 mpg at best. So I am wondering what might be the most cost effective way to keep my stock Panasonic battery optimally charged without relying on the gas engine. The Prius is designed to keep the battery charged to between 40% and 60% of capacity, as that provides for longest battery life of about 10 years. This also provides a reserve capacity to store energy from regenerative braking, which is important in the Prius. The Prius system actually uses two motor/generators to provide both motive and regenerative power. So without changing any of that, it seems that if I could maintain the battery at say 55 percent of charge with some added charging device, the gas engine would not need to kick in at all, except for high speed, hill climbing, and acceleration assistance requirements. For those reading this post, what would you suggest as the most cost effective method of maintaining the battery charge? Perhaps a self-oscillating solid state device? I'd love to hear what John Bedini, Tom Bearden, and Peter Lindemann would suggest, and I welcome thoughts from all interested forum members.

My best regards to all,

Rickoff

rickoff's , Bob Boyce converted his with a simple brute force Hydroxy booster, but you can get almost as good (i am told better) by doing what the guys for silicon chip magazine did so look for (its an Aussie mag) silicon chip and try to contact these two guys

Performance electronics for cars--Mag
silicon chip--Mag

julian edgar
john clark

Ask them about the modification they did on their Prius they got better then Bob boyce with out a booster just by tweaking, so imagine both systems. Rickoff, thats a good attitude, don't be satisfied till perfection, you can get more

Ash

Hi Ash,

Thanks for the suggestion. I believe this is the article you are referring to:
Silicon Chip Online - How to get more than 100 MPG from a Toyota Prius

From what is described in the article leader on this page, the modification consisted of adding a large Lithium-Ion battery pack and using E-blocks and Flowcode as a control system. The result was a 100 mpg Prius.

Another Lithium-Ion battery pack conversion, by HyMotion, converts the Prius to a 100 to 150 mpg plug-in Hybrid. 150 MPG Toyota Prius with aftermarket lithium-polymer battery pack Recharging from home AC takes 6 hours, and allows you to drive 40 miles before the LI battery is depleted, at which time the stock Prius system takes over.

Now both of these aftermarket systems would be nice to have, but are very costly. The price of the HyMotion system, for example, is about $10,000 installed. My preference, as mentioned in my first post, is to find a way to keep the stock NiMh battery charged without using the gas engine to do that. I basically want to utilize a "free energy" device, either solid state or electromechanical, to keep my battery charged as I drive. It would have to be a device capable of maintaining a single battery which is always under load, so no battery swapping or on-off interruption pulsing cycles could be utilized in charging the 201.6 volt NiMh battery pack.

Any other ideas?

Added footnote: I did send an e-mail inquiry to Julian Edgar, and received a quick response from him advising me to look at the modification articles at AutoSpeed.com. I found a regenerative braking modification there that will yield better gas mileage during times when light braking activity occurs. See Browser Warning for the modification. I will incorporate that idea, however nearly all our driving is done under highway conditions requiring very little braking. I will continue my quest, and welcome all suggestions.

Best regards,

Rickoff

Thanks for that info Rickoff , ill add it in the EV write ups i am doing

Okay let me think, what about Bob's modification? You only need an inverter, Variac and of cause a 101 plates . He does have a sophisticated set up which he dials in for the power. Okay ill ask Bob and post that in the hydroxy forum for you

Hi Ash,

I have already looked into the Boyce 101 plate system, and have a copy of the d9.pdf document which provides full construction details. I downloaded that from the Peswiki site at and I know you also have that file at Panacea. At this point I'm not sure what I will actually end up deciding upon for my Prius conversion. Perhaps it will be a combination of things. There is absolutely no room in the engine compartment for the addition of any device larger than a harmonica, so if I use something like the Boyce system then it has to go inside the cargo area beneath the hatchback door. That worries me somewhat, because of the long routing of the HHO supply tube to the engine, which must either pass directly through the passenger area, or directly below it. Also, the only separation between the electrolyzer and the passenger area would be the back seat. And as I pointed out in my first post on this thread, I would still be buying gas. The Boyce electrolyzer is not a total solution. If I add a device of any size to my cargo area, then I would prefer to add something that is a battery charging device rather than a fuel device. And to that end I am open to all suggestions. If I can't come up with a suitable battery charging option for my 202 volt NiMh battery, then I will probably opt for using metal hydride hydrogen storage tanks that I can recharge at home. United Nuclear United Nuclear - Hydrogen Fuel Systems uses a set of 4 small tanks in the cargo area of their 350 Corvette to achieve a range of 350 miles on hydrogen only. They have developed a new "Smart Tank" system which should increase the Corvette's range to 450 miles. So just think of the range that my fuel thrifty Prius could achieve in comparison! I should be able to go 1,000 miles or more on 4 of the small tanks while another set is being recharged, and never buy gasoline again. This type of conversion would cost about half as much as the HyMotion LI battery pack addition mentioned in my last post. And if I use a Bedini machine and solar panels to power the Hydrogen generator then my refills will have zero cost beyond the initial investment. I am still open to any battery charging ideas, though, so will gladly consider any and all suggestions along those lines of thought.

Thanks, Ash, and best regards to all,

Rick

I just saw this and thought about what you want to do...Click here and go about 4 issues down! Silicon Chip did a write up on how to do a 100mpg Prius..

Magazines - Silicon Chip - 2008

Lee you are fox man
Rickoff, do yoiu know i mean the Brute force 100 cell ? Thats the one Bob uses in his

Lee and Ash,

Yes, if you look back through my posts you will see that I am aware of the Bob Boyce Prius conversion and the Silicon Chip magazine Prius conversions too, and also the reasons why I don't want to go either of those routes. Both conversions are expensive, and neither is a complete solution for me that would eliminate use of gasoline. That's why I would prefer to either use a battery charging solution, or convert to metal hydride Hydrogen storage cylinders - "Smart Tanks," as mentioned in my last post.

Any more ideas?


Thanks, Rick