VW Lupo with Prius Gen2 transaxle

[johu]

So, this thread is more of a question than an announcement

2 years after finishing the Touran I feel like getting my hands dirty again. No, I do not need another car, the whole endeavour is entirely pointless but I still want to do it.

We are looking into a budget simplicity conversion. I want to use the Prius transaxle with MG2 only and use the other inverter for charging. I want to go VCU-less despite the car having a CAN bus. I assume it's the same one as in Touran. The car has no climate control and no power steering, so more simplicity there.

I will try to fit the 24 kWh left over Leaf pack although I'm afraid that it is too large. Not sure if I'll stick with the centralized Leaf BMS because the battery will probably be all over the place.

Charging will be Type-2 only, I hope the Prius converter will sport 22 kW.

So, the only question: should I take it on or am I wasting my time?

[LRBen]

I might have a bias view given I'm using the same inverter with plans to use MG 1 as a charger as well. But I think it is a great idea!

[Ev8]

Awesome the son of a guy I work with has a Lupo and a mk2 polo breadvan and I keep saying can we put a Prius transaxle in one of one of them

[Markos]

My old university converted a Lupo 3L to electric. They probably have some papers online with lots of information about it.
A quick google search gave me this website (I didn't read it, I don't have much time atm). Despite being an old page and the specs might be outdated, its a good start for looking for more information:
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/0 ... 10409.html

If I remember correctly, the Lupo had a lot of favorable hardware because the Lupo was a showpiece of Volkswagen about efficiency. I think a lot of hardware was accessible/readable. I'm not sure if this is for all Lupo's or only the 3L. But I should say that a Lupo with a Toyota Transaxle sound really nice.

[Markos]

A quick search gave me these papers, I don't know if you have access to them. There should be more, also more recent.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5729082
http://www.mate.tue.nl/mate/pdfs/12452.pdf
https://pure.tue.nl/ws/files/3888701/92 ... 508724.pdf
https://www.mdpi.com/2032-6653/5/1/14
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6915029

[arber333]

My old university converted a Lupo 3L to electric. They probably have some papers online with lots of information about it.
A quick google search gave me this website (I didn't read it, I don't have much time atm). Despite being an old page and the specs might be outdated, its a good start for looking for more information:
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/0 ... 10409.html

If I remember correctly, the Lupo had a lot of favorable hardware because the Lupo was a showpiece of Volkswagen about efficiency. I think a lot of hardware was accessible/readable. I'm not sure if this is for all Lupo's or only the 3L. But I should say that a Lupo with a Toyota Transaxle sound really nice.

They were my inspiration on how to squeeze LiFePos into smallest of places back in 2013. They managed with 27kWh which is similar to VW original UP.

Also dont forget to add in a heating system. Heater is mandatory.
And i still recommend small single phase charger. 1ph buck/boost charging is terribly inefficient. And most of the time you dont need really quick charging from 3phase. Well untill you do... .

[bexander]

So, the only question: should I take it on or am I wasting my time?

Well, that depends on what you would do with your time instead?
I think it is always fun with new projects so I vote, go for it!

Want to keep it really simple?
If you make the car light enough and with some modification you can run without brake booster.
Regarding heater, it is not necessary to be able to heat the entire cabin but you need to have a windscreen demister. I run a 750W PTC air heater element for this purpose, works but on the weak side.

[johu]

Thanks for so many comments That is interesting they fitted so much energy with LFP.

I think I will use the 4-channel BMS so the conversion should certainly help its further development. Right now I'm not using the BMS, that's by there is no progress...

[m.art.y]

I think I will use the 4-channel BMS so the conversion should certainly help its further development. Right now I'm not using the BMS, that's by there is no progress...

I'm sure quite a few people are interested in using 4-channel BMS including myself. Would be a good motivation to work on it. Also time spent doing what you like is never wasted.

[arber333]

I think I will use the 4-channel BMS so the conversion should certainly help its further development. Right now I'm not using the BMS, that's by there is no progress...

Can you make your BMS talk CAN in a standard way that would allow use of other equipment with it? For example CAN display, inverter etc...

[johu]

Can you make your BMS talk CAN in a standard way that would allow use of other equipment with it? For example CAN display, inverter etc...

Yes, it has 2 CAN ports that are freely configurable like on the inverter.

I'm sure quite a few people are interested in using 4-channel BMS including myself. Would be a good motivation to work on it. Also time spent doing what you like is never wasted.

Good point

[LRBen]

+1 on the BMS front as well! I should be getting my isolator boards through soon then I have some stm32 transplanting to do.

[RetroZero]

In terms of the transaxle, I have found it heavy for the golf one. If you have to stick to original manufacturer weight, I would remove insides of MG1. Depends what you want to do with it... Autonomy or speed.

[celeron55]

Q211 MGR, obviously.

[bexander]

Q211 MGR, obviously.

+1

[Markos]

Deleted

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

Deleted, offtopic.

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

So, the only question: should I take it on or am I wasting my time?

If I was in your shoes, I would think it would be healthy to somewhat annually convert an EV. It keeps your context fresh in your mind about what the challenge is and how to make it go smoothly.

In any case, anyone converting and documenting anything is never a waste of time for the rest of us.

[Markos]

(I don't hope this is too much offtopic, I'm trying to understand what you want to do and how it works)

Well... entirely offtopic. This is Johanne's build thread for a specific project, not a general "troubleshoot for me how to use a Gen2 Prius transaxle" thread.

There are threads about that, this is not that. Though perhaps an admin could move your post to one of those instead.

I extended my post a bit too much while typing. It was initially about WeberAuto mentioning the Gen2 transaxle can't be used for EV only (in their original purpose of course) because of overrevving MG1 (this part of the video 1:12:45). I thought it might be an interesting part of the video. But I agree, the post ended up to much offtopic so I've deleted it.

[johu]

Looks like the project is morphing into this, so will continue here:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=650