Hello all, little bit of back ground I'm a machinist and do Cad design and cnc production. I have a 15 year old son and recently we had a discussion on future career paths. He is interested in becoming an EV Tech and a coder. He certainly has the aptitude for either or both. We were talking about projects that could get his feet wet and an ev conversion kinda ticked all the boxes.
Looking at conversions we got to thinking if we removed the ICE and replaced it with an electric motor in a gen 3 prius, it seems like it would be a simpler way to convert a Prius to a fully electric car with all systems working. The Idea is to simulate the added e-motor as an Ice motor to the rest of the cars components and leave MG1 and 2 alone. We would then either replace the Prius battery with a battery with more capacity or add a second battery dedicated to the e-motor. I realize there would be some efficiency losses going this route. But we are not looking to make a touring car or a drag car at this time. Something that would do around 100miles is the goal at reasonable speeds and performance.
I've searched but haven't found anyone any information on this type of conversion. Is it a terrible idea? Is it doable? Any recommendations on how to accomplish it?
Simulating combustion motor with Electric motor in G3 Prius
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jrbe
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Re: Simulating combustion motor with Electric motor in G3 Prius
Are you purposely looking for the complexity of replacing the internal combustion engine? You have a few paths you could take but replacing the ice and integrating everything is probably one of the harder projects you could take on. But the perfect end result could be a bit awkward. Lots of stuff going on and likely a long uphill road trip get there.
If you're looking to also make a fun car later you could do a swap into something you like that leaves room for upgrades later. I think this would be more of a rewarding path but I'm not sure of your goals, interests, or skillets.
If you're looking to also make a fun car later you could do a swap into something you like that leaves room for upgrades later. I think this would be more of a rewarding path but I'm not sure of your goals, interests, or skillets.
Re: Simulating combustion motor with Electric motor in G3 Prius
Thank you for your reply. Skillset, I do automation production and run a machine shop. In the Past I was a boolean operator programmer in an IT department. I've also made some aps in python etc. Built several control boxes for cnc machines etc. I rebuilt an engine once. The shop next to mine does a lot of car restorations and the owner often takes a classic car puts a modern engine and interior and gets all the electronics and functions to work. So he is a resource I could lean into some. I know he has experience with tuning and can bus and getting electronics from different manufacturers working together.jrbe wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2024 4:48 pm Are you purposely looking for the complexity of replacing the internal combustion engine? You have a few paths you could take but replacing the ice and integrating everything is probably one of the harder projects you could take on. But the perfect end result could be a bit awkward. Lots of stuff going on and likely a long uphill road trip get there.
If you're looking to also make a fun car later you could do a swap into something you like that leaves room for upgrades later. I think this would be more of a rewarding path but I'm not sure of your goals, interests, or skillets.
If you could give me a little more insight to why this is a bad idea and what kind of obstacles I would be facing I would appreciate it.
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jrbe
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Re: Simulating combustion motor with Electric motor in G3 Prius
It's not that it's a bad idea, it's a tough and really complicated thing to do. The ice has it's own control system to run it properly that needs to be spoofed to think an engine is there, or ripped out and made up for somehow. The cvt like motor can be a generator and an ice speed adjuster to help an ice engine work in it's efficiency range. There are groups of controls that make everything work together in harmony. You will likely have to trick a lot of different pieces to play nicely together and maintain communications for them to work properly and smoothly.
There's the DC-DC converter in the inverter that will limit the power going through the existing mg1 & mg2 to 20kw?
The rest will have to be your additional motor power. This motor will likely be limited power wise by the Prius transmissions limitations.
Battery is around 200v which is low compared to most other evs. That is a limitation to deal with our attempt to work around.
Then there's the vehicle side of things, dash, vehicle controls, abs, traction control, vehicle stability control, charger, etc. Those all communicate and expect certain responses and ability to request other systems to do certain things to run smoothly.
I have a rule that each complicating factor like a control system doubles the time required to finish a project. I count 6 at least for this.
Also there's a Goldilocks zone where a project is interesting and challenging where it's fun and you learn. Aim too high or way too high and it's a painful struggle that never gets finished. Too low and it's boring and not fun.
Looking at this from the perspective of an older vehicle there are a lot less integrated systems to struggle with. I'd suggest starting there then if that was easy to go for the Prius project.
There's the DC-DC converter in the inverter that will limit the power going through the existing mg1 & mg2 to 20kw?
The rest will have to be your additional motor power. This motor will likely be limited power wise by the Prius transmissions limitations.
Battery is around 200v which is low compared to most other evs. That is a limitation to deal with our attempt to work around.
Then there's the vehicle side of things, dash, vehicle controls, abs, traction control, vehicle stability control, charger, etc. Those all communicate and expect certain responses and ability to request other systems to do certain things to run smoothly.
I have a rule that each complicating factor like a control system doubles the time required to finish a project. I count 6 at least for this.
Also there's a Goldilocks zone where a project is interesting and challenging where it's fun and you learn. Aim too high or way too high and it's a painful struggle that never gets finished. Too low and it's boring and not fun.
Looking at this from the perspective of an older vehicle there are a lot less integrated systems to struggle with. I'd suggest starting there then if that was easy to go for the Prius project.