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From what I hear the Toyota Prius is a fantastic hybrid car however the car does not come with a plug to charge it from an electrical outlet. Nikki has changed that by installing some extra batteries and a charging system so that she can plug the car in at night and top up the batteries. "Batteries: 28, 7.20 Volt, Nickel-Metal Hydride. Three OEM Panasonic Prius (2004-2009) packs in parallel to give a total of 19.5 Ah at 201V. Vehicle: 2004 Toyota Prius (Plus) Converted in 2009 using two additional OEM Toyota Prius battery modules."
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June 13th, 2009
I’ve often wondered about just mounting photovoltaic solar panels on the roof to trickle charge the batteries in a hybrid. With flexible panels, and black foil tape, one could cover many surfaces of a black car without affecting aerodynamics too much (or making the car look like a science experiment, it’s still gotta have some chance at picking up women).
June 15th, 2009
Hmmm, that grey connector looks like a high amperage Anderson power pole, SB 50 series. That being the case, it’s an interesting jump off to what could be used to interface to the car’s system for power.
June 23rd, 2009
Eric,
That grey connector is in fact an Anderson 50A connector. Because the battery pack is now made up of three Prius batteries in parallel the current is split between all three packs. The maximum drain of the Prius pack at any one point is 125A, so the 50 A connectors should be just fine.
I did wire them in though - they’re not standard!
Nikki.
June 23rd, 2009
Oh ok. Well, I still think it’s a good idea. I know Anderson makes a lot of higher amperage connectors if you ever needed to hook up just one again. And they’re genderless! Awesome.
July 2nd, 2009
[...] if there are any PHEV’s in the state now they are likely experimental research vehicles or hobbyist homebrews – a lot of the report comes down to saying “it depends on how things eventually work [...]
August 1st, 2009
[...] – if there are any PHEV’s in the state now they are likely experimental research vehicles or hobbyist homebrews – a lot of the report comes down to saying “it depends on how things eventually work [...]