This is the working title for a proposal to retrofit the Australian Toyota Prius fleet as Plug-In Hybrid Electric (Dual Power) Vehicles, commonly referred to as PHEVs. (Writer/researcher Randall Berger)

P.I.E.BRID is simply the “Australianisation” of the words Plug-In Hybrid, much more appealing than “pee-hev.”

The Toyota Prius is a Parallel Hybrid System, meaning that both the engine and electric motor work together to provide power.  A Series Hybrid System means the electric motor drives the car and the engine works in series through an invertor to supplement the motor and charge the batteries.

With the Prius Parallel System, you have no choice when the engine cuts in, usually on acceleration and at speeds over 40-50 kmh.  This means any energy saving is at low speeds, like in traffic, when stopped and in suburban streets.

Yet all of the elements are there to make a great pure electric car for city driving, with the fallback of a petrol engine for the open road.  Trouble is, the Prius drives you, not the other way around.  You have no way to recharge the batteries apart from the onboard petrol engine.  You have no option by to have the engine cut in and out, even when you don’t want it to.

The answer is to covert the Prius into a Plug-In Hybrid.

This involves three things:

1. A circuit is added that allows the operator to manually control the engagement of the petrol engine so the Prius can operate as a purely electric vehicle at speeds up to around 50 kmh.  Many Prius models already have what is known as the EV (Electric Vehicle) Button, but it may have to be adapted because it automatically disengages at approx 50kmh.

2. Another layer of batteries is added to double the range of the vehicle in purely electric mode.  Depending on the type of batteries, this can be up to 70km between charges as opposed to 35km with the current batteries.

3. A socket with a male end is added to both the front and rear of the vehicle to allow the PiBRID to fully recharge in approximately 5 hours from a standard powerpoint.  Battery management similar to pure electric vehicles is also improved to maintain the batteries at peak condition for longer, extending their life.

These conversions have been carried out in the US for at least 8 years, since California “killed” the electric car.  The champion of this conversion and the cause of PHEVs has been an organization called CalCars

There are also several companies selling kits and conversions, usually around the $10k mark.

The Toyota Prius has been selling in Australia since 1998 as a fully imported model from Japan.  There are currently 12,000 registered Prius vehicles in Australia.  Most would be coming out of warranty (Toyota frowns in Plug-In conversions).

There are two ways to go about this exercise.   The conversions could be done on a pre-booking basis, like an LPG conversion, for a fixed price with a 50% deposit.

The second way would be to purchase new or second-hand vehicles, do the conversion and then re-sell them on the open market with an LMCT license.

The cost of converting a Toyota Prius is between $5,000 and $10,000 plus labour, depending on which kit and batteries are used.   The economies of scale and volume would no doubt cut this in half or better.

If the PiBRID Project was a formalised and properly funded effort, as opposed to piecemeal or on demand, prices could be lowered even further.

While the Prius is in the shop, the economical 1.5l petrol engine can also be converted to a FlexiFuel Petrol, LPG, CNG and E85 engine at the same time, thereby making even more sense environmentally and cost wise.  This will involve a small pressure tank, plus a simple, off-the-shelf fuel sensor and timing adjuster added to the engine.

Over the past 5 years, the protocols for converting hybrid vehicles into PHEVs have been refined to the stage where all of the plans are available and parts manufacturers have come on board.  The Prius has been the major vehicle of choice because of its numbers and the fact that it is a pretty well designed car, albeit a 10 year-old design.

That also makes the Prius the ideal vehicle for a start-up company to choose to re-engineer and retrofit as a PiBRID, turning it from a parallel hybrid to a plug-in electric vehicle with an economical FlexiFuel Petrol/LPG/CNG/E85 engine in reserve.

There is a lot of smoke being blown up the arses of the media by the fuel lobby that Plug In Hybrid Technology is bad, because it still uses electricity that is generated by coal, or in California at least partly by nuclear.  It only takes as much power to recharge as running an electric heater or air conditioner for a few hours ($2.00), and you don’t see many people giving those a second thought.

The objective is not only saving costs, but sustainability.  A PiBRID in an urban environment could go for days without using any petrol at all.  Put a couple of grid-linked solar panels on the roof of the garage and you cancel out the coal-fired electric factor altogether.

THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

The window of opportunity is open now for an entrepreneur to for a start-up to do these conversions.  A contract to convert the State and Commonwealth fleets of Prius vehicles alone would make it a success.  This window may only be open for around three years before locally produced PHEVs and pure EVs come on the market from the big car manufacturers.  First in is also usually best dressed when it comes to reputation.

Some of the Electric Vehicle Converters like BEV in Victoria and Convert Ur Car in NSW are already considering the Prius Conversion.