Plug-In Supply has just released its new $4995 kit which converts your 2004-2008 Prius into a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV). Because the system is based on the Cal Cars reference design and uses lead-acid batteries as opposed to the more expensive lithium or nickel-based batteries, this new kit is cheaper than many other PHEV conversion options. According to Plug-In Supply, the kit will allow your Prius to operate in electric-only mode for up to fifteen miles and at speeds of up to fifty-two miles per hour. Getting 15 miles out of a lead acid pack will be a real stretch given that Toyota is only getting eight with a NiMH pack in its prototype PHEV Priuses. Getting a Prius up to 52 mph on batteries will also take a long time with the size of the electric motor used and all of this will absolutely, possitively void any warranty you may have left. The lead-acid batteries which help make this new kit relatively affordable aren't likely to last the life of the vehicle. Therefore, the pack has been designed to be upgradeable to lithium batteries in the future. Due to the 360-pound weight of the included battery pack, heavy-duty springs have also been made available for the rear of the Prius.

While it still may not make sound economic sense, this kit proves that the costs associated with creating PHEVs is going down. Those living in California, though, might be hard-pressed to purchase a kit such as this if CARB passes its new regulations, as kits using lead-acid batteries may find it rather difficult to meet some of the proposed requirements.

[Source: Plug-In Supply]

The Congressional Tennessee Valley Authority Caucus is a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and Representatives from the Tennessee Valley Authority area (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia). Today, the Caucus will hold a field hearing on electric drive vehicles in Nashville, and Toyota will be showing off the plug-in Prius prototype there. We're familiar with the Toyota PHEV Prius PR routine (we took one for a drive late last year at EVS23), but we'd be much happier about these events if certain Toyota execs didn't spend so much time downplaying the plug-in hybrid.

In any case, Toyota will also have Camry and Highlander hybrid models on display at the Caucus hearing, as well as a regular Prius. More details after the break.

The styrofoam hamburger container shape of the Toyota Prius elicits a lot of responses, good and bad. But when was the last time you saw one and thought, "wow"? Back when the hybrid was introduced, amazement might have been a common reaction, but we've seen the Prius in the U.S. for eight years already. What could possibly make us excited about the car now (well, aside from the high gas mileage). Toyota North America's head of product planning Mike O'Brien has been thinking about ways to bring the wow back to the Prius, and it all revolves around a plug. As US News talked to O'Brien and then tried to crack the truth from the rumors about the upcoming Prius refresh. Their guesses:

• An all-electric button to go a few miles on battery power alone. This is a pretty easy guess to make, as the EV button is already available on the Japanese Prius.
• Two-prong outlets. Power your laptop or DVD player right off the powerful hybrid battery? Could happen.
• Plug-in Prius. Um, yeah, this one we know about.
• Lastly, US News thinks that the new Prius could be used as an emergency generator. O'Brien told the magazine that, "There's enough power in a Prius battery to power a 1,200-square-foot house." This would be an option down the road - i.e., not in the Prius we'll be seeing in Detroit in January.

[Source: Rick Newman / US News via EV World]

Whether contemplating the possibility of a Lexus Prius or dreaming up a Prius convertible, people sure do like to tinker with Toyota's halo car. Of course, for many, the reason to mess with the hybrid is to squeeze more miles per gallon out of the car.

According to CBS Chicago, two brothers from Du Page county, Illinois - Chris and Andrew Ewert - have modified a Prius to get 100 mpge (the "e" here being very undefined in the original source), simply by adding more batteries (battery type? also undefined) and a charger to the stock model. While techy details are not forthcoming about this particular PHEV conversion, at least one message comes through nicely: "My brother and I built this, and car companies should be able to do it, too," Chris said.

If you'd like to see some technical information on how a Prius conversion looks like, check out what Kim Adelman is doing.

[Source: CBS Chicago]

EnerDel's lithium-titanate battery has been independently tested by the Center for Transportation Research of the
Illinois-based Argonne National Laboratory. For the tests, a stock Toyota Prius had its nickel metal hydride battery pack replaced with a new 1kWh lithium ion unit from EnerDel. No problems were reported, despite the fact that no additional cooling modifications were made to the vehicle or battery pack. Additionally, a test was run which was intended to predict what the battery pack would be capable of if the Prius were converted to a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). Test results were promising, with the EnerDel-equipped Prius achieving 77.41 miles per gallon on the city test. Although these results are just an approximation of what a PHEV Prius could offer, they are still promising. Also of note is the fact that internal resistance of the pack was reduced by sixty-seven percent over the stock Prius pack.

According to the press release pasted after the break, EnerDel's pack could be half the size of the Prius' stock pack while still offering the same performance, meaning that a similar-sized pack as stock would offer twice the power potential. Thanks for the tip, Jan!

There are very official few plug-in Priuses currently cruising the world's streets. One of them was part of the Ride and Drive at EVS23, and there is no way we could pass up the chance to drive one. The trouble was, by the time it was our turn, the extra NiMH battery pack that provides up to seven miles of all-electric driving was plumb tuckered out and the car was operating in standard hybrid mode. So, driving this prototype around the block felt just like driving a normal Prius. Hopefully we'll soon get to test out a fully-charged PHEV Prius, but at least the car's shiny prism/rainbow exterior made us feel special at EVS23.

We also cornered Jaycie Chitwood, Toyota's senior strategic planner, advanced technologies group, after a long day on the EVS23 showroom floor and got the scoop on what Toyota is hoping to learn from the three PHEV Prius test sites (Japan, France and campuses of the University of California system). Chitwood says that UC Berkeley will focus on getting these vehicles into customer's hands while UC Irvine will be focusing on the environmental benefits that a plug-in system brings to reducing emissions. Japan and France, with their reliance on nuclear power for electricity, certainly have a different public mood for plug-in vehicles than what exists in the U.S., she says. Go ahead and hit play to find out more.

You can also learn more about what's inside the plug-in Priuses here.

Kim Adelman's plug-in Prius was at the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo back in October, but somehow stayed hidden from my camera and eyes. The good news is that EVWorld's Bill Moore spotted the car and talked to Adelman about the car and Adelman's new company, Plug-In Conversions, which will send people to your house to convert your Prius to a PHEV in a day while you're off enjoying a latte or a game of poker (or, OK, working).

Moore notes that Adelman has discovered a bit of a sweet spot with electric-only range: eight miles. While the big automakers are all shooting for the 25-40 mile range, Moore writes that Adelman says that with an 8-mile range (and the ability to plug the car in before returning home), "you can achieve the same fuel efficiency as a car with a larger, more costly battery pack." Customers can choose a more powerful battery pack, but for those important eight miles, Plug-In Conversions will hook you up for eight grand.

[Source: EVWorld, h/t once again to Domenick]

This Friday, Toyota will deliver two plug-in Priuses to UC Davis for testing purposes. We've known about Toyota's PHEV Prius plan for a while now (the official announcement came back in July), but one of our clever readers, Joseph, submitted a tip that explains that perhaps the plug-in Prius has been in the works for six months, maybe even a year, before the July public acknowledgment. I'll let him explain:

The PHEV Prius prototypes from Toyota were revealed on July 25, 2007. In the video shown, at 1:07, you will see a Toyota E-COM, which was an EV designed for car-sharing/city. Toyota made about ~50 of them or so. They had a few of the E-COMs hanging around until 2006, when they ended the E-COM program. Here are a few pics of the E-COM (1, 2)

So, if the E-COM program ended in 2006 and the PHEV Prius is in a video with it beside it on the road, that must mean that the Prius PHEV prototypes must've been at LEAST 6 months old when they were displayed on July.

I know that there was already speculation beforehand that Toyota was developing PHEV prototypes, but this confirms it more.

Here is the website saying when the car program ended.

I'm not sure that just because the E-COMs are in a video with a PHEV Prius proves anything. When Toyota ended the E-COM program, they didn't destroy the cars, did they? If they mothballed them, then Joseph is onto something. Whatever the case, I've asked Toyota if they'd like to comment on this. For me, though, the excitement is in the future of the plug-in Prius program more than in its history.

[Source: EV World, Toyota, tipster Joseph]

Yesterday, in Tokyo, Popular Mechanics was briefed on Toyota's plug-in hybrid plans. The upshot is that "their plug-in development program was under way and that it may not wait for lithium-ion battery technology to mature." That means that the first plug-in consumer Priuses will likely use nickel metal hydride batteries, just like the current crop of demo PHEV Priuses (currently being tested in Japan and France).

Over in Tokyo, Popular Mechanics took the plug-in Prius for a four-lap ride and discovered it has an all-electric range of about seven miles, a top all-electric speed of 62 mph (this we knew) and recharges in 3-4 hours from a 110-volt outlet. When the next-gen Prius bows in 2009, Popular Mechanics says, it "will almost certainly use a plug-in system. The car may launch as a normal hybrid and later, once the lithium ion battery technology is ready, switch to plug-in capability. Or, it may be a plug-in from the beginning using a large NiMh pack and switch to lithium ion later. We think the latter may be true because we've heard rumors that the vehicle architecture is being designed for both battery types." The confusion continues.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]