Questions concerning PHEV modification, particularly Enginer

Hello all,

I have a 2010 Prius. I bought it used just about a year ago now. At the time, I did not know about plug-in hybrids (but that said, any official plug-in hybrid was out of my price range anyways).

I am very much fascinated with the idea plug-in hybrids, a careful balance achieving the best of both EV and gasoline. That said -

I have a variety of questions concerning these conversion kits.

First off, most of these are aimed at Enginer because they're the only PHEV mod I can find with a still-functioning site (that looks like it hasn't been updated since 2011). If anybody knows any other PHEV mod service businesses that are still running, and have mods for Gen 3, it would be great to know, thank you. Despite the fact their site seems to have not been updated, I am running under the assumption that they're still in business.

1), a number of older threads (from 2011-2013) talk about the lack of reliability in Enginer, and the consistency of parts failing; I was wondering if anyone in modern day, with a newer Enginer system, could attest to this. I would like if the system did not need service every month, although I understand it would be reasonable to need it serviced every 6 months - 1 year. I am not keen on spending thousands of dollars and then having headache after headache of new parts, even if they are free due to warranty.

2) As someone who does not know much more than the typical layman about batteries (as much as I am willing to learn, I am not eager to have to learn), will I need any amount of electrical knowledge even if I pay for the install?

3) Anyone know how the EV for their Gen 3 conversion works? I basically would just like to have something similar to the EV of the original Prius Plug-in, the 80 HP motor working on its own, but I'm ok with it kicking out of EV mode for too much pedal pressure. They explicitly state on their website that their system is designed to simply get very high mileage (which, let's be honest, with how small the Prius plug-in and Prime's batteries are, they have the same goal, even if the Prime has a proper EV mode).
Once I have the finances, my idea would be to purchase an 8 kWh pack and keep it in EV mode as much as possible - make the engine go on vacation. I understand there are a variety of conditions that could make that difficult or impossible, but that would be my goal.

4), I would imagine that the top speed of that 80 HP motor would be similar to original Prius plug-in (62 MPH, if I'm not mistaken), and I just wanted to confirm if that's possible in EV with a mod kit like Enginer.

Thank you for any response.

 

Telling from the website, I'm not surprised. In which case...

are there any running PHEV mod services? especially for Gen 3, which is far less common because it got an official plug-in (although later than mine, of course)...

I haven't been able to find any others with functioning websites. I've seen on threads that the plug-in supply used to be very good, but they went out of business once official models were available.

 

I'm unsurprised.

If a conversion, especially with 40+ miles of EV, was $5000 or less, I'd be much more keen on that than buying an official PHEV. For two reasons -
1), ignoring the nigh-useless EV-only range of the original Prius plug-in (yes, it gets better gas mileage and does not have much extra battery weight, which was the point of original PHEV mods in the 2000's, so I understand why - just not my taste), the 2017-2019 Primes only have 4 seats, and I just so happen to have 4 friends I consistently drive with, so that's a dealbreaker for me.

2), even the Prime only has 25 miles of EV, and this is without bad conditions - my round-trip to and from school is 28 miles, and my round-trip to and from work is 30. (You can see why I chose a Prius). While 25 miles of EV, or even 6* as in the original Prius plug-in, is far, far better than 0.25 miles of EV that can only be recharged by burning gas, it doesn't hit that goal I'd like - all for an entirely new car when I just got this one a year ago.

* 11 miles by EPA estimation, but that includes running the engine - I'm talking about driving without the engine coming on. Remember, on vacation.

So I suppose, unsurprisingly, my best bet is to wait for the 2022 or 2023 Prime, and hope it has at least 35 miles of EV range. Even then, I'll be waiting until they're reasonably priced when used (as Salamander King mentioned, $20k ish).

So best bet is to stick to my car and just hypermile when reasonable and safe.

Thank you all for your help!

 

That's surprising to me, because the gas mileage on my 2010 will quickly drop below the EPA estimated 50 without hypermiling at least a little. not too far below - more like 45 MPG or 40 in cold (below 40 F) weather, but still.

I'm good with hypermiling, but that's not something I want to have to do - Under bad conditions and normal driving, I would like 35 (as a minimum).

I cannot imagine why the next gen of Prius would not be introduced until 2024, since there is a clear and obvious pattern they have followed. Every 6 years.

1998-2003 Gen 1
2004-2009 Gen 2
2010-2015 Gen 3
2016-2021? Gen 4

Even if they, as rumored on one thread, made Prius into a PHEV mainly, and followed the 6 year pattern for the Prime, that would make next-gen 2023.

If it ends up true that the EPA estimated range on the Prius Prime will not be increased beyond 25 miles, then I'll inevitably end up getting a Honda Clarity. I just don't see the EPA estimations actually being underestimates for once instead of overestimates.

You're the exact person that posted a brief review of the translated article on the Gen 5 Prius, so I'm surprised - why would you say not until 2024?

That is a good point about the battery.

 

Someone didn't read the whole (literally only 10 posts) thread before making a snarky response.

Or you read my complaints about the official models, and blatantly ignored it.

Thanks!

 

Thank you! That's definitely a road trip, but one I would be willing to look at taking with the right finances.

I'd give you a dollar if I could.

 

I recently outfitted my Prius with Bridgestone Ecopias, after learning from the nearby Hibdon's that the Michellin Fuel Savers were discontinued, or at least not available there.

Hopefully that helps - the Previous owner had Michellin Defenders on there, and while those are not bad tires, they definitely roll less than the Ecopias.

There are countless steep hills where I live - if you drive anywhere (and I drive a lot of places) around here, it's up and down and up and down. Very little actually even ground. How about New England?

Also, because Stitt and others in our state government do a great job of embezzling our taxes, the roads here are awful. Always have been.

The inconsistent weather doesn't help those roads, either.

My car is also running on the original drive battery, so I have no idea how the battery health is doing. But the dealership has yet to tell me to replace it, so it must work well enough.

 

I'm in suburbia in OK, so there's plenty of traffic to and from school - which is where my mileage is typically around 50, in the summer.

I work a night job though, with no traffic, so I've gotten it up to 75 a couple times, 60's on a pretty regular basis. But that's intentionally avoiding the highway, which does cost a couple minutes, so if there's assignments I need done or some reason I need to be home quicker, I'll be on the highway.

If I hypermile as best I can with that highway, the absolute max is 60 MPG. Usually closer to 55, and that's without any traffic because it's like...3 AM.

I think I've been up to 80 once? I'll see if I can find the image and post it.

Of course, these are all computer, not calculated by tank. Tank averages recently are at 48 ish, so I'd say that probably can go up to 50 sometimes, but in the winter it can get down to 40 flat. During the freeze that broke Texas's power grid, it was in the lower 30's.

I know I've complained about EPA estimates, but the Prius still. Even 12 years old and regular driving, gets far better mileage than any gas car I know, except for maybe Mitsubishi Mirages or Nissan Versas under the most optimal conditions.

Once I graduate I intend to move away from Oklahoma, not sure where yet. Hopefully wherever I end up, there isn't a new pothole every 60 feet.

I may very well have to replace the battery soon, and that may increase the mileage.