Hello all, Is it possible to put the higher-power rear transaxle from a Rav4 or Rav4 Prime into awd-e Prius? Or, can the more powerful motor in the rear transaxle of the above be installed in an awd-e Prius rear transaxle? Thanks, David.
Anything is possible. $$$???. Does it fit? - you've a considerably smaller battery - and maybe lighter battery cable to the rear? But the biggest problem I'd envisage is - what on earth will the computers think - or will they just hold their hands (?) up in horror and go into a sulk.
Perhaps as cargo, if you fold down the rear seats, use plywood to distribute the load, and pay careful attention to strapping it down. If you want to operate it, however, definitely not. Setting aside the substantial differences in size and general arrangement, the Q510 rear drive unit on Prius cars with e-AWD (E-Four, ZVW55) has a 5.3 kW (7.1 HP), 200-volt induction motor, but the Q610 rear drive unit on RAV4 models has a 40 kW (54 HP), 650-volt permanent magnet motor. They’re both three-phase AC machines, but that’s about all they have in common: the power electronics and control software simply wouldn’t be compatible. See New Car Features (more info) for both models and, for the Q510, the designers’ paper: Tahara, Y., et al., “Development of Compact Electric Rear-Drive Unit,” SAE Technical Paper 2016-01-1104, 2016.
