I am curious if anyone has successfully converted their 4th gen Prius into a plugin hybrid. Pluginsupply and Enginer seem to have outdated sites not mentioning the new Prius. Also their packs don't seem to be updated with any updated Kg/KWh chemistry. I am guessing nobody has yet.
There are still those who do their own EV conversions but I haven't heard of anyone who has increased their Prius' pack in years. I believe the PiP killed the market. Why go through the expense, time, and effort when you can spend less and buy a car with a warranty and a supporting infrastructure? There are EV clubs that can provide some support for those interested. (shameless plug) The Electric Auto Assoc. has a list of chapters and the Eastern Electric Vehicle Club (Home) has a number of members willing to share their wealth of information and experience.
You might also want to ask in the (buried) plug-in kit forum. The people there are more likely to have answers and they may not be looking here. For some reason it is buried under Gen 2 Modifications and likely cannot be moved. Prius PHEV Plug-In Modifications | PriusChat
Well, might as well try to convert as many regular Pri as possible, so they don't live their whole lives as just a hybrid. It is confusing to me why more wouldn't want to. The 2012 PiP sucks with range so not sure why no market for a 30 mile + plugin kit is not desired by many. I know the Prime is a new beast. Yes I saw that dedicated forum in the gen 2 forum.
Those who want an EV should buy an EV. God bless those who want to build a plug in. They do it for a hobby and they like tinkering with the car. After buying batteries and a BMS, calculating the value of the labor and your opportunity cost, and the length of time the car won't be in service how much gasoline will you have to not use to recover your investment? Don't forget to account for the value of the electricity pumped into the car to recharge the battery. In other words, how much range do you want and how much do you want to pay for it? How reliable does the car need to be? How long do you think those cells in the battery you built will last? Most people realize it is not worth the additional expense and anxiety.
I would do it not to save money. It's to decrease emissions long term. I live in WA state and hydropower is big here. + If/when I sell it, the next driver would hopefully keep the system and use it. But no I wouldn't take it upon myself to figure out how to hack the ECUs, shape the battery modules and everything. Only is a kit is ready to go. 30+ miles, $5500 or so. With pluginsupply, I think with a flip of a switch, the secondary battery pack is disengaged from the main pack so the Prius acts like a normal one.