I have been asked to forward this to a few groups. I'm including the biofuel group even though there is no direct biofuel angle on the motor side of the operation, because of the general inerest that some biofuel fans have often shown for improved fueling and other options, and for the extreme mileage-per-BTU improvements that would seem to come from an effort like this.
Basically, it's a proposal to start modifying Priuses to be PIHEV vehicles, capable of all-electric operation up to about 35 mph, and then going to normal hybrid operation at higher speeds, and capable of plug-in charging. This moddification, as proposed at present, would take the vehicle out of warranty. A lot of 'underground' work amongst Prius owners and fans has apparently gone into researching the ins and outs of this. For example, finding a way to enable "ev only" operation here in the states, where it was apparently a thing that was enabled in Japan but not here. It isn't entirely clear to me how close we are to having a working prototype on the road of this proposed Prius+ type vehicle. We're seeing more and more hybrids for sale or nearly for-sale (Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc.) and so the number of possibilities starts to increase that efforts like this, to modify a hybrid, will lead to some hybrid owners succeeding in having their vehicles moddified to run as Plug-In Hybrids. This success would be despite the apparent efforts of the auto companies to turn away from the possibility of offering a Plug-In-Hybrid option. So long as I'm at it, I note the excellent EVWorld article that came out this week, by Noel Adams, "Prius Madness" regarding Toyota's temporary inability to keep up with Prius orders: http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=article&storyid=679 It is a "premium" article, and so one has to be a subscriber. We're trying to figure out a way to finance some of the work it takes to write evworld.com articles, and this is the best scheme we can do for now. I do hope folks understand. I'm not trying to find some excuse for asking folks to join.... just want to keep referencing a relevant (and in this case.... extremely timely and excellent) article if it comes up. I fully realize that those few thousands of people who have leased and enjoyed a full-on Battery Electric Highway capable vehicle, and are looking for a way to continue that experience, may be very disappointed when they are offered a "hybrid" as an "option". But in this case, the organization trying to do this is very focused on the values of EV-only operation, and on enhancing the EV-Only side as much as possible, within the limitations of how the hybrid was originally designed. I think my concern is that their battle is uphill financially... they're fighting the industry, which is not presently cooperating with their efforts. I do think eventually someone will offer a plug-in hybrid to consumers... I just don't know if this underground effort will be the ones, because how can you fight a multi-hundred billion-dollar industry? They certainly do seem to be persistent though. Calcars.org has been around for two or three years now? More? Felix just won't quit. MM SUBJECT: CalCars Aim: "Green-Tune" 2004 Prius into PRIUS+ (LONG) Fellow discussion group members Many of you have followed the evolution of the California Cars Initiative, a volunteer effort started in 2002 to promote the next generation of clean, efficient cars -- and get car companies to build them. We've been focusing on what people variously call grid-connected, pluggable, plug-optional or plug-in hybrids -- PHEVs. We've come close, but we haven't yet persuaded a group of "Super Early Adopters" to custom-convert a few vehicles. Yet people keep asking us about converting the new Prius. After many conversations with Toyota engineers, we reluctantly accepted that the car's electric mode couldn't power it safely at highway speeds. But something changed for us a few months ago. We'd been following the pioneering work of Wayne Brown and other experimenters: enabling the EV-only button, then addressing the challenges of adding more batteries and grid-charging to the Prius, while looking invisible to Toyota's exquisitely designed Engine Control Unit. We kept thinking about the enthusiasm and excitement of online threads on these topics -- and on driving techniques to get well over 60mpg. And we sensed the growing potential of the organized '04 Prius owners and fans online -- now probably over 10,000 strong (see list below). All this inspired us to a "Eureka" moment when we asked, Why not convert Priuses so they're PHEV at low speeds and still hybrids at high speeds? WE REALIZED PRIUS PHEVs ARE WORTH BUILDING BECAUSE: 1. Many people will love an electric mode, even if only for neighborhood driving. 2. Petroleum displacement and emission benefits will still be substantial. 3. Conversions of this hot car will get PHEVs into the national discussion of energy options. 4. Early adopters can influence Toyota and other auto makers to see a market for highway PHEVs. 5. If the demand became substantial, it will speed the development of lighter, cheaper, more powerful batteries. 6. We can sponsor an awesome collaboration between legendary ZEV engineers and pioneering garage-based inventors. 7. The results can be an unprecedented harnessing of consumer demand to bring to the world great clean cars. We came up with the PRIUS+ campaign -- which we're announcing first to online communities. PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT: http://www.calcars.org -- EVERYTHING you want to know about PHEVs http://www.calcars.org/priusplus.html (also at easier-to-remember http://www.priusplus.org) -- LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT http://www.calcars.org/priusplusdetails.html -- ROADMAP to pages showing how this can happen and how you can help. It starts with money, of course. $50K for people-time, travel and components to enable this non-profit effort to put together a "proof-of-concept" vehicle, organize events to parade it in front of opinion shapers and decisionmakers, and take orders to convert Priuses. First buyers will be celebrity, entrepreneur and early adopter Prius owners who can afford to spend $10-$20K and live without some or all of their warranty. The cost depends on how many cars will share development expenses. Our experts estimate Toyota could sell us their first run of PHEV Priuses for just $4-8K more than an HEV -- and we hope eventually they will! WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW? To start, PRIUS+ needs your help reaching anyone in the categories of sponsors and buyers above. Pitch the idea to them yourself or send us contact info (we're very discreet). If you're simply a contented hybrid or EV owner or fan who isn't connected to the wealthy and famous, we hope you can help spread the word, consider supporting our effort with a modest tax-deductible contribution (any amount, or $95 as a Charter Sponsor). And send us your wishes (to [EMAIL PROTECTED]), since, if we succeed, your next car can be a PHEV from an established dealer in your town. Please feel free to forward this email freely. Thanks in advance for your sending ideas and support, or for sharing your thoughts -- preferably at either the Prius-2G and gridable-hybrids groups (see below). Felix Kramer -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Felix Kramer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Founder California Cars Initiative http://www.calcars.org PO Box 61222 Palo Alto, CA 94306 cell 650.520.5555 voice 650.599.9992 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P.S. In the photo on the CalCars PRIUS+ pages, that's my '04 Prius with the "PLUG OK" plates (7,000 miles, 48.5 mpg). I'm happy to make it available for the "proof-of-concept" installation. P.P.S. You can get a sense of the potential of online communities that share experiences, ideas and strategies from the number of people involved and the number of messages they post. All but two shown below are Yahoo Groups (of course there are overlaps, and I haven't included Honda hybrid-related and electric vehicle, biofuel and other alt-fuel goups): # of ranked by # of Members Group Name March messages 1,414 priuschat.com 4,386 1,363 Prius-2G 4,090 4,941 2004-Prius 1,507 8,363 toyota-prius 1,229 302 GreenHybrid.com 722 2,449 Prius Technical Stuff 303 369 gridable-hybrids 70 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
