Converting Hybrid to a plug in hybrid...

[Vmontello]

I've read this is possible with some hybrids but wondering if anyone has heard of it done with a maverick. Since I drive mostly locally I'd love to be able to get 20-30 miles without the ICE kicking in.

Anyone?

ATTENTION: THIS THREAD IS OLD AND I'VE GOTTEN MY ANSWERS. NO NEED TO CONTINUE. YOU CAN OF COURSE BUT i WILL BE UNFOLLOWING.

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[Tailender]

HVB is not big enough.

 

[Vmontello]

Sorry I have no idea what HVB is.

 

[Zotman]

HVB = High Voltage Battery

 

[Vmontello]

But I would assume if converting to a phev one would need more battery anyway. Wouldn't that be part of some phev conversation kit?

 

[Mav_RICK]

So I drive my hybrid Maverick roughly 20 miles each day, five days a week. That is costing me about $2 a day or $10 a week. I’m not going to ever worry about converting to a plug in or really even buying one that can be plugged in already.

 

[Vmontello]

Mav_RICK, probably why I asked the question and not you.

 

[Silver23]

But I would assume if converting to a phev one would need more battery anyway. Wouldn't that be part of some phev conversation kit?

well, there is no kit, and if there was it would be very exspensive because of mostly the bigger battery.
It's a neat idea but not very practical at all.

 

[Montana]

Where there is a big enough wallet and enough engineering, there is a way... Doesn't mean it will work well or that it should be done though. But sure, anything is possible.

 

[bgn]

Your savings in gas will pale in comparison to any engineering, parts, and installation costs.

 

[Mav_RICK]

Mav_RICK, probably why I asked the question and not you.

You’re right. Good point

 

[SLINGSHOT]

We used to say that you could put any motor you wanted into any car you wanted. An Olds V8 into a VW Beatle? Yup. A Straight 8 Packard into a '55 Chevy? Why not? All you needed was a cutting torch, a welder and a REALLY BIG hammer.
Not anymore. You would need a REALLY BIG battery and about 100 Computer Modules, not to mention a main CPU to interpret those modules and send the right commands to each at the right time.
Elon Musk, with his money and army of techies could maybe do it.
If you try, good luck. And get back to us.

 

[RockHoundTX]

With the current HVB fully charged, you can probably go about 1.5 miles (at least that is as far as I could get on a flat road at about 20mph). As others have said, is it possible to convert to plug-in? Yes. There is even an open spot where you could add another small battery (which may get you to 3-5 miles?).

Now the real question is "is it practical?". If you want to go 20 miles, then you are basically filling up about 1/4 of your already small bed with batteries. Your overall MPG will actually go DOWN due to all the extra weight. If you are into DIY and have a ton of tools (and don't mind totally voiding any warranty), you could probably rig something up (without battery cooling) for somewhere in the $5k-$8k range (I buy a lot of stuff from Battery Hookup for my DIY projects so you can likely get used battery packs from there for $3k-$5k depending on battery size). Will it work? Maybe. Will it be safe? Probably not (chances of batteries getting too hot without cooling is pretty high). Now if you had a reputible "mod shop" design and install something (with cooling), I am guessing the price is likely to be $30k-$50k (and potentially more) depending on how ellaborate you wanted it. You can buy an awful lot of gas for that ;-)

What has not been mentioned is that there seems to be some preset speed where the computer turns on ICE reguardless of how much energy you have stored in the battery. From what I can tell, the battery sometimes comes on at highway speeds when ICE is on to give it a "boost" but usually shuts down pretty quick. You would probably need to reprogram the compter to get the ICE to not come on and to only use battery up to 55mph+. I would be very curious if this may end up frying your electric motor since it is likely not rated for this (and not sure if it has any way of doing active cooling if being run for a long period of time at maximum amps).

Let us know how it turn out

 

[Steelie Van]

Good mental floss!
Just brainstorming… An additional stock battery system( battery sensors etc) would extend the range in full electric with best chance of comparability. Charge port
Charging it or the stock battery would be the trick to do safely as well as switching or drawing from two sources
Our previous CMax energy had a 5kW battery and realistically could go 18 miles on full electric. So range on a 3 kWh battery might get one to 10 is miles depending on de controlled charge and depletion levels.

There was a firm building plug in hybrid upgrades to early Prius before factory offering.

Despite being a fan of PHEVs, I am waiting to see if Ford delivers on a factory plugin after MY 25 refresh.

 

[Darnon]

We used to say that you could put any motor you wanted into any car you wanted. An Olds V8 into a VW Beatle? Yup. A Straight 8 Packard into a '55 Chevy? Why not? All you needed was a cutting torch, a welder and a REALLY BIG hammer.
Not anymore. You would need a REALLY BIG battery and about 100 Computer Modules, not to mention a main CPU to interpret those modules and send the right commands to each at the right time.

It's not really that computationally intensive. The motor control is fundamentally just a variable frequency three-phase motor controller. The aftermarket is already stepping up with AEM providing EV conversion kits. And if anything EV swapping a modern vehicle is easier than dumping a different motor in in that you don't need to deal with emissions laws.

That's to say nothing of less sophisticated EV conversions which predate even your dino-burners.

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