Converting Hybrid to a plug in hybrid...

[The Real Maverick]

Maybe it could be done if buy a used PHEV Prius and get the Toyota parts to work with the Ford? just throwing it out there for thought.

And let me be the first to throw out that thought. It's easier to convert lead into gold.

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[Benilla]

Possible but given the costs, not practical. By the time you configure it and get the parts and then get everything in line, just wait for the PHEV version to come out LOL

 

[JohnCondren1933]

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?

Probably already said, but there's a crapload of reasons any 3rd Party PHEV conversion kit will NOT include adding another 240VAC wall-mounted HV traction battery, only involve modifying some version of an EV battery charger to connect to the existing HV traction battery charging & monitoring controller (including isolation interlocks to keep the ICE from switching on & trying to charge the HV while your wall-charger is charging the HV battery)

#1 The HV traction battery is THE most expensive part of an EV!
Maverick Hybrid has a small HV battery for reasons of cost, weight, loss of space, reducing hauling capacity, etc. $6000-8000ish starting

#2 LIABILITY!!! EVs & PHEVs are engineered around the HV battery impact-protection packaging & cooling systems, not vice-versa. A Li-Po or lithium-ion HV traction battery is both quite heavy, & potentially a bomb if charge & discharge temperatures are not monitored & cooling modulated by the CCU & PCU. Tons of vidoes from China of EV traction batteries combusting violently & incinerating the vehicle. Lithium-ion & to a lesser extent Lithium-Phosphate combustion reactions produce some level of oxygen, and burn extremely hot, water is violently flashed to steam.

This means any 3 man engineering shop deciding to build this & offer it is insane, playing Russian Roulette with a manslaughter charge putting this on a public roadway the 1st time someone crashes & dies with their new solution, this engineered solution would need to go through as much UL, DOT, NTSHA, & liability insurance underwriting validation & testing as a vehicle in development. That's in the $0s of millions, those $figure lab techs & regulatory officials are not cheap!

#3 Engineering & testing on par with a major model redesign are required. You can't just wire a 2nd HV battery in parallel with existing battery & call it a day. You now have a seperate liquid cooling system pumps, temp/flow sensors, controller, that has to be engineered & also provide feedback to the PCU & ECU firmware, the change you could fake out the ECU to control both cooling systems & get the same response is close to 0 now you're reverse-engineering & coding custom feedback mappings to the PCU at least.

So no, they'd never sell enough to recoup the engineering costs, especially if Ford uses their manufacturing & research scale to bring a PHEV 2 years later

 

[JohnCondren1933]

OK, I get it. But I do think the cost of converting it would exceed the purchase price of the truck to begin with. The labor alone would be astronomical. If you did it yourself, I guess not that much but wow would that be a time consuming hobby.

For what you think a PHEV is, what you really want is just buy a Ford F-150 Lightning EV Truck & mount an inverter-generator in or behind the bed for emergency range- extending.

you'll spend less than you would on $20,000 EV traction battery, cells, parts & engineering & testing & destroying battery cells to make your Maverick Hybrid do essentially the same thing.
EV 160Kw traction battery = big & heavy,
full-size ICE engine big & heavy

less free weight & volume to haul & tow stuff in your Mav

 

[Walter56]

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.

They used a 48 volt battery and buck boost inverter. There was also a model for the hybrid escape. The company was called Enginer.

 

[Escapologist]

When I get my Mav it will be a triple task vehicle. Task 1, my DD for mostly local get-around duties, I mean I could use a smart car for 90% of that. Task 2, camping getaway vehicle, get a camper to tow. Task 3, Winter storm weather step-in for my wife when AWD counts.

So pondering some PHEV functionality that would mainly apply to Task 1, possibly to Task 2 if it doesn't get in the way and can provide offgrid power, and not at all to Task 3. I might even pull the battery from November to March.

So, being capable of operating my own feet, I am confident I can drive around about the city and use the backroads to neighbouring cities, for as long as the battery lasts and stay on the battery. About 20 miles range is minimum to be worth it methinks, but experience with Escape PHEV has shown me that using EV later mode to "spend" just a few percent of battery at the low speed parts of journey has drastic improvement in longer trip mileage, so even 10miles could be quite useful if you manage it carefully. So if I do it super cheap and only get 10, that's a partially whelming good proof of concept to me, buy more battery you cheapskate,

I could put up with a bed full of golf cart batteries... well a single layer. Throw a board on top, half depth bed now, but whatevs, I could probably be using a smart car. If I could slide the whole caboodle out onto sawhorses, that would get me the bed back when needed. I don't find reasonable amounts of weight, i.e. well inside GVWR to ding gas mileage much, I just make more use of the momentum, lift off further away from the intersection etc. don't try to be up to speed in 5 seconds when 7 will do.

However, unless they were particularly good cart batteries, particularly cheap, it's not my first choice of solution, no matter how attractive it would be just to piss people off.

What seems most attractive a solution, is getting a used C-Max/Fusion Energi battery... they seem kinda reasonable these days... I think you can even get a rebuilt one with new cells for 1500 or so. Those seem like you could have them strapped to bulkhead, take up only as much bed length as many tonneau solutions. Maybe even sit under one. But then need to figure how voltage conversion gets done, maybe need to rewire them a bit.

Been following hybrid and PHEV stuff for years including DIY so knew of the Enginer kit. Possibly finding one of those for the 2nd Gen FEH would help things along, possibly not. It could be possible that it's easier to start off with more modular Toyota packs and swap those around to get more favorable voltages. Lots of maybes though.

Anyway, doubt I'll be doing anything other than some theoreticals and measuring when the Mav gets here for a few years until the warranty is out. Unless I get annoyed on finding just the right new one, pick up the cheapest used hybrid Mav instead and get to it sooner.

"Easy" way would be to get a wrecked Corsair GT and transfer everything. Could use an Escape PHEV but Corsair has AWD and 3000 towing. I think you'd be losing ground clearance though to mount the battery, no recess for it. Corsair has electric rear axle, can't fit battery with PTU driven axle. But I guess that's only easy like an engine swap is easy.

But anyway, whatever I do it will be solving the problems important to me to solve. So I will not be answering what you think your problems for me to solve are like "How am I meant to plug it into a supercharger." "How am I meant to drive in electric at 90mph?" "Why won't you include (my pet feature)?"

 

[rmay635703]

There are PHEV Ford Rangers targeting the Eurozone, buy a half for parts then body swap the drivetrain.

really stupid this country still has ideotic gray market laws

 

[The Real Maverick]

When I get my Mav it will be a triple task vehicle. Task 1, my DD for mostly local get-around duties, I mean I could use a smart car for 90% of that. Task 2, camping getaway vehicle, get a camper to tow. Task 3, Winter storm weather step-in for my wife when AWD counts.

So pondering some PHEV functionality that would mainly apply to Task 1, possibly to Task 2 if it doesn't get in the way and can provide offgrid power, and not at all to Task 3. I might even pull the battery from November to March.

So, being capable of operating my own feet, I am confident I can drive around about the city and use the backroads to neighbouring cities, for as long as the battery lasts and stay on the battery. About 20 miles range is minimum to be worth it methinks, but experience with Escape PHEV has shown me that using EV later mode to "spend" just a few percent of battery at the low speed parts of journey has drastic improvement in longer trip mileage, so even 10miles could be quite useful if you manage it carefully. So if I do it super cheap and only get 10, that's a partially whelming good proof of concept to me, buy more battery you cheapskate,

I could put up with a bed full of golf cart batteries... well a single layer. Throw a board on top, half depth bed now, but whatevs, I could probably be using a smart car. If I could slide the whole caboodle out onto sawhorses, that would get me the bed back when needed. I don't find reasonable amounts of weight, i.e. well inside GVWR to ding gas mileage much, I just make more use of the momentum, lift off further away from the intersection etc. don't try to be up to speed in 5 seconds when 7 will do.

However, unless they were particularly good cart batteries, particularly cheap, it's not my first choice of solution, no matter how attractive it would be just to piss people off.

What seems most attractive a solution, is getting a used C-Max/Fusion Energi battery... they seem kinda reasonable these days... I think you can even get a rebuilt one with new cells for 1500 or so. Those seem like you could have them strapped to bulkhead, take up only as much bed length as many tonneau solutions. Maybe even sit under one. But then need to figure how voltage conversion gets done, maybe need to rewire them a bit.

Been following hybrid and PHEV stuff for years including DIY so knew of the Enginer kit. Possibly finding one of those for the 2nd Gen FEH would help things along, possibly not. It could be possible that it's easier to start off with more modular Toyota packs and swap those around to get more favorable voltages. Lots of maybes though.

Anyway, doubt I'll be doing anything other than some theoreticals and measuring when the Mav gets here for a few years until the warranty is out. Unless I get annoyed on finding just the right new one, pick up the cheapest used hybrid Mav instead and get to it sooner.

"Easy" way would be to get a wrecked Corsair GT and transfer everything. Could use an Escape PHEV but Corsair has AWD and 3000 towing. I think you'd be losing ground clearance though to mount the battery, no recess for it. Corsair has electric rear axle, can't fit battery with PTU driven axle. But I guess that's only easy like an engine swap is easy.

But anyway, whatever I do it will be solving the problems important to me to solve. So I will not be answering what you think your problems for me to solve are like "How am I meant to plug it into a supercharger." "How am I meant to drive in electric at 90mph?" "Why won't you include (my pet feature)?"

4:1 odds you never do this project.

I'll give you 3 years.
$1000 to you if you do it.
$250 to me if you don't.

Wanna bet?

 

[AutobahnSHO]

Maybe it could be done if buy a used PHEV Prius and get the Toyota parts to work with the Ford? just throwing it out there for thought.

Not without spending a ton of money and time.

 

[Escapologist]

Yeah well things I plan to do later this year take 5 years to get around to, and I'm still catching up on last summer because it seemed to be raining all the time here. so not betting. But it's probably about 2:1 I get deep and detailed into planning, and 5:1 over 5 years that something gets put on the vehicle. I would probably trade a Mav I got right now in three years if Ford brung out an actual real Mav PHEV.... unless it was super lame. FWD only, 1.5k towing, short range.

I get your point, but I have followed through on a few car mod projects in the past, head porting, transmission mods, and made electronic gadgets so not 100% dreamer. Besides, I have to justify owning a bunch of soldering equipment, logic analyser, oscilloscope, welders, air compressor etc to wifey once in a while. Though I've still got a few months left on the current "permit", since I had deal with a few things last year. (Mostly kidding, but got a list of seldom used kitchen gadgets in my back pocket in case I need to cite precedent ) (Also not trying to boast on tools really, just saying that I'm not at the "if I had this long list of expensive tools and knew how to use them I could do it." stage... hmmmm but I wonder if it could justify buying a 5 axis CNC, .... )

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