EV Insight

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

Turn a Prius power split into a power combiner, stuff it into an Insight, hack the Prius Inverter to control the motors, and you have one cool buggy.
I have started a blog to document the progress that I make on this long term project.
http://www.99mpg.com/Projectcars/evinsight/

[Armin]

Hi, Mike!

Cool idea!

First thought: why the need for the planetary transmission? Is one motor not enough (IIRC the Prius has at least one MG with >30kW)?

I guess the tricky bit will be hacking the Prius inverter / motor controller. Anyone done that before? Or are you going to be the first, like with so many things


Good luck, as always!

[clett]

Cool, any thoughts for batteries yet? Some Trojan lead acids would probably be the cheapest way to get things moving quickly.

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

I already have an extra MG2, the large motor, but it lacks the oil pump system, and the oil splash cooling system that the combined full tranny has.
The full tranny also has the full output drive gearing with differential, and parking pawl.
I have A good shot of the split Prius tranny, and a small photo of the inverter on this page:
http://www.99mpg.com/workshops/understandingdiagn/

All that is needed is to mount it, and make up some drive shafts with the Prius CV joint and spline on the tranny end, and the Insight CV joints and splines on the wheel end.
We also have an inverter from an 04 that is part of out demo compliment for UDHEV, so I will start poking around to see if we can figure out how to tap in some new control signals.I have the good fortune of having
Al ( Hobbit) Walker the Prius Guru on the team, who brings a wealth of knowledge about the Prius world to the project.

If hacking the inverter gets to nasty, I have some power IGBT half bridge modules that are rated at 75A @600V, and I could roll my own.
Lots of other projects that will come first, but I wanted to get the word out about my Prius tranny hack so some other people with the skill, desire, and time may take a new look at a junk Prius, and help solve the reverse engineering of the Inverter issues.
Then I will be looking for batteries.
I have about 95 of the Prius NIMH subpacks in my battery room, that I have been saving for some interesting project.

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

I got two synergy drive units yesterday. I will open up one of them, to weld the planet assembly and turn it into an electric powerpack.
The drive weighs about 230lbs, and is only 16" wide. Plenty of room in the engine bay which has the motor mounts at about 36" wide.
The Insight engine with tranny has got to be close to 500lbs, and fills most of the bay, so There will be lots of room under the hood for batteries and stuff.
Now I just need to find the time to get to the project.
Too many projects, not enough time.
http://www.99mpg.com/Projectcars/evinsight/

[jmbakerak]

Things that make you go hmmm....

Since the Insight engine weighs 124 lbs.
http://www.insightcentral.net/encyclopedia/enspecs.html

does that mean the transmission weighs 326 lbs.?

As a comparison, my first car was a Shelby GT350 and the high po 289 (cast iron everything) in it weighed 475 lbs., and for it's time it was considered a lightweight. And the V twin engine in my Yamaha 920 weighs 155 lbs.

The Insight has a really lightweight engine/transmission assembly.

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

The 124 lbs must be without the clutch,flywheel, starter, AC compressor, and IMA motor ?
When I jacked it up to weigh it, the IMA system and battery pack was also on the same stand, so I can only estimate, but the synergy transmission is definately much lighter than the motor, IMA,flywheel and CVT tranny combined.
I split the tranny, and welded the planet gears to the planet carrier, so there is no going back.
http://www.99mpg.com/projectcars/evinsight/