Make My Car into a Prius: Retrofit a Poulsen Hybrid Plug-inKit
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 12. 2.08
Can’t get by with public transit systems or a bicycle? Need a car, but would rather have something more economical and ecological like the Toyota Prius? If only you could avoid it! Someone has been eavesdropping on your thoughts and that person is Ulrik Poulsen, a Danish mechanical engineer. Ulrik has created the ‘Poulsen Hybrid’, which is an aftermarket device you can add to most any compact car so it performs pretty much like a electric/petrol hybrid Prius.
Poulsen’s Hybrid Kit will work on any car with 15” wheels or larger, be they front drive, rear drive, and all wheel drive. As they put it the kit’s development came about from the observation that “only 10-15 horsepower is required to propel a compact or mid-size automobile along a level road at a steady 60 mph. leading to the conclusion that this relatively small amount of electric power would be able to cope with 70-85% of normal driving, only aided by the combustion engine during start up and when extra energy is required for acceleration and hill climbing.”
If you have questions (like; Where do I get one? and How much will it cost me?), then we suggest you keep reading.
The company has been advised that until issues of product liability have been resolved, the Poulsen Hybrid will need to be installed by authorised dealers. They are anticipating the costs for this will be about $4,550 USD with lead acid batteries, though if you want the lighter lithium ion battery pack you’ll be looking at about $8,600. For these funds you’ll have two powerful electric motors mounted externally onto your cars wheels. These connect up to the batteries, which might steal around 20% of your trunk/boot space.
Instrumentation is being worked out so you can get dashboard readings of charge capacity remaining and so forth. Department of Transport approvals are said to be straightforward because the Poulsen Hybrid “does not affect brakes, steering, suspension or any original safety systems.”
Jim Motavalli from The Daily Green went to visit the Poulsen factory first hand. He reports that “The motors do not drive the car, but kick in to provide a power boost between 15 and 60 miles per hour [24-97 kph]. Regenerative braking helps keep the batteries charged.” Going on to say, If the system works as advertised, a 30-mile-per-gallon [7.8 ltr/100km] car will be raised to 55 mpg [4.3 ltr/100km.” Range on electric alone is expected to to be in the order of 25 to 30 miles (42 -48 km). Jim took the above combo pix.
The factory hopes to be pumping out 100 kits a day by mid 2009. Also in 2009 Poulsen is hoping to compete in the Automotive X Prize (AXP), in which commercially available vehicles that can achieve fuel economies of greater than 100 mpg (2.4 ltr/100km), with a ‘wells-to-wheels’ Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of less than 200 grams of CO2 per mile.
Much more detail available at ::Poulsen Hybrid, via The Daily Green.
More Fuel Efficient Cars on TreeHugger
• Volkswagen to Make Limited Edition 282 MPG Car in 2010
• Tesla Developing Gas-Electric Hybrid Version of Whitestar
• Toyota Unveils Plug-in Prius
Top image from Poulsen Hybrid website
Just a pet peeve of mine:
Why does Prius always get substituted for hybrid? What is our need to use a brand name as opposed to the generic? Maybe I've got a soft spot for Honda (the Insight hit American shores first) or dislike Toyota for opposing CAFE and having so many SUVs in their fleet.
I'll just step off my soap box and into the corner now.
Correction: will work on any car with wheels 15" or larger, not 5". That unfortunately rules out a number of tiny subcompacts. Still, a great idea that will hopefully only get better. I was wondering how long it'd be before we see bolt-on hybrid or regen braking kits.
Thanks anon, Would've sworn i typed 15" originally. Now fixed.
And fair point Jeremiah, I guess after Honda voluntarily withdrew their Insight from the US market, it left the Prius behind as the symbol of that market. But if it makes you feel any better, the car being retrofitted in the photos above, is a Honda Civic.
Interesting, although I wonder how mechanically sound this idea is, because a car has to go through a lot of bumps and imperfections when it drives, and this could put a lot of stress on the assembly and eventually break it. Great idea though!
I wonder if this could work on a Prius or any other hybrid car? Since this works well near highway speeds it could work for a hybrid and even boost mpg even higher
This may be a dumb question, but would it work on a standard transmission car as well as automatic?
Vijay, in their FAQs that very question is posed. The response is: "Many have asked about converting Prius and other first generation hybrids. Our reply has been that it may seem redundant to add two electric motors to a vehicle, which already has one, and which in principle can be transformed into a PHEV just by adding to the battery capacity. However, we’ll probably make the experiment of adding our system to a 2007 Prius later this year anyway and report from there."
And Heather, it doesn't seem to matter whether the car is automatic or manual gear shift. Against the question of Which Cars are suitable? the reply is: Any traditional automobile (with caveats). Plus they are working on a version for trucks, and many of those are manual, not automatic.
I can't help but wonder what people would say if I tacked these onto my GTO.
In a more serious vein, how would these fare with low mileage fleet and utility vehicles? While MPG increases of 80% are... fascinating, even a jump from 14 to 16 mpg on a fleet vehicle like the F150 would be welcome. It would make electric technology much more attractive to small and medium sized businesses as well, offering them an opportunity to increase the efficiency of their fleets without the large capital expense of buying new vehicles to replace existing ones in good working order.
I like it. Wish I could do it myself, though. If a SUV/light truck conversion comes out next year it would be a tall order for me to ship 150 trucks out to the east coast.
I wonder what would happen if you used four of these wheel motors, doubled or tripled the battery capacity, and then dumped the gasoline engine, gas tank, radiator, exhaust, transmission, transaxle, etc.? Would this be practical as a 100% electric car?
The dropped weight would be far more than the extra weight of the batteries, and there would be plenty of room for them in the engine compartment, or where the gas tank was.
If "The motors do not drive the car, but kick in to provide a power boost...", then how can "Range on electric alone is expected to to be in the order of 25 to 30 miles"?
I love this idea and hope I can buy one soon.
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writers note: Jay, assume from the information provided that once you get the car up to a certain speed under the power of the internal combustion engine (ICE), you can then switch to electric and thus attain the range mentioned.