This is the logic board I need to buy: https://evbmw.com/index.php/evbmw-webshop/toyota-built-and-tested-boards/auris-yaris-inverter-logic-board-kit
I’ve been driving one for a year.
If your commute is doable in EV mode and it is not cold enough for the engine to run it is real cheap to operate.
When it is cold out it runs the engine for a few minutes on startup just to free up the oil. It will also run the engine if you need cabin heat (It can defrost the windshield with electricity when it is plugged in.)
First month of Covid my only driving was to and from work or to the grocery store. I used about $8 in gas driving around 500 km.
Once you get past it’s rather short EV range it still gets pretty good fuel economy.
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Just trying to brainstorm a list of features that I will need/want to control using a self designed board:
- Central Locking
- Electric Windows
- Remote Trunk Open
- Bluetooth Audio Connectivity
- Wheel RPM to Speedometer Control
- Motor and Inverter Temperature Monitoring
- Reversing Sensors
- Battery Voltage and Amperage Monitoring
- Any Auditory and Visual Warning Systems not already included on vehicle (charging, low HV battery voltage etc)
- (Possibly) Car Control Using Smartphone App
- Plus maybe more…
These will be achieved using a variety of aftermarket parts as well as self designed stuff. I will start with my Arduino Mega with a Relay Shield and go from there. Doing all of this stuff is fairly trivial to implement, except maybe smartphone control.
The current project pace, of which there is none, is due to current financial situations. I am currently on the hunt for a new job and hope to slowly chip away at this while I sort that out.
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I have a rough idea of how I will design the mounts for the transmission. The idea exists entirely within my brain and I’m too baked to draw it right now. Will be trying to weld it some time this week. If I live stream it I will share it here
Edit
I will not be explaining this further
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Gold.
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Love this project. Just wanted to say that little ford takes me back. All hail the Brown
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I’m with you. This is absolutely incredible! I’ve always wanted to do something similar but it’s just not realistic for me. Not now at least. I’ll stick to my hot rod power wheels project.
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If I am able to get the Prius stuff working in a way that is useful, this will significantly reduce the barrier for entry for electric conversions. Once I’ve bought some batteries I’ll put together a rough cost analysis to show just how low you can go
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Fuck I lost braking, my raspberry pi SD card must be full again…
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30cm brass bar that will be used for the DC terminals on the inverter have arrived. Need to learn how to tap screw holes yay
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Here are my first couple of attempts. I’m using a very old welder that happened to be sitting in the garage. It could do with some new leads, badly. I used too big of an electrode, as they kept sticking. I had the welder set to max amps (140) but they were still sticking even though they were only 2.6mm electrodes. I’m gonna start with the smallest size and go from there. I also know that the weld I got kinda right is black which means I let it heat for too long
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I have definitely seen worse welds. Hell, i have done worse welds. My grinder makes me the weldwr I aint.
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Like so many things in life this will go much better with lube.
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Glad to know I didn’t fuck it up completely. I know welding is one of those things that simple takes practice
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Another video from Damian, this is the first proper road test for the Prius Gen3 inverter. No explosions at over 50mph
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I’m amazed by how prolific Damian is. I was looking at a tesla drivetrain swap and clicking through the links ended back on his github.
At this point, I’m not sure that there’s an electric car he hasn’t tinkered with.
6 degrees of EV
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Damian has been working on DIY EVs for over 10 years so has lots of experience. The amount of people actually building DIY EVs would probably number only hundreds worldwide currently (numbers were far higher 10-15 years ago), so it’s very easy for one person to really make themselves a name in the space. He also very specifically works with budget in mind, which was never really the case with DIY EVs. For a few thousand, you can get a perfectly driveable car onto the road powered by electric. And that’s all thanks to Damian
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The budget aspect really lowers the barrier to entry. Especially for people like me how have more time than money.
I haven’t dug into it too much, but one of the gen2 inverter that he has up basically uses an arduino knockoff at its heart.
When you add that it tested to almost 500hp, it’s all the lolz
Compared to something like this at $8k usd and puts out 80kw, the prius transaxle looks super appealing.
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I’m looking forward to using the Prius inverters with some bigger motors. Gen 3 inverter can do like 200kw per side or something crazy, its impossible to find cheap AC motors that do more than 100kw
I’m interested to see what a robust cooling solution and some overamping will do to the transaxle. If I can get crazy high power for short bursts, then I’d be crazy happy. I’m considering building my own motor honestly
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