Old Prius Gets Upgraded Batteries

December 18, 2023 by Bryan Cockfield 24 Comments

So many of the batteries made today are lithium batteries of some sort, from mobile phones, laptops, and drones to electric cars and grid storage solutions. But this technology is relatively new; even as late as the 90s and early 00s the only widely-available batteries for things like power tools or the new hybrid vehicles coming on the market were nickel-metal hydride (NiMH). While it was good for the time, they don’t hold up to all of the advantages lithium has. There’s still plenty of hybrid vehicles on the road using these batteries, so if you’re driving an older Prius and want to give it a modern refresh, there’s a quick option to swap your old batteries.

Despite lithium technology being available for several decades, the switch to lithium for the Toyota Prius wasn’t instant, with many variants still using NiMH batteries as late as the 2020s largely because the NiMH batteries are less expensive and less maintenance-intensive than lithium batteries are. As these batteries lose capacity, the cars are still driveable but the advantages of the hybrid drivetrain won’t be as accessible anymore. The upgrade, from a company called Project Lithium, replaces these batteries with modern lithium technology that can improve the efficiency and performance of these cars even above their original capabilities since lithium batteries have more power density.

With the Toyota Prius being among the most reliable vehicles on the road thanks to the electric motor in the hybrid drivetrain taking a lot of stress off of the internal combustion engine, it’s often worth upgrading these old batteries to modern ones to squeeze every last mile from these workhorses as possible. With many of the replacement processes being almost as simple as lifting out an old battery and placing a new one in, it can be a no-brainer if that’s the only issue with the vehicle otherwise. This is also true of all-electric vehicles as well, although the process to replace the battery can be a little more involved.

Thanks to [JohnU] for the tip!

Hubless E-Bike Is Nostalgic

December 16, 2023 by Al Williams 12 Comments

[Chris Makes Stuff] is an aptly named channel. His recent video shows how he took a kid’s electric motorcycle toy and built a “penny farthing” bicycle. You might not know the bike by that name, but when you see it in the video below, you’ll recognize it. These Victorian-era bikes used a single large wheel before chain drives on a bike became a thing.

Of course, the big part of this — literally and figuratively — is the giant front wheel. There’s a second video showing how it was built in layers using wood.

Continue reading “Hubless E-Bike Is Nostalgic” →

A white cargo van drives over a black asphalt road. An "x-ray" illustration shows the inductive coils inside the road as it drives over them.

Charging While Driving Now Possible In Michigan

December 14, 2023 by Navarre Bartz 66 Comments

Heavy vehicles like semi trucks pose a bigger challenge in electrifying the transportation fleet than smaller, more aerodynamic passenger cars. Michigan now has the first public in-road charging system in the United States to help alleviate this concern. [via Electrek]

Electreon, a company already active in Europe, won the contract to provide for the inductive coil-based charging system at the new Michigan Central Station research campus. Initial runs will be with a Ford E-Transit for testing, but there are plans to actually allow public use along the one mile (1.6 km) route in the near future.

Vehicles using the system need a special receiver, so we hope we’ll be seeing an open standard develop instead of having to have a different receiver for each road you drive on. This seems like it would be a more onerous swap than having to have three different toll road transponders. Unfortunately, the page about wireless standards on the Electreon website currently 404s, but CharIN, the standards body behind the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) did just launch a task force for wireless power delivery in September.

If you’re curious about other efforts at on-road charging, check out this slot car system in Sweden or another using pantographs.

Two pieces of paper on a table with a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, and a cup of what is probably coffee or tea. The sheets show a diagram of a bicycle handlebar on one side with a labeled "controller box, controller lever, mount, and battery." The other sheet shows a side view of a 150kg servo mounted on a plate that runs over to a brake caliper with a battery, receiver, and power stabilizer. These parts are also labeled in red text.

Wireless Bike Brakes

December 11, 2023 by Navarre Bartz 73 Comments

Bicycles are the most efficient machines for moving a person around, and wireless drivetrains have been heralded as a way to make shifting more consistent and require less maintenance. [Blake Samson] wondered if the same could be true of wireless brakes.

Inspired by the controller for an RC car, [Blake] picked a 150 kg servo attached to a cable-actuated hydraulic disc caliper to apply the braking force. The servo, receiver, power stabilizer, and batteries were all mounted on a custom steel plate fabricated to mount under the caliper. [Blake] cut up an old set of mountain bike brake levers to reuse the handlebar mounts and then put the batteries, controller, and finger triggers on them.

Confident in his hacking skills, [Blake] then took the bike out on some trails to test the brakes. As a prototype, there were a few surprises along the way, like one of the triggers staying locked in the braking position, but they performed admirably enough that he’s mulling over a Mk. 2.

Bikes are one of our favorite hacking platforms. Be sure to checkout this dreamy cargo bike build, an awesome bike camper, or what can happen if your bike is dependent on the cloud to work.

Continue reading “Wireless Bike Brakes” →

Qantas Flight 32: When A Few Millimeters Of Metal Invite Disaster

December 11, 2023 by Maya Posch 27 Comments

A common saying is that every disaster is caused by a chain of events, some of which can stretch back by years. Airplane disasters and near-disasters are no exception here, with all too often a small mechanical issue worsening until suddenly everything goes south. In the best case the flight crew is still able to work through the problems and figure out a way to put the aircraft down on firm soil in a single piece. This was the situation that the crew of Qantas Flight 32 (QF32) found themselves forced to deal with, as detailed in a recent article by [Kyra Dempsey], aka [Admiral Cloudberg].

When QF32 started its flight from London Heathrow in early November of 2010, everything seemed normal, but a mere four minutes after take-off from a layover at Singapore on its way to its final destination of Sydney, the #2 engine on the left wing of the Airbus A380 essentially exploded, launching shrapnel through the wing and fuselage. Although the A380 has four engines (numbered 1-4 from the left wing tip) and normally a single engine failure is not a major deal, the loss of systems that got destroyed in the explosion left the crew scrambling to diagnose the damage and implement a solution.

Continue reading “Qantas Flight 32: When A Few Millimeters Of Metal Invite Disaster” →

Bulked Up MHD Drive Makes Waves While Standing Still

December 1, 2023 by Tom Nardi 35 Comments

Looking back through the archives, we actually haven’t seen much in the way of homebrew magnetohydrodynamic drives (MHDs) — which is somewhat surprising, as the core concept isn’t nearly as complicated as its syllable-laden name might indicate. You can see results with little more than a magnet, a couple of electrodes, and a bench power supply. The trick is turning these base components into something that might actually have practical value.

That’s where we find [Jay Bowles], who has gone down a bit of a MHD rabbit hole these last few months. His latest MHD unit is a considerable improvement over its predecessor by all practical metrics, and as an added bonus, really nails the look of a futuristic propulsion unit. Even though the all-electric thruster hasn’t gone on a mission to anywhere more exotic than a table-top aquarium, you could easily imagine a pair of them slung under some top secret stealth watercraft.

Continue reading “Bulked Up MHD Drive Makes Waves While Standing Still” →

A Few New Car Owners Will Join The 48V Future

December 1, 2023 by Jenny List 135 Comments

Leaving aside all the annoying hype surrounding Tesla’s Cybertruck, there’s a little technical detail which might be of more interest to readers than the automotive behemoth itself. It’s one of very few vehicles on the road to eschew 12 volt electrics for not 24 volt, but 48 volt. This has been one of those automotive innovations promised as just around the corner for many years, and it seems finally we’ll see it in practice.

The reason that there’s nothing new in the prospect of moving on from 12 volt electrics has been brewing for decades now. A typical car has plenty of motorized gadgets from seat adjusters to sunroofs, as well as at least one heated windscreen or other surface. These devices take a lot of power, and at the lower voltage require significant current to operate. The 48 volt system will require much less in the way of copper to get the power where it’s needed, so the surprise is that we’ve not yet seen it in run-of-the-mill vehicles from the likes of Ford or Volkswagen.

What we’re guessing is that other manufacturers will be watching from the sidelines as to whether 48 volt electrics cause any problems for the Tesla, and it’s not impossible we could see it becoming the new hotness. There are many choice words we could say relating to the hype around Tesla and its supposed level of innovation, but it could be that this time they’ve really been first with something the whole industry will go for. If so we should rejoice, because it’s likely to push down the prices of 48 volt lithium-ion packs.

Header image: Mliu92, CC BY-SA 3.0.