[ausev] Prius conversion

[Chris Robison]

On Fri, 2007-12-14 at 14:05 -0600, Joe Ipsen wrote:
> I saw a little of the Prius conversion (100 mpg for first 20 miles)
> being done at the Maker's Faire here in Austin and was interested in
> talking with someone who could do this conversion on a new Prius we
> are considering purchasing. 
> 
> I have left VM with REVOLT Custom Electric Vehicles and Electric Cars
> of Austin, but not heard back from them.

Hi Joe,

You caught me right as I was responding to your email request to Revolt;
I'll just write it here instead.  I apologize, I have not received a
voicemail from you. There may be something wrong with our system; I'll
look into it.

I have tried to contact Jim Philippi of Hybrid Plugs in Houston, but
I've lost his direct contact information in an email server failure.
He's the most knowledgeable person I know in this area with up-to-date
details about the ever-changing CalCars PHEV system, and a good first
place to turn. AustinEV collaborated with him to some extent in the
Maker Faire demonstration and preparation for it, though the activities
at the Faire were mostly him and his team as we were caught up with an
unplanned motor replacement in Farver's MR2. 

Revolt can do the project for you, but our schedule wouldn't allow us to
get to your project for many months as we have full EV conversions
backed up in our build queue and are about to go through a full-scale
design and production process overhaul that makes future scheduling
uncertain.

I was trying to confirm with him my recollection that he is now in
business to do these PHEV conversions himself. His website hasn't been
updated in a while and the content only regards his sales of relevant
parts and components. I was going to wait until I had a response from
him from his info address (hopefully today) before replying to you.

I've been sending the PHEV Prius requests to him for advice up to now,
so confirming that he actually does them as well will be useful to us
anyway.  You can write to him as well at info at hybridplugs.com

If he cannot help you, we (AustinEV, and Revolt) can certainly make sure
you get the info and direction you need to find a service or do it
yourself. If the latter option, the CalCars system is very easy to
install and getting easier as the system advances in development. It
requires very minimal cutting and drilling of the car body, especially
relative to a full EV conversion.

Sorry for the confusion.  Any further questions for me can be directed
to chris.robison at revoltcustomelectric.com . 

  --chris