General EV Questions and Answers. (noobs, come here first please)

EV Small Talk
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I’ve found a couple of seems to be cheap hybrids here on the Big Island of Hawaii. This place is great for picking up seemingly broken cars that have minor problems, there are a lot of folks that know nothing about cars, there aren’t many good repair places, and folks just give up and say ‘take this thing off my hands’.

Unfortunately when it comes to hybrids and electrics I’m in the same ‘no nothing’ catagory!

Here are a couple of local CL listings that interest me: (won’t let me insert url yet … too newbie)

This one is just down the road from me, and is close enough I could tow it home …
[B]2002 Toyota Prius Hybrid[/B]
Showing warning signal triangle with ! in the middle of it. Ran great until it didn’t. Between 40-50 mph. Has all maintenance records.
Asking $800 obo. It has at least $3000 worth of parts in it, if you want to part it out. I am moving and am not taking it with me. Needs to be towed away."

This oneis clear across the island, about 100 miles away. I can get for $1,500.00 with the new batteries.
[B]2002 PRIUS HYBRID NEW INVERTER NEEDS HV BATTERY FIX OR PART OUT[/B]
"This listing is for a 2002 TOYOTA PRIUS HYBRID. I bought the car several months ago and could not get it started. The battery cells were all upgraded to GEN II but are NOT included at this price. The car has a BRAND NEW INVERTER, not used or rebuilt. I do not know enough about how these cars work to get um started. The interior is in GREAT condition with no tears, stains, burns or broken molding. The exterior has some signs of wear & age, but no holes or rotted out metal. Overall it, it’s in great shape for the age and miles. If you want to part it out, there’s plenty of money to be made. Safety check is out from May of 2014 with no tickets owed, title is in hand. All 4 matching COOPER tires have approx. 75% of the tread with no uneven wear. All electronics work, windows, lights, horn, ICE COLD A/C, good heat, defogger, stereo and all other functions. Located in Nanawalle."
I’m kinda confused says it needs new HV batteries, but also says it has new batteries?

What do I look for, or do I just run like hell? Either car would make a good second/project car for me. I’m planning a sawzall/welder party to make a beach/village runabout similar to the old Fiat Jolly.

Mahalo nui loa* for any help and advice! (*Thanks very much)

42

Hmmm

1 What is the market for old used Prius parts on the island.

2 These cars require specialized tools and knowledge to repair and maintain.

3 These are GEN 1 cars. A lot of waves have crashed on the beach since they were built.

4 If there is such a demand why didn’t the owners part them out a long time ago.

  1. Betcha there’s 20 times the demand for Camry parts in your area than Prius.

6 I don’t want to cramp your style but I would suggest you start with a Camry or an Altima instead

HOWEVER IF YOU HAVE THE BALLS GO FOR IT:D

Rodney

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Rodney, the statement about demand etc. relates to older cars in general, not Prius specifically. I don’t want a donor car any larger than a Prius, and the later body configuration won’t work for my proposed project, the shape is wrong (see my album). I’m not set on any particular donor. It seems that a lot of the comments by the sellers is they just quit! I’m trying to learn how to find out why, and is it confusing, but simple problem/easy fix. I intend to basically gut the interior, glass (except for windscreen) accessories and cut it down reshape into the surry-like FIAT jolly in my album.

Thanks for your comments so far.

44

I’m not going to pay to be green, sorry… A toss up between EV and Gas costs might give the nod to a EV because I do all my own maintenance and am tired of brakes and oil.
Could I save money driving a $10k used leaf with a brand new battery, over a $2000 Pontiac 5 spd Vibe beater with 124k traveling 12k miles per year?

Thanks!

1 Like
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I’m not sure what do you say. It is spensiver the electric house bill, than the gas?,.

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Continuing the discussion from General EV Questions and Answers. (noobs, come here first please): We all want to make our planet better but its never going to happen because they’re are no electric motor specialists here. I posted help on a 18 diesel motor to electric and NOBODY responded…so I gave up…now I’m interested in turning a flat bed tow truck into an electric truck but I won’t get the help I need because nobody ACTUALLY knows, this needs to change!

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Plenty of help here and elsewhere. You need to be serious before anyone donates the engineering time.
Is your budget more or less than $100k?
Is it a one off or something for production?

48

My Jiayuan charge with a 110V outlet and takes 6 hrs to full charge (5 —12V 100 ah Deep Cycle AMG— Batteries).