The Associated Press reports that Corte Madera, California resident Ron Gremban has modified his Toyota Prius by adding 18 electric bicycle batteries. For a cost of $3,000 and several months of effot his Toyota Prius now gets an ultra-efficient 80 mpg.
So far, DaimlerChrysler AG is the only company that has committed to building its own plug-in hybrids, quietly pledging to make up to 40 vans for U.S. companies. But Toyota Motor Corp. officials who initially frowned on people altering their cars now say they may be able to learn from them.
"They're like the hot rodders of yesterday who did everything to soup up their cars. It was all about horsepower and bling-bling, lots of chrome and accessories," said Cindy Knight, a Toyota spokeswoman. "Maybe the hot rodders of tomorrow are the people who want to get in there and see what they can do about increasing fuel economy."
The extra batteries let Gremban drive for 20 miles with a 50-50 mix of gas and electricity. Even after the car runs out of power from the batteries and switches to the standard hybrid mode, it gets the typical Prius fuel efficiency of around 45 mpg. As long as Gremban doesn't drive too far in a day, he says, he gets 80 mpg.
Car modification is a big trend these days and there are many people like Ron Gremban who are experimenting and trying to get more mileage out of their vehicle. The AP article says that some of these experimental hybrids have gotten as much as 250 mpg. On the other side of the car modification trend are vehicle owners that are souping up their car's stereo and look -- like on MTV's popular Pimp My Ride.
