Journal of International Council on Electrical Engineering

ISSN: (Print) 2234-8972 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjee20

The Conversion of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into a

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Gordon M S Woo, Chai Ming Mak, Chi Yan Cheng & Jie Li

To cite this article: Gordon M S Woo, Chai Ming Mak, Chi Yan Cheng & Jie Li (2012) The
Conversion of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Journal of
International Council on Electrical Engineering, 2:2, 178-186, DOI: 10.5370/JICEE.2012.2.2.178

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.5370/JICEE.2012.2.2.178

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178 Journal of International Council on Electrical Engineering Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 178~186, 2012

The Conversion of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into a Plug-in Hybrid

Electric Vehicle

WOO Gordon M S*, MAK Chai Ming**, CHENG Chi Yan† and LI Jie**

Abstract – Towards low carbon living and clean air quality is CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd. (CLP)’s
energy vision and to achieve this goal, the promotion of a cleaner mode of transportation in Hong Kong
has been one of CLP’s key green initiatives. Recently, CLP has successfully converted a few Toyota Prius
hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). Different from the HEV, a
PHEV allows the driver to plug into a socket to connect the vehicle to the electrical grid to charge its
larger battery pack that replaced the original smaller one. The objective of the conversion exercise is to
test the capability and gauge the benefits of the converted PHEV to run on electricity as much as possible,
whilst keeping the capability to switch back to conventional combustion engine if required for longer
trips. This paper addresses the conversion technical details and shares the operation experience of
employing a PHEV in the corporate fleet as well as discusses the underlying business assessment of such
exercise. The benefits achieved with the PHEV in terms of reduced emissions and fuel cost savings are
also reviewed.

Keywords: Hybrid Electric Vehicle, Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle, Conversion

1. Introduction reduction of particulates and nitrogen oxides. Use of

CLP has announced its vision for lower carbon intensity
for Hong Kong and a greener Pearl River Delta in its
Energy Vision in 2009 and its response to the climate
change consultation in 2010 [1]. CLP believes the
Government’s proposed electricity fuel mix change is a
feasible strategy to achieve carbon intensity reduction. CLP
is also proactively supporting the wide adoption of electric
vehicle (EV) initiative, by developing EV charging
infrastructure, sourcing and testing different types of
suitable EV in its own fleet, and introducing and promoting
them to the Hong Kong market through sharing sessions,
educational seminars and leasing schemes.
Air quality is a major concern in Hong Kong and CLP
also considers it our vision to achieve clean air quality in
our operations now and in future. Since vehicles are the
main source of road side air pollution, with smog caused by
a combination of pollutants mainly from motor vehicles and
variety of industries in Hong Kong and the Pearl River
Delta, CLP has set targets and strived to reduce emissions
from its vehicle fleet. Since 2003, CLP has adopted petrol
light goods vehicle to replace diesel vehicle to achieve
† Corresponding Author: Logistics & Transport, CLP Power Hong
Kong Limited (cy06868@clp.com.hk)
* Logistics & Transport, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited
** Electric Mobility Development, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited
Received: December 26, 2011; Accepted: March 7, 2012
environmentally friendly petrol vehicle (EFV) registered in
Environmental Protection Department (EPD) becomes the
vehicle purchase policy in CLP. Since 2007, CLP has
purchased the Toyota’s Prius for fleet use as a further
initiative to reduce CO2 emission from petrol vehicle.
Before the full commercialization of pure electric vehicle,
CLP has explored the feasibility to introducing the
experience of electric vehicle to vehicle users by building
up users’ habit of charging vehicle after driving a plug-in
hybrid vehicle. This paper discusses in details on the
conversion of a HEV into a PHEV, the experiences gained
in adopting these converted PHEV in the fleet and the
benefits gained.
1.1 Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)
An HEV has an electric motor and battery pack in
addition to the standard internal combustion engine (ICE)
in any traditional vehicle. The battery in a HEV is lighter
and smaller than that in a pure electric vehicle because the
ICE produces most of the power to drive the HEV. The ICE
of HEV can be designed to run on gasoline, diesel, or an
alternative fuel. The excess kinetic energy generated during
braking (regeneration phase) or engine over running
(recuperation phase) can be stored in the battery pack or
capacitors, with the electric motor acting as a generator
during these phases of operation [2]. The stored energy can
 WOO Gordon M S, MAK Chai Ming, CHENG Chi Yan and LI Jie
then be used to power the electric motor to assist
acceleration and improve fuel efficiency of the ICE vehicle.
HEVs are classified into two basic kinds: parallel and
series. In parallel HEVs, the ICE and electric motor are
both coupled with the transmission to propel the wheels,
whereas in series HEVs, the ICE does not directly power
the vehicle but instead turns a generator to produce
electricity for pure electric propulsion [3].
The advantage of the HEV is to improve fuel efficiency,
produce fewer emissions but not zero emission and offer a
feeling of reliability to using it as the vehicle can always be
used on conventional fuel of liquid petrol or diesel and not
just relying on the battery capacity of pure EV [3].
MECHANICAL ELECTRIC
POWER POWER
BATTERY
GENERATOR
POWER SPLIT POWER CONTROL
DEVICE UNIT
ENGINE
MOTOR
DRIVE WHEELS
REDUCTION GEAR
Fig. 1. Series/Parallel Hybrid System.
1.2 Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV)
A PHEV is similar to a HEV except that it has a larger
battery that is chargeable both by the vehicle's ICE and by
plugging into an electrical outlet for a few hours. Therefore,
the PHEV can achieve far greater electric mileages than the
HEV. Take for example, a PHEV with a large battery of 8 to
10 kWh will allow commuters who drive less than 20 km a
day to stay on its electric motor for the entire day’s
commute [4]. A PHEV can greatly extend an original ICE’s
driving range by 2-4 times with the same tank of gasoline
depending on the applications.
1.3 A Sample of Hybrid Electric Vehicle
179
The world’s first mass-production HEV was the Toyota
Prius. As illustrated by Figure 1, its motive power was
sourced from both a four-cylinder ICE (56 kW at 5000 rpm)
and a permanent-magnet AC synchronous motor (50kW at
1,200-1,540rpm) [5]. Part of the ICE power was sent to the
generator to produce electrical energy, which would supply
the electric motor to increase the motive power, or would
be stored in the nickel-metal hydride batteries. The Prius
would offer acceleration from 0 to 96 km/h in 10 seconds,
and a fuel economy of 5.9L/100km (based on CLP
experience) for combined city and highway operation. Both
of its fuel economy and exhaust emissions were better than
that of a conventional ICEV of similar capacity.
In December 2009, Toyota decided to build the Prius
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) based on the third-
generation HEV Prius. The PHEV represents a significant
enhancement of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD)
system. It combines high-output lithium-ion batteries with
HSD technology to offer an expanded full electric driving
mode. The Prius Plug-in Hybrid can be recharged in
approximately three hours from a standard 110V electrical
outlet or one and a half hours with a 220V connection [6].
However, the commercialization of the Plug-in Hybrid
Prius is expected by end 2012. A conversion of the Prius
HEV by third party agents into the plug-in version is still
considered a viable option.
2. Drive to Convert HEV into PHEV
Based on the following considerations, CLP launched a
project to convert a conventional HEV into a PHEV in 2009.
The project was quite successful and CLP continued to
convert another 5 HEV into PHEV in 2010 with
enhancement to the first adopted technology by the same
agent.
2.1 Operating Costs
In Hong Kong, the operating costs of hybrid Prius was
estimated about HK$0.69 per km, based on fuel
consumption of 5.1L/100km [7], and cost of petrol of
HK$16/Litre [8]. The cost of electricity for a Prius PHEV is
about HK$0.19 per km , based on 0.2 kilowatt-hours per
km and cost of electricity of HKD$0.941 per kilowatt hour
[9]. Running on electricity mode of a PHEV in Hong Kong
would significantly reduce the operating cost than even the
HEV, not to mention the ICE vehicle which is less efficient
than the HEV.
180 The Conversion of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

2.2 Requirement to eliminate range anxiety is at least 3 times larger the original Toyota designed
1.3kWh battery pack which is rated at 6.1Ah 201.6V and
At the early stage of adoption, when a pure EV cannot weights at 45 kg. To ensure sufficient supply to the enlarged
cover the full range of a traditional ICE vehicle, the driver power battery, a high output battery charger rated at 1.6kW
might be afraid of facing a depleted battery during a long- with a BS1363 13A 220V “on-grid” plug is introduced into
distance trip. The PHEV offers a feasible solution to the charging system. When plugged in the grid the high
offset the anxiety against the limited pure-electric range as power onboard charger recharges the pack while monitor-
the PHEV always has the gasoline engine to provide the ing the pack temperature. A full charge takes about 4-5
back-up to reach the final destination for basically all hours and grid consumption is about 6kWh.
typical applications in Hong Kong. The PHEV would well
eliminate all the range anxiety in the local condition. Table 1. Major changes before and after the conversion
Added to the Vehicle Removed from the Vehicle
2.3 Roadside Air Quality Higher density power (6.1 kWh) but Original battery pack
heavier battery pack in spare tyre boot (1.3 kWh)
High Output and 12V accessory
Hong Kong’s road side pollution reaches “severe” level battery on-board chargers, PIS & 1 passenger capacity at rear
PHEV control display
in March 2010 [10]. PHEVs technology potentially will Additional battery
Spare wheel space
help effectively reduce the fossil fuel consumption and CO2 ventilation & casing
emissions as PHEVs can run on pure electricity for long if Stronger suspension springs Original suspension springs
“On-grid” plug N/A
the distance travelled per recharge matches the battery
capacity, and such application will have nearly zero road
side emission. OEM Vehicle CAN bus
Since 2009, CLP started to test the performance of fuel PHEV Integration System
economy and emissions reduction of PHEV based on a To Inverter (Drivetrain)
proven technology with sufficient road driving experience Real State –Of-
OEM Current Sensor Charge Calculation
as supplied by the conversion agent.
Voltage CAN Message
Taps OEM BMS
Charger Interlock
3. Design of the Conversion System Battery
Thermal
Pack
Monitoring
3.1 System changes
Max. Battery
Thermistors
Charge/ Discharge
The plug-in hybrid conversion involves the following Limited
major components change/additions in the vehicle system:
High OEM Cooling Fan
Voltage
• Replace the original battery to increase the power Charger
Charger
battery capacity, Cooling
• Main battery charger Fan
• 12-volt accessory battery charger 12V Charger OEM 12V Battery
• PHEV Integration System (PIS) 120/240V
Fuse
• PHEV Control Panel with State of Charge (SOC) input

display and driving mode selector

The table below shows major changes before and after
the conversion:
To improve the performance of the vehicle, a new nickel-
metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack with a total usable
energy of 6.1 kWh rated at 30Ah 201.6V (nominal), which
is composed of 168 x 1.2V NiMH cells connected in a
single series string and weights at 150kg, is employed to
replace the old battery pack. The capacity of the new pack
Fig. 2. Electrical diagram of the PHEV conversion (OEM
refers to Toyota’s system).
The simplified system schematic diagram [11] is
illustrated in Fig. 2. In brief, the diagram shows the inter-
face between the new PHEV Integration System (PIS),
which is also known as the Hybrid Energy Management
System and other key system components.
The PIS functionally rescales the capacity of the new
 WOO Gordon M S, MAK Chai Ming, CHENG Chi Yan and LI Jie
battery system and provides an interrupt signal to the
original system to control the original Toyota's hybrid
system, which comprises a battery management system
(BMS), an inverter assembly and the drive train system.
After the conversion, a PHEV control panel is added to
the dashboard of the vehicle. A display with 8 LEDs shows
the State of Charge (SOC) of the battery. The bottom LED
represents about 29 % SOC; while each of the other 7 LEDs
represents 10% of SOC. In another words, when all 8 LEDs
are on, it represents a full charge with more than 99% SOC:
Fig. 3. PHEV display and control panel – SOC indication.
The PHEV Conversion adopts the principle of overriding
the original Toyota hybrid system for utilizing more electric
power over engine power. A 74% SOC is reported by the
PIS to the Toyota’s system in all PHEV modes. An
interruption signal generated by the PIS will restrain the
engine function but enable the use of the electric motor.
However, when more torque is required as commanded by
the driver’s hard pressing of the accelerator pedal, the
engine will resume its function to provide additional power
to the drive train. At the same time, the Toyota Energy
Screen will show all bars except the top bar on the battery
icon. It should be noted that, the LEDs on PHEV control
panel shows the correct SOC in PHEV mode, while the
Toyota’s original Energy Monitor Screen will display the
actual battery SOC when the Hybrid Mode is selected,
accordingly. When the SOC falls below 20%, the PIS will
automatically switch the vehicle back to Hybrid mode,
which is actually the original Toyota hybrid mode.
Fig. 4. Battery SOC in PHEV modes displayed in energy
monitor.
181
3.2 Mechanical aspects
The net vehicle weight of the Prius PHEV version has
increased by an extra weight of 150kg primarily contributed
by the additional new power battery. Mechanically, the
existing suspension springs have to be replaced by stronger
springs with higher stiffness in order to support the
additional weight of the power batteries and other related
equipment. The additional items have also occupied the
spare wheel hoop space. To meet the gross vehicle weight
statutory requirement, the number of allowable passengers
has to be reduced from 4 to 3.
Due to the weight movement, the centre of gravity of the
vehicle is lowered down and the weight has been evenly
distributed into each axle. The result of the weighting
measures indicates that both front and rear axle load each is
around 860 kg and the gross vehicle weight limit is not
exceeded. The load distribution of 50/50 between the front
and rear axles enhances the vehicle stability performance,
The PHEV is in fact more stable compared to the original
HEV with a load distribution of 53/47. Furthermore, when
the change of load occurs from rear to front wheels during
braking, it is still acceptable for the front axle to receive
minor overload.
3.3 Driving modes of PHEV
After conversion, 4 additional driving modes are used in
the driving operations, as described below:
Hybrid Mode: The vehicle operates in the original normal
factory mode.
True-Electric Mode (i.e. no fuel used): pure electric drive
mode with output power of the engine restricted, and the
speed is allowed up to 100Km/hr. A safety over-ride feature
is built in that allows full power output of the combined
drive systems in case full-throttle position is required
PHEV Short Range Mode (for 20-30km): maximum
electric drive (as much as possible – up to 120 Amps
electric power), uses gasoline engine for remaining output
if additional power is required
PHEV Medium Range Mode (for 30-40km): engine to
accelerate electric motor to cruise (mild electric assist) up
to about 40 Amps electric power
PHEV Long Range Mode (for 40-60km): operates as if in
factory Hybrid mode at highway speeds (over 50 mph) and
same as medium mode at lower speed (less than 50 mph)
182 The Conversion of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

the dashboard were installed with reconnection of all

system wirings. Finally the latest version of software
firmware was updated to the control unit and the harness
connection was conducted once again.

3.5 Safety assurance strategy

To achieve the highest level of safety standard during the

Fig. 5. PHEV Control Panel – Driving Mode Selection.
conversion process, the following practices have been
implemented before releasing the vehicle to end users:
3.4 Installation Process
z Through stringent selection process, the competence
of the contractor to manage the project imple-
mentation and all the modification works conducted
by the registered automobile mechanic and electrician
are ensured.
z Employed a Registered Professional Engineer to
supervise the modification process
z Walked through the whole type approval application
New 12V Accessory New 6.1kWh Battery process with Transport Department (HKSARG) and
Battery Charger Pack other relevant local authorities
z Passed the additional vehicle examination required by
TD
z Passed a series of tests including the International
Protection Rating Test under UNECE R100 Standard
to ensure the necessary insulation standards are met;
axle weight verification to evaluate each axle loading
meeting the original design criteria ; braking
Original Spare Tyre efficiency test to validate the current regulatory
Standard Charging
Space Occupied by the requirements are satisfied and hill climbing capability.
Supply Socket
New Battery Pack z Comprehensive test drive program has been
conducted by competent driver for not less than 200
km on different testing routes. 5 charging cycles are
required for the whole test drive program

4. Performance Evaluation

Newly Installed ECU Modify Spare Tyre

Unit Fixing Method

Fig. 6. Installation process.

In the first step of the installation process, the original

factory battery pack was removed and replaced by a new
battery pack with larger capacity. The factory manufactured
Battery Management System (BMS) and cooling fan were
retained. The new high output power battery charger and
12V accessory battery charger were then installed. Sub-
sequently the new PIS and PHEV display control board at Fig. 7. Display of fuel consumption.
 WOO Gordon M S, MAK Chai Ming, CHENG Chi Yan and LI Jie 183

With a larger power battery, the PHEV’s pure electric Road Test Fuel Consumption - City Drive
range performance and fuel consumption under practical
usage and a number of different testing scenarios was
Plug in Priu s Avera ge Fuel Economy (L/10 0km)
evaluated. On the other hand, the Maintenance &
Reliability aspects of the converted vehicle were evaluated. Prius G3 Average Fu el Economy (L/100km)-Eco
Mode
6.0
4.1 Charging Efficiency & Fuel Economy
5.0
It was estimated that the PHEV conversion would 4.0
support a range of about 20km upon a full charge of 5 3.0
kWh in pure electric mode. The maximum speed in pure
2.0
electric mode would reach 110km/hr at highway,
1.0
compared to the original limit of 25 km/hr from Toyota’s
factory setting. The road test was conducted to verify the 0.0
TYVW (0km) Kadoorie Hill TYVW (24km)
estimations. The result of the fuel consumption com- Avenue-Mong
parison was plotted in the following charts. Kwok (12km)

Road Test Fuel Consumption -Tough Drive Fig. 9. Result of road test fuel consumption - city drive.

Plug in Prius Average Fuel Economy (L/100km) • Test Route: Tsing Yi Vehicle Workshop Æ Tsing Yi
South Bridge Æ Kwai Chun Road Æ Tong Me Road
Convertional Prius Average Fuel Economy (L/100
km)
Bridge Æ Princess Road West Æ Nathan Road Æ
Prius G3 Fuel Eonomy (L/ 100km) at Eco Mode Head Office Æ Kadoorie Hill Avenue Æ Princess
Road Æ Lai Chi Kwok Road Æ Mei Foo Æ Tsing Yi
7.0 Vehicle Workshop
6.0 • Road condition: flat terrain with an average speed of
5.0 40-50km/hr
4.0
• Driving conditions: Air-conditioning auto at 24 deg.C,
full auto EV mode
3.0
2.0
Table 2. Comparison of fuel consumption before and after
1.0
conversion
0.0 HEV PHEV
TYVW Gold Tai Mo Tai Mo TYVW Test Scenarios (Before (After
(0km) Coast (18 Shan Foot Shan (65km) Conversion) Conversion)
km) (40km) Peak
(46km) Fuel Consumption Rate (L/100km)
6.6 5.1
Tough drive 46 km

Fig. 8. Result of road test fuel consumption -tough drive.
• Test Route: Tsing Yi Vehicle Workshop Æ Tsing Yi
North Æ Tuen Mun Road Æ Gold Coast Æ Tai Mo
Shan Ridge Æ Tai Mo Shan Country Park Æ Tai Mo
Shan Peak Æ Tsing Yi Vehicle Workshop (TYVW)
• Road condition: 10% hill climbing plus 30% range
with average speed greater than 60km/hr
• Driving conditions: Air-conditioning auto at 24 deg.C,
full auto EV mode
• Around 5kWh charge per trip
Fuel Consumption Rate (L/100km)
5.7 0
City drive 12 km
Fuel Consumption Rate (L/100km)
5.5 2.4
City drive 24 km
It appears that the PHEV achieved zero fuel consumption
during the city drive test route between Tsing Yi Vehicle
Workshop and Kadoorie Hill Avenue as compared to fuel
consumption rate (FCR) of 5.7 L/100km in case of HEV. As
the drive range was increased from 12km to 24km in the
city drive test route, the FCR was decreased to 2.4 L/100km
as the 6.1 kWh battery pack was fully depleted along the
route. It was also observed the FCR had been improved in
184 The Conversion of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

tough drive test route after the PHEV conversion as the braking lining, etc would be significantly improved in the
stored electric energy in the battery pack was consumed to long run. Based on the recent maintenance and reliability
minimize the use of the engine. As far as the drive range is records of these 6 PHEVs, there is no significant
longer the fuel consumption performance of PHEV will maintenance and reliability issue reported.
approach that of HEV owing to the limited capacity of its
battery pack.
5. Challenges
4.2 Performance enhancement under daily operation
tables The following are the challenges that CLP has faced and
tackled for the Plug-in Conversion project:
Subsequent to the above road tests, the PHEVs were put
into daily real time fleet usage conditions to further 5.1 Cost
observe its fuel efficiency performance. It was observed
that enhanced fuel economy would be achieved by Plug-in Conversion of HEVs requires additional and
selecting appropriate driving ranges for the PHEV, expensive components. Larger, heavier, and more costly
recharging adequately, avoiding stiff climb and having batteries are required to extend the vehicle range in pure
green driving behaviors. Fuel consumptions of 6 units of electric mode. Extra control units and chargers are also
Prius before and after the conversion are shown below. added to support the plug-in process. The cost of converting
Fuel consumption savings up to 43% was achieved in one a HEV Prius into a PHEV is about 1/3 the initial purchase
PHEV and there was no less than 10% fuel consumption price. The justifications of such conversion exercise would
as seen in all the cases. In conjunction to fuel savings, have to be assessed and presented with respect to extension
the CO2 emission reduction from these 6 PHEVs is also of vehicle life, fuel cost savings, maintenance savings and
appreciable and encouraging as less fossil fuel has been above all, significant reduction of CO2 emission and road
used. side air pollution.

8 5.2 Battery Size and Performance

F uel co ns um p ti o n (L/ 100k m )

7
43% The size and weight of the replacement power battery
6 12 17%
35% 15% pack for the PHEV conversion poses another challenge to
5 32%
4
the design and operation of the converted vehicle. The
3
increase in axle loadings has to be well balanced and space
2
has to be vacated to house the battery pack. The solution
1
was to sacrifice one passenger capacity and to leave out the
0
spare tyre. It is expected that more satisfactory solution will
V e hic V e hic V e hic V e hic V e hic V e hic
be available when higher density Lithium battery can be
le 1 le 2 le 3 le 4 le 5 le 6

B e f o re 4 .8 7 7 .13 5 .17 5 .4 1 5 .5 7 6 .0 2
used with compact weight to energy ratio [4].
C o nv e rs io n
3 .2 9 4 .0 9 3 .3 8 4 .5 8 4 .8 9 5 .0 2
A fter 5.3 Compatibility with the Original System
C o nv e rs io n

Fig. 10. Fuel economy enhanced of 6 units of Prius after The compatibility of the new hybrid energy system and
conversion (data based on CLP Power Hong Kong the new battery and BMS installed did cause some problem
Limited’s experience). with the control units, and suitable change of the default
mode of the hybrid vehicle with a sophisticated control
4.3 Maintenance & Reliability system well designed, full compatibility with the original
system was achieved and conflict signals was eliminated
The design of the conversion expects no adverse impact effectively.
on the maintenance and reliability of the vehicle.
Theoretically speaking, when the vehicle is driven only by 5.4 Warranty
the electric motor, the “wear & tear” of the engine
components as well as consumable items such as engine oil, The conversion of a vehicle may affect the warranty from
 WOO Gordon M S, MAK Chai Ming, CHENG Chi Yan and LI Jie
the original vehicle manufacturer. Some vehicle manu-
facturers may not agree to the conversion by other parties to
their vehicles. The fundamental issue is road safety of the
converted vehicle. In this regard, CLP has pursued to assist
the conversion agent to obtain third party certification of
the conversion to meet road license requirements. CLP also
make use of vehicles with warranty period expired to
undergo the certification process after conversion.
5.5 Driver Behavior Change
The objective of the conversion exercise is to allow the
vehicle to run more kilometers from the same tank of
gasoline by using electricity charged from the grid. To
achieve such demanding target, the PHEV drivers should be
well aware of and passionate in driving on pure electric
mode as much as possible and recharge the battery as often
as needed. To motivate the PHEV drivers, familiarization of
the PHEV system to improve driver’s understanding was
conducted and explained.
5.6 Emissions Shifted to Electricity Generation Plants
The conversion of a hybrid EV into PHEV enables the
vehicles to gain power from the grid. In the pure electric
mode, the PHEV would definitively bring zero emission to
the road side environment. However, part of the emissions
is shifted to the electricity generation side and critics may
comment that this is not environmentally friendly.
Nevertheless, the assessment of pure EV or PHEV’s
emissions from plant to wheel compares favorably with
conventional ICE vehicles. With cleaner fuel adoption, the
benefits will be further enhanced. It is a matter of
communication and demonstration of the real benefits that
is required to gain support from the general public and CLP
has been actively promoting this initiative in support to
HKSAR Government’s plan.
Even though a conclusion may review the main results or
contributions of the paper, do not duplicate the abstract or
the introduction. For a conclusion, you might elaborate on
the importance of the work or suggest the potential
applications and extensions.
6. Conclusions
This paper discussed the technical details of converting
HEV to PHEV using the Toyota Prius as an example and
CLP’s experience in such conversion has been shared.
The driving factors of the conversion are reviewed and the
185
benefits and justification of such exercise assessed.
The design of the conversion system was introduced,
particularly in details the change of components before and
after. The installation process and the performance
evaluation tests were also reported. Finally, the challenges
that CLP has met and overcome in operating the plug-in
hybrid are revealed. Based on the 6 converted PHEVs
more than 6 months of experience, it was considered that
the use of PHEV is still a viable approach to reduce carbon
emissions and improve road side air quality. Converted
PHEV or pure EVs should be supported provided third
party certification can be obtained as full commercialization
of pure EV, particularly Right Hand Drive ones, is still not
yet readily available.
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of HKSAR (2010), API Monthly Summary - March 2010,
http://www.epd-asg.gov.hk/english/apisum/apisum
186 The Conversion of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

_detail20103.html Ir CY Cheng obtained his BEng and

[11] Tech Pro Shop Limited & Plug-in Hybrid Corporation Msc in the Department of Electrical
(2010), Proposal for Plug-in Hybrid Conversion Engineering from the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. He joined
CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd. (CLPP)
Ir Gordon M S Woo received educa- as a Graduate Trainee and is now
tion and trained as an electrical working as the Transport Support
engineer in Hong Kong. After gradua- Manager in Power Systems Business Group. Ir Cheng is a
tion, he joined CLP Power Hong Kong Chartered Electrical Engineer, Corporate Member of IET
Ltd. and worked in different streams and HKIE. Being as an internal services provider, he is
and held different posts, mainly in currently responsible for overseeing the entire asset life
substation implementation and net- cycle management comprising the procurement,
work development at various transmission and distribution maintenance and repair, and disposal of the CLPP motor
power systems. He had been appointed as Power fleet ranging from private vehicles to extra-heavy tractors
Engineering Manager and transferred to CLP Engineering and trailers. Recently, Ir Cheng has also involved in the
Ltd., a subsidiary of The CLP Group, in 2003. After technical development on variety of new Electric Vehicles
working in CLP Engineering for four years, he returned to which are under evaluation in CLP.
CLP Power in early 2008 and worked in West Region and
Asset Management Department respectively. In April 2010,
he joined Finance & Business Support Department as Ms. Li Jie, Jessica obtained her
Senior Logistics & Transport Manager. His primary Bachelor’s degree in Building En-
responsibilities include establishment of material manage- vironment and Equipment Engineering
ment strategies and fleet management policies. He has from Harbin Engineering University,
over 25 years of experience in electric power industry. He Master’s degree in Automotive
has also involved in various management activities, Engineering Design from Hong Kong
including Business Process Reengineering, Change Polytechnic University. She is cur-
Management and Quality Development. Gordon is a rently Technical Support Officer – Electric Mobility
Registered Professional Engineer and a Chartered Electrical Development of CLP Power Hong Kong Limited,
Engineer. He is active in various learned societies activities specialized in EV charging infrastructure and adoption in
of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) and Hong Kong.
serves the Institution as a Council Member. He is a
Fellow Member of the HKIE and a Corporate Member of
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Ir C M Mak his extensive experience

in the Electric Vehicles (EV) industry,
Ir CM Mak was the Head of Electric
Mobility Development of CLP Power
Hong Kong Limited and responsible
for EV adoption and development
from 2010 to 2011. He was Secretary
General of the Electric Vehicles Association of Asia Pacific
from 1996 to 1999 and Technical Program Co-chairman of
the International EV Symposium held in Beijing in 1999. Ir
Mak was also System Operation Manager in charge of
CLP’s Power System Control Centre between 1997 and
2010.