An AustinEV member, Andrew Donoho, has volunteered his 2004 Toyota Prius for checking out the EV mode option from Coastal Electronic Technologies. The option enables operation of the vehicle without gasoline up to speeds of 34-35mph, and to a deeper battery discharge level than the Prius would otherwise allow.

This option is actually a standard feature in the Prius, almost everywhere it’s sold except the United States, where Toyota must continue to defend the stigma it’s campaigned to place on battery-powered vehicles. After a false start, we ended up getting the retrofit device installed, and it worked exactly as advertised.

Pictures posted here.