Hybrids Plus

Hybrids Plus was a company operating from 2006 to 2009 that was devoted to converting hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) to plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), including vehicle-to-grid capable PHEVs.

Hybrids Plus

Company type	Privately held company[1]
Industry	Automotive industry
Founded	2006
Founder	Carl Lawrence, Davide Andrea
Defunct	2009
Headquarters	Boulder, Colorado , United States
Products	PHEV conversions
Number of employees	20

Hybrids Plus plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius conversion with PHEV-30 (30 mile or 48 km all-electric range) battery packs

History

The company was founded July, 2006 in Boulder, Colorado to convert a Toyota Prius for the State of Colorado. In 2007 Hybrids Plus won a contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, to convert a Ford Escape, and a contract with Xcel Energy to convert 6 Escapes to V2G capable PHEVs.

In 2007 Hybrids Plus started the development of the "Inverger," a bidirectional charger and inverter for vehicle-to-grid applications, funded in part by a grant from the State of Colorado, Governor's Energy Office.^[2]

In the summer of 2008, a malfunction due to a manufacturing error in one of its Prius PHEVs conversions resulted in a fire that destroyed the vehicle.^[3] As a consequence, the company started a program to examine and upgrade each of the PHEV conversions it had manufactured. After this, only one more Prius PHEV conversion was completed and then that product line was discontinued.^[4]

Towards the end of its existence, it converted Ford Escape HEVs to PHEVs by replacing the stock battery with a PHEV battery in the original location (as opposed to augmenting the stock battery with an additional battery, as normally done by other PHEV conversions), and adding a charger and a plug.

In fall 2008, A123 Systems contracted Hybrids Plus to recall all of the vehicles it converted, and remove A123's Li-Ion cells.

In April 2009, Hybrids Plus ceased operations. Its assets were absorbed by Eetrex, a company whose owners include some of the former shareholders of Hybrids Plus.