by Sebastian Blanco on Dec 22nd 2008

The Plug-In Conversions Corporation (PICC), founded by Kim Adelman, was started 19 months ago in order to sell conversion kits to that gave a Prius a plug. PICC announced this week that the battery company Gold Peak Industries North America has acquired an equity stake in PICC and will give the fledgling company a broader reach. The new team will move to offer conversion kits wherever Gold Peak batteries are sold. PICC will offer kits for vehicles that are not called the Prius, as well. The press release talks about "other hybrids made by Toyota and those sold by Ford and GM." The plan is to have 10 new installers signed up in 2009.

The first PHEV Prius with Gold Peak Batteries will be on display at the 2009 San Diego International Auto Show that starts on New Year's Eve. This $12,500 conversion kit swaps out Toyota's standard 1.3kWh NiMH battery pack with a 6.1kWh pack and allows the car can go 25 miles on electric power. A little over a year ago, Adelman was talking about an 8-mile range from his $8,000 plug-in Prius conversion kits. We spoke with him at EVS23 about his Nilar nickel-metal hydride packs and other expensive kits.