I had about 79,500 miles on my car when I began modifying it. MIMA or Manual Integrated Motor Assist, was the first modification to the car. MIMA hacked directly into the control system of the car to allow me to use the electric motor as I chose. I used a Microchip PIC processor for the final version,it has analog i/o,plenty of digital I/O and with the flash memory, allows in the field reprogramming.
MIMA allows full assist and regen control of the electric part of the hybrid drive. It consist of a microcontroller based circuit board that ties into the cars harnesses. This new level of control allows the driver to use the assist and regen more effectively than the stock system, mostly due to their ability to see the road ahead, and to anticipate the known terrain of ones daily commute. The system also monitors some of the key signals like battery current in and out of the pack, battery pack temperature, throttle, and MAP signals.
Feedback is via an led display that can be configured for many different mounting positions. The actual control of the system is via a small joystick. Dual controls are possible, so one can mount one control on the shifter, and another where it is convenient during highway cruising. The MAP signal which represents engine vacuum, is tied into the Programmable mode of MIMA called PIMA. This allows operation from the throttle much like the stock system, but with the ability to adjust the MPG that assist and regen activate at, to allow tuning for your typical commute.
The result is between 10-20% MPG improvement