Initial thoughts on 2010 Prius Plug-In

I really need to be "educated."

I ordered the 2001 Prius before they were at the dealers.
My wife ordered the 2004 before they were at the dealers.
I did the same again for the 2010 (right after the SF event).

In case you are wondering...there is a pattern here.

I really am the ideal test case...my commute is 6.5 miles each way. (I'm not kidding!) And then some days I need to drive more.

3PriusMike (one of each so far...but I did sell the 2001)

 

My commute is 15 km each way, although I don't have any place to plug my car in at work. Still, it would be interesting for me to see the cost of charging.

One thing to consider though is when to plug in. My power will have tiered pricing depending upon the time of day:

Summer
Peak is 11 am to 5 pm (9.3¢ per kWh)
Mid price is 7 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 10 pm (8¢ per kWh)

Winter
Peak is 7 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 9 pm (9.3¢ per kWh)

However, there are extra delivery charges on top of that.

Nonetheless, it seems your $250 seems like a reasonable ballpark number. It's not as if I'm going to go outside every night at 10 pm to plug in the car. It would cost me half as much for electricity, but I couldn't be bothered to save the extra 15¢ per day.

Which brings me to my main point... I got my Prius 2004 and Prius 2001 because they were cool cars, had a normal distance range, were good on gas, and functions as a normal car. The plug-in Prius is even cooler, has a normal distance range, will be even better on gas, but will not quite function as a normal car if you want the benefits of the plug-in.

I for one will likely not get the plug-in, because it won't be worth the hassle for me, esp. during the winter. I can't imagine enjoying the car so much if it's -20C outside and I have to trudge through the snow to find that extension cord to plug in the car. (I don't have a garage.) It reminds me too much of the old days in Saskatchewan when we plugged in our battery blankets. Just annoying.

Well, I lie... If it was a $1000 premium, I'd consider it. If it's a $3000 premium, I won't.

 

Wow! do you find plugging in your cell phone every night a real drag?
Any 110 volt outlet will do it, I really don't see the hassle.

 

i agree... gotta learn to walk before you can run.

initial product launches of anything will have some hiccups and EV's are no different. its like cars back at the turn of the century.

great idea, but other than Michigan, there was no roads fit for a car. they had to settle for old horse and wagon trails. thankfully, people continued to stick with the automobile.

hopefully the pitfalls of EV operation will be tolerated until the technology matures. its not hard to envision smart charging systems where you simply park at a charge station and the battery charges by induction and automatically debits your account accordingly. but like i said; gotta walk first

 

The biggest problem I can see with the plug-in Prius is....

....remembering to unplug it before you drive off in the morning!

I foresee in years to come PriusChat littered with post's about "ripping the cable out again".

Seriously, I like the idea, but it might be Prius IV before the wife let's me change my car again.

 

LOL - luckily, they've already thought of that - any mass produced EV won't move unless it's unplugged first.

 

I am glad you don't mind. And I am very happy that you have a stable life and can go home and plug in every night. Great. I believe we have to start somewhere. And I believe that eventually, plug ins will be the way to go.

I plug in my cell phone every night because I don't have a choice. It is a pain. My life is complicated enough without worrying about it. I have a wall charger at my office, in my car, in my bedroom, in my kitchen and in my family room so I don't have to remember to charge it. That is in addition to USB ports on the computers - I have an iphone.

A 4-10 year committment to plug in my car every night will drive me crazy. You also have to remember that people who can shell out $40,000 for a car probably do not really need to save $2 a night. This is merely to make a token statement to say "I am green." On the other hand, if the HOV lane is accessible to a plugin, I'll gladly plug in just for the pleasure of zipping by people in the slow lane.

I hope you can see my point of view, as I am trying to understand your point of view.

 

ya, i got your point...or your question "what is in it for me?"

well, there might not be enough "in it" for you. we all have our needs, requirements and acceptable level of compromise.

 

Think outside the box!

What if the $30K+ car had a $1 timer in it so that you could setup the time to start or end charging? For example, you could say that you wanted it to be fully charged by 6am and it would start at the correct time. Plus you could have a one-time instant override button that you press to start charging right away.

3PriusMike

 

Or how about an induction coil built-in to the driveway that entergizes when it "senses" the EV car? Just park the car in one spot overnight and it's charged. Viola. No plugs. No extension cords.

 

If I get this right, over 10 years the most this car would save is 950 gallons of gas. That's 13 miles * 365 days * 10 years / 50 mpg. After 10 years I would assume the battery would need to be replaced (either the current Nimh or plug in Lion battery). I'm not sure how many of those 950 would really be saved, as over 70% of electricity in the us is generated from non renewable fossil fuels.

 

That's about right. But the bigger battery and the wider range for when EV mode is allowed probably allows the overall mpg when not using the electricity from the grid to increase as well. So maybe 5 mpg increase in 150K miles would be ~300 gallons more.

It makes a lot more sense to get people who drive a 20 mpg car to buy a 30 mpg...that would save 2500 gallons over 150K miles. But for some people, probably the only way to get their attention is for some people to have cars that are getting 75 or 100 mpg(effective)


3PriusMike

 

The nice thing about electricity is that the grid is getting "greener" all the time.

Electricity from coal and petroleum is down 12.6% and 7.8% respectively this year. Nuclear is about the same, natural gas is is up 3% and wind is up 27%.

Huge gain for wind, though admittedly, renewables (biomass, geothermal, solar and wind) currently only account for 3.6% of the power from the grid.

 

It's good know that they are thinking of these thing's. :thumb:

Right, start saving up for an electrician to install an outdoor power point by the driveway.

(Before you ask, there is lots of new lovely legislation about who can do electrical work on your house, now in the UK )

 

Sorry everyone for diving back a few pages but I didn't have time last night to write anything.

Has a former common-rail diesel owner may I give a word of advice.

Personally it depressed me no end to read on forum's like this, fellow CR-diesel owners (of all makes) sorry tales of limping back or having so be transported back to dealers to have their cars fixed yet again, with a catalogue of problems:
Diesel particle filters blocked.
Exhaust gas recirculation valves blocked.
Duel Mass flywheels shattering (some after only 40,000 miles!).
Turbo's failing.
Injectors needing replacement.
High pressure fuel pumps going belly up.
Etc, etc.

An additional word of warning, I don't know what the winter weather is like where you live but if it goes below minus 10 C, don't buy cheap low quality diesel or the wax will come out of solution and block up your fuel filter!

But you are right you will not hear any creaks from the A3's trim....

....over the clatter of the engine on a cold winter's morning.

Good luck....me I'll stick to petrol / electric from now on.

 

deleted. Posted twice by mistake.