Things We'd Like To See on PHEV Prius

As the PHEV isn't in final form yet and Toyota likes to be responsive to its customers' needs, I thought it would be wise to create a "wish list" of features we'd like to see on the upcoming PHEV. We just finished a 2,550 mile trip and the things we want in our next Prius were on our minds. So, here's my contribution to get the ball rolling.

(I hope this hasn't been covered before. If so, feel free to delete or combine with the earlier thread.)

1. Ability to plug-in and leave for 6 or 7 months. We have 2 homes and we'd like to be able to leave a Prius, on a charger of some kind, at each location while we're away. Our 2009s have to be run every few months (at least) to keep the traction battery charged, which means we have to return to Colorado in the bitter cold winter and to Arizona in the blazing hot summer just to charge up the traction battery.

2. A 30 or 40-mile EV range. IIRC, this is what you get with the Hymotion setup. It would work a lot better for our normal driving pattern.

3. Regen Available for Entire Battery. It would be a deal killer for me if 2/3s of the battery refused to recharge through regen once that portion was spent. We drive a lot of mountain roads and it seems possible, even likely, that the larger-capacity battery would be spent on the way up but would fully recharge on the long steep downhill sections.

4. Ability to Select Recharge Mode While Driving. In our mountain driving, we know when we're approaching a long or steep grade (often they're both long and steep). I'd like to be able to choose a mode that tells the engine to work a little harder and really get the battery charged up in preparation for the long steep grade ahead. Often, there are several such uphill grades in a row and too little distance between them to recharge the battery. As it is, I normally have to tackle those mountain passes with a half-full battery (or less) which peters out part way up. Then, the ICE races just to go 55.

5. Ability to Get Leather for Any Package. I like leather interior and am willing to pay for it. But I don't want to have to buy some expensive options that I don't want just to get leather.

Feel free to add to the list.

 

Good additions. I'd especially like to have more info displayed.

There are a lot of little reasons we don't want someone to drive our Priuses while we're away: we live on the remote edge of town in both places; our AZ neighborhood is a ghost town in the summer; not everyone knows how to operate a Prius; we turn off the power to our garage doors and latch them when we're away; and, we'd have to give someone a key to our homes. No one thing is too bad but, in combination, we just prefer to leave our homes buttoned-up.

If we could leave a Prius in each place, then my wife could get the convertable she's always wanted and we would just drive it back-and-forth between CO and AZ and we'd still have 2 cars wherever we were. As it is, we drive both Priuses to both places; that's two 841 mile trips two times every year - 3,364 miles total.

 

Interesting question. I'd go for after market as long as it didn't impair the factory warranty. After all, after market leather is a viable option.

 

I don't think it would be all that hard. The PHEV already has a plug and charger for the traction battery so all Toyota needs to do is add a chip that tells it to run a test once a day and, if the battery SOC is down by some predetermined amount, then top it up. That's what my $60 Deltran Optimates do and I leave cars and a scooter on them for 6 months at a time.

You may be right, but my list was partly aspirational.

We don't live "in" the mountains but are surrounded by mountains and regularly drive up and over them. Our most recent trip, through CO, NM, AZ, CA, NV and UT, was almost continuous mountain driving. On the last stretch, from Grand Junction to Denver, we climbed for about 2 hours straight, including two very steep mountain passes (Vail and Loveland) then descended for about 1 hour. It would have been easy to recharge even a larger Lithium battery with regen. Moreover, the number of charge/discharge cycles is reduced if the battery is bigger.

You haven't driven over Rocky Mountain passes much, have you? Keeping up momentum isn't going to do it when you have a gentle 30 to 100 mile climb (where your battery only gets up to about 50 - 60% charged), followed by an 8-mile long steep climb (battery depleted 1/3 of the way up), followed by a 5 to 10-mile descent (battery gets back to 60%), then followed by another 8 mile long very steep climb (battery depleted 1/4 of the way up). Also, keeping momentum up is impossible if a slow poke semi or motor home pulls out to pass an even slower vehicle. Once you slow down, you can push the gas pedal as hard as you want and never get back up to speed.

Maybe Toyota should make a "mountin driving option package" available for those of us who have to deal with that kind of driving. OTOH, a selectable "mountain mode" would do just fine for me.