Some real-world numbers, please.

I don't know the PiP answers for you.

I can tell you on the Volt once the original charge is depleted the car maintains a fairly low state of charge rather than using gas to recharge the battery to full, I believe it has to do with limiting cycles more than anything else. In your example of extensive regen though that would get stored in the battery. We also have a "mountain mode" that sets that state of charge a little higher so there is always reserve power for the climbing, and f you put on mountain mode once already below the SoC point it will use gas to raise the battery charge to it.

FYI your prius gets better mileage on that long run than a Volt would

 

The 5 - 10 reports I have read (including Evan and Tony) all say that battery depleted PiP MPG is about the same as Prius G2 and G3. That in itself is a bit off, since we know that G3 is about 5% more economical at 70+ speeds than the G2. That small discrepancy aside, I feel confident in saying though that the PiP is not going to put your '04 MPG on the highway to shame, and you would not think the money well spent for this reason alone.

More regen capacity is interesting, and uncertain. The beta cars have all had 3 traction packs and as mentioned only one pack took regen. Toyota has hinted that they may consolidate the arrangement but details have not been published. My sense is that if 3 packs becomes two, the larger pack used for grid charging will not take regen. In your case missing out on regen a couple mountains a year might annoy you at the time, but your annual fuel consumption will not even notice.

PiP aside, I spent a couple minutes looking at an EV SMARTcar yesterday and talking with a sales guy. The one detail that caught my attention was that right now 250 cars are being leased across the US (and my town has ONE!)
The deal is you sign up for a 4 year lease at $599 a month, but in about one year you can apply your completed payments to the purchase of a 2012 model in exchange for the car leased now. The fellow guessed that the 2012 model would retail at ~ $29k before tax subsidies. I have to admit some temptation, but more than anything I do not trust SMARTcar reliabiltiy so I will pass. The deal however is perhaps the best going if only cost to play is considered.

As an aside, I run out of regen battery capacity just about every day I drive due to an approximate 800 ft drop from home to the city or highway. The blessing of sending ICE energy produced during engine warm-up to the battery and not wasted also means I have little room in the battery for my descent a couple of minutes later.

 

I've had mine for 6 1/2 years and the dealer asked me if I ever use the brakes. Why brake when you can coast or glide?

 

I'm thinking you'd have a lot less wear if you use B on those mountain descents regardless of whether you need the regen.

 

50% wear at 32k miles, when the majority of that is highway miles would be ridiculously bad. My first car was a '92 mitsubishi gallant I got in '95. It had 100k miles on it and still had the factory brakes. I guess the guy who owned it before me mostly drove on the highway.

I'd have the breaks checked again.

Also someone mentioned using B mode going downhill and regen. My understanding from reading the manual is that B actually uses the engine to slow you down, and does not regen any more power, so you want to use it only when going down a big hill so you don't need to ride on the actual breaks ( as much ), but otherwise avoid it as it wastes energy as heat instead of charging the battery.

 

It does charge the battery. I would argue it is on par or only slightly below what you get from normal regen. Test it out and let us know how it worked for you.

 

Daniel didn't say his brake pads were at 50%, he said they (I'm assuming it was a dealer or other shop) told him his brake pads were at 50%. Big difference.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh-l74EMZcs&feature=related]YouTube - ‪Fully Charged Plug In Prius episode 008‬‏[/ame]

 

Nice Video, Slow. Thanks.

Took me awhile to figure out why Llewellen was familiar.

Scrapheap Challenge!

 

nice!

 

Speaking of real-world numbers, everybody here knows the Plug-In Prius has a 9.54 gal gas tank, right?

I was a little stunned at first but then I'm thinking the battery pack might necessitate a smaller fuel tank capacity. But then again after having a Gen II Prius for so long with its bladder, I'm use to only being able to put in only 8 or 9 gallons at a time.

 

Where does it say that the PHV Prius has a 9.54 gallon gas tank? The range on the web site is based on 9.54 gallons but it doesn't say that the tank is 9.54 gallons. When the gen 3 Prius is down to 0 miles to empty it takes about 9.54 gallons to fill it. Let's hope that they did not change the tank size.

John