Any Volt owner switching over to Prius PHV?

Pip will have zero miles of rated pure EV mileage. It will blend grid power and gasoline for 15 miles til the grid power is exhausted (amount of blending depends on demand and usage, but reports on the mules had oil consumption in EV-ish around 1 gallon every 125 miles of "EV"), and will then run on pure gasoline like a conventional prius thereafter.

 

Any starting of a cold gas engine to help accelerate even under moderate load for just a few seconds will result in worse than the usual Prius emissions and inefficient gas mileage.

I don't think I ever intentionally implied that Prius is the only possible plug-in configuration available to Toyota -- it's just the only one they have talked much about. The forced blending under EV conditions is mostly (but not entirely) about the battery, not the electric motor. The other aspect is wheel speed (62 mph limitation) which might be partially about battery limits but is also a transmission design issue.

 

Toyota made a number of improvements in the phv from the demo vehicle. This includes more power available from a smaller lighter battery pack and a button that allows the driver to select EV/HV. It still remains a blended mode ev, except possibly in europe in the cityEV mode.

That is over a certain speed (100kph?) and/or power (38kw) the ice will turn on to blend gasoline power with the charged electric power. The production vehicles from all reports should be easier to stay in pure ev mode than the demo vehicles. They are still considered blended because of these limitations though.

We do not know yet if HV mode is a pure charge sustain or not. Once the charge is depleted to a certain SOC though the prius phv go into a charge sustain mode with similar attributes to the prius liftback.

 

I consider cold start when the cat converter is < 400F and/or the engine coolant temp is < 110F, at which point the car produces much greater pollution and has much lower MPG. Once the engine starts and gets things hot, then it can stop/start at lights or when the battery has sufficient charge, and such and there is minimal impact on the pollution or MPG.

The point of an EREV is to generally eliminate except for the longer trips.

 

I wish I had that dancing banana emoticon. I'm enjoying this argument.

To me, it makes no sense to even put a gas engine in a car.

 

Again, huh?

With the 2010, just seconds after pulling out of my garage, I'm already accelerating with a cold engine.

PHV reduces frequency & load. How can that be worse?
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I so look forward to taking this same drive again...



...but this time with my HD video capture equipment.

It was a morning run to the drive-thru for breakfast. The PHV started cold in my garage, leaving to climb out of the valley the down the other side to McDonald's for an Egg McMuffin. Then I turned around and drove back home. All that up & down going 45 MPH without the engine ever starting. It's was a delicious experience.
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So I guess it is frowned upon here, but I have to say I think they both made good decisions. The vehicles are just different.

If you have a 5.2kWh battery then Toyota made the right decision about how to use it IMO. If you have a 16kWh battery then GM made the right decision about how to use it IMO. The consumer might just buy whatever is cheapest (PiP), they might buy whatever will reduce gasoline consumption most (Volt for most people though not all), they might buy whatever actually saves them the most money (neither), or they might buy whatever has a color they like, or an emblem that makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside. Consumer choices don't validate or invalidate engineering decisions. They validate or invalidate business decisions.

 

To me, it makes no sense to trade in a one year- old car in order to obtain a very minor potential savings in fuel economy.

 

Ahh under 300 calories Egg McMufffin and no gas, I'm lovin' it!

The delicious experience of pure EV is surprising mind altering. I was unsure about the Volt (vs Tesla vs PiP vs Leaf), and my Honda was still going strong with at least 5 years left in it. I got to test drive a Volt long before they would be available in my state, and I was hooked. Tried the Leaf, which was also nice, but it did not have the range I needed. Ran my numbers and within 2 weeks of the test drive, I had my Volt. Was not expecting it, but after the drive that was it.

Gald the Prius PHV will work for you, and expect it is the better choice for many people. Just not for me. They are both good cars, and glad to see both of them on the market. More good choice mean more people switching from regular cars.

 

I actually test drove a Volt for the first time yesterday, I really wanted to buy it, and I was ready to as well, I had my 2010 Prius V apraised at Carmax, had an offer on it, and I was ready to make a deal at the local Chevy dealer, they even had a fully loaded 2012 Blue Volt I was ready to buy... However, the big problem I had? I could not get into the Volt easily. I am a big guy (not tall, but heavy), I was not able to sit in the seat and swivel into the car without my head hitting the roofline. I have to "propel" myself head first and slide in. That's not really practical, if you can't open the drivers door all the way (for example, in a tight parking space). I had to pretty much forget about the Volt, sadly. Perhaps if I lose some signifigant weight, I will be flexable enough to get into the Volt, but as of now, I just can't do it.



P.S. I have no issue at all getting into my 2010 Prius...

 

Oh well.. guess that makes your decision easy. if its doesn't fit you musta quit


The seats can be adjusted up and down by a leaver on the side. (in case the person showing you did not explain that).. but the seats are shaped so may still not work.

 

The seats where adjusted as low as they go, and also as far back as possible as well (so much so there was zero leg room behind the driver for a rear seat passenger)

The Volt was just not designed well for larger people.

 

Honestly that is one of the things I most dislike about the Prius seats. To me they feel like a bench seat from an old pickup that has been cut in half. There is very little bolstering which I find unfortunate.

 

Getting in the Prius was #3 on my list of why I bought one.
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...502-2010-prius-school-project.html#post979468

 

That's exactly the same problem I had with the VOLT. I'm not a big guy either - only 6'.

 

Yes, I really wanted to buy the Volt, since I've determined that the Leaf I ordered (and declined) is not a good 1 car solution for me. I'm not sure the PiP has enough EV range to be worthwhile for me to trade in my 2010 Prius, so there are now no other options, other than me losing weight, so I'm more nimble/flexible (which I need to do anyway), or waiting for a Tesla Model S (very pricey), or a Fisker Karma (pricey and horrible extended range mileage). I just might have to wait for the next generation Toyota PiP with a larger EV range, or the Volt II (if there is one)

 

It isn't worse than a Prius, but will likely be worse than the Volt in most drives. That's the point.

 

Item number 3 is limited by the maximum battery output power which is quite a bit less than the rating of MG2. The Toyota brochure given to the media at the Franfurt Auto Show in the Fall of 2011, where the PiP was officially unveiled, stated that the maximum battery output of the PiP was the same 27 kW as the regular 3rd generation Prius. MG2 is rated at 60 kW. I've seen folks here say the real maximum output (perhaps momentary vs sustained?) of the PiP battery is 38 kW but I'm not sure offhand where that number came from (EDIT: the source is ken1784 who saw an unofficial Toyota sales staff briefing manual -- See http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-...s-plug-in-product-info-pdf-8.html#post1420329).