Prius Plug-in Hybrid Gets Improved 95 MPGe Rating

This is good news. However, despite my belief that the Prius is a better purchase than the Volt when considering its price and [gas] mileage and size, even though it is just one MPG worse in this weird mpge mode, for many people it would still consume appreciably more gas depending on how they use it; we can't forget that its electric range is, best case, half of the Volt's.

That 230MPG sign from Volt pissed me off the first time I saw it. I have to say it left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. It was beyond skewing, it was simply deceit. Even if they were using an incredibly flawed number calculation that EPA was thinking of allowing it was ridiculous.

 

Mark, can you fix the original post? The new Prius PHV 95 MPGe is 1 number higher than Volt's 94 MPGe.

 

...at the moment electric is 2-3x cheaper than gaso to go the same distance in EV. In other words, electricity is relatively cheap source of energy right now - I am not saying cleaner - just saying cheaper.

 

The footnote said "51 city/49 highway/50 combined mpg estimates".

49 MPG highway? That's 1 MPG better than the liftback no-plug Prius.

 

Looks like you just about nailed it with your estimation 2 weeks ago, drinnovation.

 

Who was going to focus on EV exclusively anyway?

After all, that's why efficiency information is presented this way:



Heck, even the consumption summary is stated in terms of MPG:



The plug will enhance the motor & engine system, not replace it.

Prius is a hybrid.
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I expected 200-300 Wh per mile. 11 miles EV range is 273 Wh/mi. Most owners may end up driving at lower city speed and use gas for higher speed to keep 200 Wh/mi and get 15 miles.

We still need to know the blended range. Will it be the same 11 miles or higher?

 

See my calcs here: http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/showpost.php?p=1471517&postcount=46

There's no way the PiP is getting 273 Wh/mi on the EPA rating, it's more like 355 Wh/mi.

What's "blended range"? There's an infinite number of way to blend EV/gas on the Prius, so the "blended range" will vary highly. Probably better to think of it as adding 11 miles of gas free driving to whatever you're doing.

 

I've been saying all along that the EPA number would likely be 10 but I wasn't assuming any gasoline use:

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-...pg-plug-in-prius-seems-low-2.html#post1392394

I'm looking forward to not having to correct bogus comparisons between the PiP with "15 miles" and the Volt with "35 miles" of EV range.

From now on I assume people will start using the EPA electric range estimates of 11* and 35.

*electricity plus gasoline combined range estimate

 

Why wouldn't we see the plug as a MPG boost instead?
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That's not constructive either.

GALLONS and KWH consumed is the only appropriate comparison approach.

How else would you consider real-world data anyway?
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11 miles is the blended range.

 

You are estimating Wh/mi but don't account for how much gas was used and when, which is useless unless all you care about is measuring electric usage per mile (ignoring gas).

One cannot compare such an estimate to other reported wh/mi unless they were tested on the same test. The fact it is the Prius PHV uses 95MPGe for those 11 miles (which is just what I estimated earlier) is its measure of energy usage on the EPA test. On a JC08 test, which is much simpler test, any car will use less energy.

 

Thanks. I was not home and Toyota mobile site does not show that. I do see it now. So it is 95 MPGe for 11 miles and then 50 MPG.

Of course, you can ration the battery with the EV<->HV button to optimize both fuels. The MID provides the EV/HV ratio as well. There is a lot of fun games to play.

 

It's really going to be a challenge getting into plug verses no-plug discussions without someone interjecting something about a vehicle other than Prius.

Of course on the GM forums, even if no one says a peep about Prius, it is assumed to be the point of reference... since that has become standard to which all else is measured.

PHV is what I've been looking forward to for years. That battery-pack is sized big enough to give a substantial MPG boost but still small enough to be affordable as a package choice. So, I'm really looking forward to contributing to that topic.
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That's not right because 95 MPGe contains some gas. 33.7 kWh (gallon equivalent) / 50 MPG = 673 Wh/mi using gas.

Japanese Prius full charge is 3kWh per charge so pure EV is 273 Wh/mi.

We know the blended is rated 95 MPGe and it comes out to 355 Wh/mi.

The equation should be like this:

273X + 673Y = 355