My commute to work every day is 10 miles. With rising gas prices in CA, I was wondering if it makes financial sense to trade in my 2012 Prius 3 (5500 miles) for a base model PiP? Based on my research, CA residents get $4000 the tax rebate. How much do you think I would get for the trade-in? I'm also currently paying 2.9% APR. It looks like 0%APR may be available for the PiP. Looking for any input to help me make my decision. FYI, I did purchase my current Prius 3 from Dianne (excellent experience!) Maybe you can help me answer this as well.
It's gonna be expensive, you certainly won't make up the cost difference in fuel savings, check with Diane and let us know the result.
i think the ev experience is worth it and you'll make up the difference as gas prices continue to rise.
Your research seems to be a bit off. CA residents get $1500 cash from the state and up to $2500 tax rebate from the IRS. TFS is also offering $1500 cash back for Tier 1, 1+ buyers with 0% APR for 60 months. Last I checked, Dianne was selling PiPs base for around $31,700 (don't quote me on this). KBB seems to suggest a trade in value of $22k or so. looks like your net cost is around $4-5k. Is it worth it to you? You also get carpool lane access. Can you charge at work? If so, you can probably eliminate gas usage on weekdays completely, that would be saving about .6 gallons per day, or 150 gallons/year. @ $4.70 (filled up today), that's a payback period of 5-6 years. Of course if fuel prices go up then it's less. Your call.
^thank you for this informative post. I had a brain fart when I was adding ($1500+$2500) for the CA resident tax credit/rebate. I didn't realize that TFS was also offering $1500 back, which makes it even sweeter. I can charge at work. I guess financially, it won't make sense since the payback period is so long, but emotionally, the thought of not going to the gas station for a month o two, access to the HOV, and the experience as bisco mentioned seems like its worth it! I've contacted Dianne. Hopefully she can give me more info on the trade-in value.
Ph33zy, I will say this.. if you are getting on the freeway you will use a lot more gas. I planned my commute around utilizing the most EV. I fill up about every 4 to 6 weeks. I did a spreadsheet on one of these forum posts about SCE cost per mile versus gas. Now that gas/petrol is this high, it absolutely makes sense to charge. Even when you hit tier 5 with SCE, you are still saving a lot.
Here is the spreadsheet I did: TIER ----- COST ----- CHARGE ----- MILES ----- CPM ----- CP50M1 ---------- 0.13 ------- 3.0 ------------- 13.5 --------- 0.03 ----- 1.442 ---------- 0.16 ------- 3.0 ------------- 13.5 --------- 0.04 ----- 1.783 ---------- 0.25 ------- 3.0 ------------- 13.5 --------- 0.06 ----- 2.784 ---------- 0.28 ------- 3.0 ------------- 13.5 --------- 0.06 ----- 3.115 ---------- 0.13 ------- 3.0 ------------- 13.5 --------- 0.07 ----- 3.56Gas ------- 3.94 ------- N/A ------------ 50.0 -------- 0.08 ----- 3.94Gas ------- 4.52 ------- N/A ------------ 50.0 -------- 0.09 ----- 4.52 (latest gas prices in my neighborhood) Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/cost-to-recharge-the-prius-plug-in.103045/page-2#ixzz28iedA8wj
Updated my first post with some more accurate info. Looks like my commute is only 9.3 miles according to Google Maps (using all city roads) and my APR is 2.9% not 1.9% as I originally thought.
Ph33zy -- if your commute is 9.3 miles all surface streets then during the week you would not need to use gas at all. I live in Long Beach and drive to Pasadena. I do 1/2 freeway, 1/2 surface streets. 30 miles commute 2 days a week. Work from home the rest of the week. As long as I don't have to drive to the west side, I use very little gas. Trips to the west side will definitely have to use gas for me. The drive up to Pasadena is all up hill. I burn about 1/3 gallon of gas going up, about 1/8 of gallon of gas return trip. Return trip gets me about 21 miles of EV. Going up, I get about 12-13.
21 is really good considering that its only rated for 11 miles EV right? You didn't do any special mods to your car did you?
Bisco is correct. I teach in the foothills of Pasadena. I get 20-22 miles of EV on the way home because it is all down hill.
