Value of a PIP with 38 mile one-way commute?

The PiP charges at the same 12A rate that almost all plugin cars do at 120v (2013 Chevy Volt defaults to 8A but can be changed at the center console screen in the car to use 12A).

12A at 120v is about 1.4 kW. Some outlets may supply a slightly lower voltage. So, at 110v and 12A a PiP would draw about 1.3 kW. When charging at 208/240v, the PiP draws just under 10A instead of 12A. It presumably does this to put less stress on the battery. Larger battery packs in the Volt/LEAF/Tesla can absorb higher total power during charging. A PiP battery can absorb more power than this during short periods of regenerative braking but for a long and continuous battery charge it enhances battery life to charge slower.

At either 120v (12A) or 208/240 (9-10A) the PiP will draw a fixed amperage so the actual supply voltage multiplied by the Amperage current that the car draws will determine to total actual power in kW.

 

There's something going on in the charging that I don't understand, because right now my PiP is charging on a 120v circuit. The kill-a-watt reports a 11.65A and ~1.35kW at ~114v under load. The car though reports a charge rate of only 0.9kW. I thought there must be something going on with the power factor, but the kill-a-watt reports a PF of .99-1. Where is that extra 0.4kW going?

 

Some of that is probably due to AC/DC conversion and general battery charging inefficiency which is typically around 15%. The difference between 1.35 kW and 0.9 kW is larger than that.

Some of it could be due to metering calibration and (in)accuracy. Maybe the PiP is reporting the average charge rate for a full battery charge session rather than the instantaneous charge kW? In other words, maybe it's reporting a lower kW level because it is including the last 10-15 minutes of a full charge session when the charging rate drops by at least half when the battery is almost full? I don't know....

 

You & I are in CA. The state's AQMD works hard to implement policies that both decrease congestion, and reduce fuel use (car pool, van pool, plugins). Even Utility companies (here, it is SoCal Edison) are implementing free charging for their employees. Several other counties, as well as other state's counties are doing the same thing. It's a nice incentive that not only reduces transportation-fuel consumption, and our state pays certain fees to businesses/agencies in order to encourage plugin's. What better way to encourage plugin purchases than having a place to plug in when you get to work. That effectively doubles a plugin's daily commute. But you're right ... you can't assume all areas will do the logical / reasonable thing.
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My portable EVSE can in fact do more than that:
It is a 2013 LEAF EVSE upgraded by EVSE-Upgrade to dual voltage (auto-detecting). They have added also the feature that it tells the car charger what amperage is available and it is programmable from 6A to maximum (in my grid it is 24A) in 1A increments.
I have not tried it yet (limiting to less than the 9.5A the charger is rated) but intend to do it when e.g. I am at friends with an old outlet that they do not know its rating and condition.

 

Good. 1 and 3 are positives for me as I want to purchase a USA made product. I prefer a longer EV range.

 

"Just Driving It", she would probably get between 55-60 MPG on the RT. Particularly if she can't charge at work. I'm in a similar situation, and I get around 65-67 MPG. I employ a number of strategies to get the most out of my EV miles, however. Plus, I am downhill all the way (30.1 miles)to work from about 700ft to sea level. So I can regenerate on hills, giving me far more than the typical 12-15 miles of EV. I generally end up with 6-8 miles of EV left when I get to work, and that gets me about 25% gasless miles on the way home.

If I compare my current mileage to the Prius II I drove before, my mileage increase is a little less than 20%.

Is this a good fit for you? I can't say. The highest and best use for these cars, I think, is using them primarily within their EV range and only occasionally for trips outside that range. I'm sure this can - and will - be debated. I'm not sorry I bought the PiP, but temper your expectations if you are in a moderately long distance commute situation.

 

Don't forget that a lot of people are buying the PiP for about the same price as a regular Prius III. That changes the equation greatly.

 

I pretty much do this exact commute 5 days a week. I've had my PIP since September of 2012 and this is what I have generally recorded:

My commute is from RSM to Norwalk at 41 miles each way: With a general speed of 65-80 mph I average 44-48 mpg without a charge. With a charge at that speed I will generally get about 57 mpg.

On days when I go conservative I can get 15 miles on electric partly due to re-charge going down a hill. Driving in the right lane at 62 mph cruise control the best I have ever recorded for the commute was 103 mpg with an average of 97 mpg.

Outside of a few Vegas trips my car is mostly just used for my work commute and with an 82 mile per day round trip I generally budget $175.00 for gas (never fill up in Orange County - Cheaper in Norwalk by .20 cents ). I have never had a month of fuel cost going over $200.00. Usually I drive about 1850-2000 miles per month. Considering my previous car was a Mazda 3 and the gas bill was $450+ the PIP was a great investment for me. Biggest benefit outside of the gas savings: 90% of my commute in the HOV lane!

 

I have a PiP and I had a standard Gen III and I can tell you that the PiP always exceded the fuel mileage of the standard in all situations.

 

Okay so I had massive driving to do yesterday.. Probably about 70-80 miles total. One charge at home before I left.

After my EV ran out, I reset the MPG counter and used P&G and DWL. Was getting 80 mpg until the last part of the trip where I used freeway to get back to Long Beach. That dropped me back down to 70 mpg, but not bad.

80 mpg for about 20 miles using P&G + DWL on surface streets is amazing. I was very conscious of my driving.. and it was 7:30 pm.