Prius Plug-in vs Buying Regular Prius with Solar Roof

In Arizona, you might be better off with the solar roof and lower cost

 

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PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge your car!

 

and you think with a 20 mile drive, there will be enough savings by paying $2000 more? And you think living in a climate that averages 110+ degrees in the summer would not benefit from having a solar roof?

 

I didn't know this thread was about you

 

whereas the non plug in uses the HV battery. what's your point?

 

I don't have anger issues, your 2 cents relates to you in Michigan

 

I've had both a PIP and the non-PIP. I get better mileage with the PIP, even when the ev is gone. It has a greater tendency to glide, even when the EV is used up. The base model you are looking at does not have the nicer drivers seat of the advanced PIP. I'm guessing the solar roof car has a nicer interior and probably a nicer stereo (and NAV?). It's probably not possible to justify the higher cost of the PIP in this case, given how few EV miles it has.

 

I would get the solar.

 

Try to test drive both of these cars. Do NOT simply purchase a plug-in based upon "free" charging stations. That is a rather foolish basis to purchase the car. Rather, if it has a good reliability record, properly maintained, and suits your needs, pay an independent mechanic or someone who knows about the Prius and offers their opinion, then go for it.

DBCassidy

 

Go with the regular (solar) Prius. Save on initial purchase, more options, and you'll still get excellent mileage without the need to charge.

 

My recommendation is buy the cheaper one because these cars depreciate in value very fast!

 

The Plug-in is interesting as you could maybe do lots of miles of miles on electrons. But I think you should only buy a plug-in if you are committed to the concept. In other words, if you have to ask, get the regular car. If I got a plug-in I would think about hooking up some solar to get free electrons, but what I am saying is you need to have some "drive" for the plug-in. PiP is plug-in-lite so it's basically plug-in optional. But you lose a spare tire and a little space. It might not give you as high as MPG as it is a heavier car, so I would not get it unless I planned to try plugging in. Exception is CA where the green HOV sticker is the priority for many.

 

i would only buy the plug in if you want to drive ev, it will cost you more money, not save it.

 

The OP didn't say whether she had an apartment or house. If she lives in apartment, then its a no brainer. Get the Prius with the Solar Roof. It would get a little irritating to have hunt for a plug all the time if she can't easily charge it. And the PiP has no spare. Apartment living makes DIY a little more challenging. She also didn't say whether her commute is mostly highway or across a city. For mostly highway and living in an apartment then again a regular Prius with the Solar Roof makes more sense.

But none of this really answered her question,
Yes the PiP is worth more because well it's a PiP and there's just not that many of them, so it would be somewhat of a novelty. It's also newer and has fewer miles. So in the long run it'll bring a better trade-in value.

 

I have a pip but I would say it depends on your commute
If u do a lot of in town driving like I do back and forth to work I think getting the plug in is great
If the commute is a lot of highway driving go for the regular one
But test drive both they r a lot cheaper now.

 

My initial thought was to get neither and buy a regular Prius, thinking that was the more economical way to go. However, some quick math...

If you pay a $2,000 premium for the PiP, then at $3 per gallon that would buy you 666 gallons of gas. At 50 MPG, that $2,000 savings will get you 33,333 miles on gasoline.

If your electricity were free, your payback period would be at 33,333 EV miles. The payback period will be higher if you have to pay for electricity.

In my case, I have on average paid 6.84 cents per mile driven on gasoline ($3.42/gal divided by 50 MPG) in the Prius. At my 8 cents per kWh for electricity, I pay 1.71 cents per mile driven on electricity. Electricity is 1/4 the cost of gasoline in my region. I would have to drive about 39,000 EV miles to recover the $2,000 price premium. At 14 miles per charge, it would take me 2,786 charges to go 39,000 EV miles. If I can charge twice per day, it would take me nearly 4 years to recover the price premium. Likely longer since I don't always use 100% of the EV range every time I drive.

From a financial standpoint, it depends on if you can charge at work, how long you intend to keep the vehicle, and what electricity and gas has historically averaged. That said, people don't really make financial decisions so much as emotional ones. Get the vehicle that will give you the most happiness per dollar.