Some insider notes on the 2017 Prius Prime

Hope they come up with some more inspiring colors. I'm tired of shades of gray. Bring back the Black Cherry red color.

 

Limited color choices has always been the norm at Toyota.

Just posted a link about the heavy duty Silverado in another thread for some other info, but it mentions the truck got three new colors for 2016, and they all are some shade of red.

 

2017 Toyota Prius Prime Plug-in Hybrid - Overview

 

i'm getting excited!

 

Fantastic demonstration -

 

I don't understand, missing something? Current Prius have temperature monitors and a fan.

 

someone posted that they heard there was no cooling at all.

 

If you watch the video Sergio posted you will see at least one fan and ducting. Thankyou Sergio! I too am excited. Too bad Pearl S has so few km on her. But if one of the morons I see everyday on the roads around here manages to get me, it will be "Prime time".

("Clowns to the left of me, jokers on the right!")

 

It's very easy to add an inverter to any Prius to supply emergency power. And, you can do it yourself for about $350, whereas the Toyota built-in version costs thousands.

All you really need is a 12V to 110V inverter and a long extension cord. Then you'll have emergency power as long as you've got gas.

 

I suppose this will also work with the engine off, as long as the traction batterry is filled? Then you can use the car as your (6.6 kWh?) home battery, instead of, for example, the home battery from Tesla.

 

hmm, you're tapping the 12v, so, i'm not sure if the hv will recharge it with engine off.

 

About the PiP it was once discussed in PC that when the car is On, the 12V battery is also charged from the traction battery, without the engine running.

 

But the vehicle needs to be in ready mode and should be in "park" not neutral. That way if you drain the HV battery, the engine will run periodically after you deplete the EV charge in "hybrid" mode to keep some charge in the HV battery. It is also possible to use a higher capacity inverter (the 12v bus should not be asked to supply more than 80 amps to the inverter - about a 1 Kwatt limit) if you directly connect to the HV battery, but that is a job requiring more expertise.

JeffD

 

you may be correct. will it stay on, or does it time out after an hour or so? i guess you could keep hitting the button if necessary.

 

I remember when the tsunami hit Japan there were people with the inverter option on their Prius who used their cars for auxiliary power. It was as far as I know a feature that worked without much hassle and in that case was extremely useful.

I feel that offering this on the Prime in North America would be a very smart thing to do. Are there other plugins that have that option? It would set the Prime apart and would appeal to quite a few buyers and could form the basis for an advertising effort. I have periodically needed a generator and it would be nice to have the security of knowing that the car could serve that need. It is a hassle to keep a generator fueled and serviced in case of a power outage. Having the car as a source of electricity would make it seem tied to your home and having a plugin a sensible option to many buyers. Campers would appreciate it as well.

Since this feature is offered in Japan, Toyota must have already worked out the engineering and weight problems. I know that it is possible to retrofit a car with an inverter, but it would be so much nicer if done at the factory.

 

agreed. it would be a huge bonus, and i don't think it is available on anything here yet.

 

For me info on such possibilities is quite relevant, as around 2020 to 2022 I would prefer to have a car that can also be used as a home battery in a safe and regular daily manner. In the Netherlands we currently get quite good conditions for selling produced solar energy to the companies (same payback price as you pay for energy that you use) , but this will end after 2020. If the Prime is able to do this on a daily basis, this would make it more attractive for me.

 

Just remember that a Prius can produce some carbon monoxide when running (albeit a small amount compared to other sources) so provide for ventilation.

JeffD