Featured 5 Cool Things About the 2017 Toyota Prius Prime

I hope that the Prime sells well, especially since unlike the Plug-in Prius, it'll be available nationwide. The less gas we have to burn, the better. And that can lead to more demand for public charging infrastructure to get built out more, which will benefit all plug-in drivers.

And the more plug-ins on the road, the more confident a lot of people will be in buying one, as they talk to friends, relatives, neighbors who own one and talk about their experiences with one.

That'll help drive down costs as well due to economies of scale, increased competition from automakers trying to one-up each other, and improvements in battery and electric motor technology.

Of course, I realize this is a long term thing, likely 15-20 years minimum down the road before we start seeing plug-ins become more than just a niche market. But unless OPEC and Big Oil are willing to keep gas prices this low for another 10 years, and history shows they won't, it's only a matter of time before gas-only cars become less commonplace on the roads.

 

It is a nice write-up with one minor correction needed:

You might consider revising "Only the Chevy Volt with its 53 miles range handily beats the Prius Prime," Even my used, 2014 BMW i3-REx has an EPA rated 72 miles and gets higher in city driving. The 2017 BMW i3-REx has the highest, electric only range of any plug-in (See Jon LeSage, June 22, 2016, http://www.hybridcars.com/2017....

Yes, the Prius Prime is a significant advance with much better cross country capability than any other plug-in. But around town, the BMW i3-REx, new or used, is hard to beat. Especially when accelerating in traffic.​

Bob Wilson

 

I gave another BMW i3-REx test drive yesterday and have plans for another in a day or so. Giving test drives is how we kill (or confirm) the FUD.

Bob Wilson

 

Now if only more people did that when researching what their next car should be...

 

see the previous sentence, 'in the world of plug in hybrids'
personal bias. it's an article about prime.

 

OK well it's a nice article...
so good for Toyota to get some love from the Plug-In authors.
I would take issue with 2 or 3 of the 5 bullet points, but I let it slide.

But I totally agree with the "swing for grand slam" on MPGe and MPG.
It reminds when PiP came out, we thought Toyota had by far the best MPGe in all-elec mode. But PiP got dinged by mixed use of some gaso, so that tended to obscure the superior all-elec MPGe accomplishment.

 

"Cool" doesn't much impress me.

 

I tend to go by EPA classifications which last time I checked put both the Volt and BMW i3-REx in the same class. Both have a gas engine and both are capable of running electric or gas. If the absence of a mechanical engine-to-drive train rules it out, we'll just have to agree to disagree. Of course that means the BMW i3-REx would be in a single car class, serial hybrids, or maybe including the rebranded Fisker.

Bob Wilson

 

hey, don't blame me, i didn't write the article. but i can understand how someone from hybrid cars.com wouldn't have a good working knowledge of all these new fangled cars.

 

How does the eMPG work when you live in a climate where either heat or AC needs to be on from the beginning of your drive? Don't your electric-only miles suffer significantly to power the AC and the ICE must kick in on start to provide heat?

Temps here ranged from 38 to 88 this week. Realized last night before going to bed that the interior of the house temperature was well over what we usually set the house AC settings at which is why it felt oppressively warm. Fortunately time-of-day rates had kicked in so just turned the heat back to AC.

 

I take the 5th Ammendment...but you get less MPGe

 

the ice doesn't come on for heat until 14 degrees f, it has a heat pump. a/c is probably a 5-10% hit, depending on ambient temp and humidity.
i don't know if the epa 25 miles takes either of those into consideration.

we have had similar whacky weather. pip ev distance drops about 20% in winter due to temp effect on battery. prime is supposed to improve on that.