PLEASE HELP! Home Charging Options for Prius Prime

I can also plan to use it when I'm at the base of a big climb if I don't have enough Ev mode to assure I can get to the top with plenty of battery available for acceleration and passing. It's not uncommon for me to ascend 6000 feet in half an hour or 3000 feet in 7 minutes.

 

I also drive in the Colorado mountains. I learned how to avoid deep SOC discharge in a 1.5L engine Prius, and never even think about it in an 1.8L model. Although it is also true that I do not drive aggressively. A person who is weaving, braking, and stomping on the fuel pedal while going up a long hill might well prefer to force-charge before the competition.

 

No freaking way. I've started in Sliverthorne with 8 bars, accelerated to 60 East bound and had a completely dead battery half way up the hill with the cruise control set.

 

The destination? My last trip of this sort had thirty-four such situations along a 3,000 mile journey. Total in-city driving was a little over 300 miles.

 

That is far from trivial or extreme. In fact, that is so profoundly significant, you just very effectively talked through the process to disprove the original hypothesis. Doing that at work (I'm a software developer) is an extremely helpful tool for understanding & confirming design. We stress the importance of taking the time to do that. Great job!

Whenever I go on a trip, there is always some running around that would greatly benefit from avoiding engine warm-up. The runs for food, shopping, entertainment, and recreation are MPG killers. Often only a few miles, it should be very easy to see how driving those short distances using only electricity would be hugely advantageous.

After owning a plug-in hybrid for awhile, you'll see that those opportunities aren't actually trivial or extreme if you travel. Not having a plug available, but having the ability to substitute some wisely consumed gas for recharging, can be an effective use of the system. We're moving beyond that "Just Drive It" advice of the past.

 

My daily commute is 25.5 miles each way and I can make the entire trip in EV. There have been a couple of times when the car switched to HV within a couple of miles of the destination. But I know this happens when I drive much faster than 70 mph. I also suspect that when I leave the heater for the seat and wheel on that the battery range is reduced, but I can't verity that.

 

I did consider the Volt, but my travel is a combination of a commute to my office that is 25 miles and additional ones that are 100-600 miles. I selected the Prime for the 25 mile EV range to cover my commute, but the best mpg in a hybrid car was a factor. Oh, also Toyota cost of maintenance and reliability were really important.

 

You misunderstand. I was saying that is the case I think worth bothering with.

 

No additional charging opportunities along that 3,000 mile trip ?

 

I am not familiar with Silverthorne, but I avoid the low SOC problem on long climbs by avoiding significant battery assist early in the climb.

 

I approve any 240V plugs, breakers and wires with UL approval. Screw Toyota's approval. You don't need a "charging station." The charging circuits are in the car.

I also approve driving over the speed limit in California so you can keep up with traffic.

I would suggest not hard wiring the charging cable (or station), since any real man will eventually want a 240V welder and/or plasma cutter.

 

One - maybe.

 

Then you'd be driving 25 in a 60 zone.

 

Odd ... I find L1 and L2 chargers everywhere I go.

 

Show the physics. And if it turns out you are exaggerating you can always invoke Pike's peak as a commuter trip people could have.

 

Physics? It's a software and power availability problem. It doesn't push the engine to full power until the battery is entirely depleted. When I'm at one-bar, it goes 60 up the hill. After 10-20 seconds at one bar, the engine suddenly races up to a higher RPM, the arrow from the battery to the electric system disappears, and the car still maintains 60. But now it can't accelerate because there is no battery power left.

It's a 60MPH 7% grade for 7 miles from 8,900 feet to 11,300 feet.

 

At a gravel parking lot at an R/C airplane field in Champaign, IL? At the US Air Force Museum parking lot in Dayton, OH? At the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS? Parked at a hotel parking lot in Chicago? Parked on the street in Kansas City, KS?

 

i suspect 99% of prime owners will be clueless as to the possibilities of when force charging will be more efficient than ice warm up in the future.
and more likely, too may will think it's there because it is more efficient and will be using it all the time, like the thousands of people who believe trying to keep the lift back in ev is more efficient than using gas.

 

It is more efficient in EV. Toyota knows that all too well. For everyone else to know why, they must ask the reason for putting an EV button on the liftback model. Understanding that is vital. It's the same reason the Charge-Mode feature is engaged by holding a shared button, rather than having one of it's own.

The key to that understanding is to realize the topic is a WHEN situation, rather than an IF. In other words, you're asking the wrong question. So, the answer will never been correct.

We can easily see the feature will be misused. It should also be easier to see that recommending "never" won't work. Many will inevitably stumble across it by some means. Then what? Not even trying to learn & educate about it would be to dismiss the reason why Toyota provided the mode.

Put it this way. How hard would it be to get an owner to change the way they use it after discovering there can be a MPG penalty when used at inefficient times? That sounds pretty darn simple to me. After all, we do it on a regular basis with "B" mode.

 

I have found my PIP is most efficient not pressing any buttons and just driving it. I use the "kiss" method. keep it simple stupid