Prius Prime Plus in my hands

INTRODUCTION

Thanks to the edit time-limit, this will be a multi-part thread describing what these people are doing in North Kingstown RI, TarBox Toyota:

December 21, 2016

Hi Bob,

It Mark Pezzullo and I am a customer care member here at Tarbox Toyota. Thanks for the call today. I attached all the info on one of the Prius Primes we have in stock. That way you can talk it over with your banker. If you have any questions or need more information please contact me and I will be more than happy to help!​

Mark does not work alone and there are two keys:

Zack on the left is the salesman who picket me up at the airport and did the walk-around. Andy is the business manager who did the paperwork. When I got there, they mounted the plates from our 2010 Prius, stapled the insurance card, bill of sale, and 2010 registration together and put it in an envelope in case the police would like to some Car and Driver 'witnessing' ("Do you know how slow you were going?").

Ah, the new car sights and smells:


Uh, Oh! That range on a full tank of gas is wrong:

Like Decatur Toyota, they don't understand putting the car on a charger. So that is the expected range in hybrid-only with a mostly depleted traction battery. Perhaps @Prius Team might consider taking this to management.

Filling the gas tank of a plug-in is not enough. The traction battery is every bit (even more so) important than a full tank because without it, the first miles off the lot will suck (I got 45 MPG driving just 4 miles to the hotel!) This would really disappoint non-technical owners who were expecting to get great MPG and only got crappy. It sets a first impress that is car has been falsely advertised and extends from the lowest dealer staff all the way back to Toyota Japan. You can do better.

If the dealers can't or won't put a charge on the Prime, ask the Regions to put a full charge on when they get the car off the boat. Be as smart as the engineering in this car. Alternatively, modify the ships so these cars get a charge on the way over. Move the problem back until someone finally does it right.​

I parked at the hotel and then noticed:

Holy CARP! There was barely an inch (about 2.5 cm) of gap under the front bumper and the curb-sidewalk. Note to self: ALWAYS BACK INTO A CURB! That begs for a proximity alert or detector if nothing else to keep the insurance rates down. Perhaps @Prius Team might share this with the 'powers that be?'

Now I'm wondering if I need a Prius Prime 'lift kit' that raises the car when speeds are under 10 mph.

This is a Prius Prime Plus with the small display:

Looks OK to me:

What do you say Dark Helmet?

After getting checked into the hotel, I put the car on a ChargePoint across the street:

It is busy charging at the lethargic rate the Prime can handle. One of the early enhancements or options should be to increase the on-board charger to 7.2-7.4 kW like our BMW i3-REx. That would give enough charge that someone on a cross-country trip could get a useful, quick charge. Better still, size it for 40A @240VAC, 9.6 kW since that is the typical, maximum L2 rate. But since I'm headed for "nap time", this lethargic rate doesn't matter. It should be done when I get up.

Pairing with my iPhone 5s was simple and straight forward and I was able to make a call. I still nee to the get car App so I can pre-warm it. But not everything has to be done the same day.

Bob Wilson

ps. Do not forget your noise cancelling ear buds when flying. It wasn't the airplane noise but the passenger behind me on one leg trying to convince the woman next to him that 'women are inferior' and 'there should be men-only organizations.' I resisted the temptation to yell out,"Like a gay men's glee club!"

 

I want to expand on this:

I have long speculated that the MG2 power electronics could easily handle integration of line voltages and power. My interest was (and remains) in co-generation where the engine+MG1 sustain the traction battery and the MG2 electronics connect to the house power lines and even the grid.

In effect, MG2 and its position encoder 'unplug' from the MG2 power electronics and line power and a special 'encoder emulator' plug in instead. Then the control laws support three modes:

1. Idle or neutral - no power in our out.
2. Grid regeneration - power from the grid flows into the traction battery up to a maximum, safe limit. In effect the car uses MG2 power electronics to charge the battery.
3. Grid generation - using pulse-width modulation to simulate local line voltage, the car feeds traction battery energy into the grid. During this time, the engine and MG1 sustain the traction battery voltage.

The power electronics even from a Gen-1 Prius has more than enough power, ~18 kW, to run three typical USA houses. We' taking about an impressive power generator that would be mobile enough to light up a disaster area and even modest sized buildings . . . three-phase.

Relax, I just woke up: https://priuschat.com/threads/imagine-if-youd-just-woken-up-from-a-coma.175478/page-3#post-2483891

Bob Wilson

 

Sorry about writing in "Bob" which often omits important stuff. But you got the idea.

I did take the car for a short drive to the local casino and made my contributions. But this gave me a chance to understand more about the GPS, lane keep assist, and cruise control. So far, I'm pleased and anticipate a long but safe journey home on Friday. FYI:

• 41 mph - average speed
• 68 MPG
• 29.3 miles - to casino

I noticed that in the past, steering had some 'stiction' in our Gen-1 and Gen-3 Prius. In those cars, it somewhat increased the lane wandering, especially in windy conditions ... it wasn't just the wind. The Prime steering is not free of stiction but it is noticeably reduced. This will also make long distance driving less of a chore.

I'll run to brother Dave's place Friday morning and then fill-up and baseline the trip from there. This first "top off" will at Dave's will give me a hard metric to compare against the indicated. Then it is time to go home.

Bob Wilson