Would it make sense to buy the prime if I never intend to plug in?

nope, no side effects, the car would act like a regular prius, but with better gas mileage

 

Easy answer after tax breaks is the prime about the same cost as the Prius IV you were going to buy anyway?

Is a green sticker /HOV access worth something?

The Prime is a better car than a normal Prius in a variety of ways (except for the elevated floor)

No brainer in my mind.

That said my first car long ago was electric long before anyone else drove electrically , I have always lived in apartments, never had a situation where I couldn't find a way to plug in.

Maybe I just know how to grease wheels but I doubt it, my guess is it's a will/way situation

 

Well after tax breaks and incentives your paying what $20000?

The old saying is you loose half the cars value as soon as it leaves the lot seems true so $10,000?

I have never gotten more than $1500 for a used car regardless of age or miles. Since those experiences, My belief is to drive until rust out since I've never had success at getting anywhere near bluebook. In terms of trade ins I get the same deal with or without trade so figure the dealer is offering $0.

In the end nobody knows, your car is worth more if gas goes up less if it stays low.

Ah well, good luck

 

You may wish to add c) no rear wiper and d) only a 4 seater. We, however, think the advantages of owning a prime may very well out weight the disadvantages.

 

Also the battery is huge compared the the regular hybrid. I assume it will far outlast the regular hybrid battery.

 

Considering resale, if you're getting ~$4K off in incentives for buying it now, as soon as it's used you have to deduct that same $4K in addition to normal depreciation. The original PIP isn't holding its value very well but that partly is because it was probably overpriced to begin with. Since the prime is coming out cheaper initially, I bet the prime will do better except for the incentives I just mention and if they release a better prime with 5 seats, a longer range, or a flat hatch in the near future. EVs don't always hold their value well because of battery concerns and rapid improvement of the technology obsoleting older ones quickly.

It does sound like it would fit your use case really well though. Most of its weaknesses are diminished by a single person driving it a lot. Of all the plug ins, it's probably the best one to get if you don't plug in because it is so efficient in all modes. Good luck!

 

The traction battery would be running less than half full all the time, maybe not good for battery life? If so then might want to run Charge Mode every once in a while if there aren't any other places to occasionally plug in and charge. I guess it depends on what "almost never plugging it in" means.

 

Lithium batteries age most slowly near "empty"

 

Situations can change also. Maybe you can't plug in now but in the future you might be able to more. Could grab EV parking spots or the occasional free charger too (if such things ever exist in California - I know there are more EVs there than there are here in Dallas)

 

Prime probably shines as a commuter car, so I do not see any problem, except loss of spare tire if you are putting lots of miles on. Cruise range between fill-ups is great on Prime.
As far as HOV, I am not aware of any Northeast state HOV lanes which require plug-in over hybrids, so regular Prius should be OK in most areas. NY/NJ may require 45 MPG vehicle to get into HOV/green EZ Pass, if I recall.

 

I lost the rear wiper when I went from the Prii to the Volt and haven't really missed it.

 

Recently bought an EGO lithium cordless lawnmower. Manual recommends charging to full at least once every 6 months. Battery pack discharges to 30% after 30 days of inactivity.

I am not a chemist but given charge mode gives you a way to accomplish without a plug (at least close to full) probably not a bad idea.

 

I would guess that's mainly to keep the battery from completely discharging. But the Prime's battery would never get anywhere near total discharge even if you never plug in, since you would be in HV mode, and that's on top of a built in cushion. Only if you didn't drive it for a long period of time would there be any risk of discharging the traction battery.

My question was whether it is detrimental to battery life if the traction battery is never more than say half full. But since there is also a top-end cushion then I guess probably not.

 

In your shoes, I would stick with a regular Prius.

 

Just a poor design

 

Just my 1.9 cents, but you never know what the future holds. If you are planning on owning for a while, your situation may change. Being on the road a lot you can find charging stations. With a little effort you can get 60+ mpg without charging. If it was me, I would get the Prime. Oh wait, I did.

 

Care to elaborate about which part of my comment you are referring (genuinely interested)? Toyota also recommends against holding full charge for a lengthy period of time so discharge to 30% after one month seems inline with longevity. I guess I didn't mention it was an intentional discharge to 30% after prolonged idle by conversion to heat, not drop to 30% by phantom losses