Why I Hate my Prius Prime

This is what we have until we can move into the George Jetson time frame.

 

I only think in terms of max charge from the charger.

 

We had similar feeling about our Volt.
It gave us a taste of all electric driving, but only a taste.
However, it also showed us, much more accurately than our previous assumptions, just how far we drive.
As such, it served as a gateway drug to going all electric (as a household).

So I wouldn't say I "hated" it, but rather that it showed us how unneeded that flammable, carcinogenic, poison spewing gasoline really was for our household.

 

that's what makes a plugin hybrid so perfect for so many. ev for most of your driving, and hv for the occasional long trips.
one downside to a bev is the battery non use for 90% of the time. tesla excluded perhaps? but for now, they are too expensive to consider in the equation for most.

 

(2) For my commute I use EV for the first 3 miles (28 mph) and my estimated EV miles usually go up 1.5-2.5 miles. Then I use HV for 4 miles until I am at cruising speed on the parkway (60 mph). That will get me to work (35.9 miles) with some EV left for the return trip. I've found that this will get me the best mpg for the day.

 

Tesla is actually the worst since they have the longest range, and thus the heaviest battery. If I had a Tesla, I'd be carrying around about 1,000 pounds of battery which I'd use for 5% of my driving. Instead, the Prime's entire gas system weighs around half of that, and can produce twice the range, meaning four times the energy density.

Still learning, but what I did on my first two long trips was to use Ev mode to get from my house to the highway (about 2.5 miles of Ev range), Ev for the first five miles or so because it's steeply down-hill (used less than 1 mile of Ev range), and then Hv the rest of the way until I got off the highway, then Ev again.

 

I'm also on Southern California Edison. Have you looked into switching to the Time of Use plan? You don't need to worry about how much electricity you use and which Tier you're in, rather, just the day/time you use electricity. I switched to the ToU Plan B when I got my Prime. With electricity rates based on time, and cheapest overnight with super off-peak (.13c in the summer, .14c in the winter) from 10pm to 8am, I set my charge timer to begin at 10:15pm everyday. If you can limit electricity use during the workday, it's the perfect plan. And weekends are either billed at off-peak (.17c in the summer, .16c in the winter) during the entire day or super off-peak at night, so I'll just typically charge at anytime during the weekend when needed. With these rates, and assuming I charge empty to full everyday at the cheapest prices, it costs around $25/month.

Also, the EV plan rates only apply to charging the EV. It requires a separate meter so that it will bill separately at the EV rates than the rest of your home electricity consumption. Since I'm a renter, the ToU plan made more sense than going through the hassle of getting a second meter approved for installation, also the rates are nearly the same for overnight charging (one cent cheaper on the ToU plan during the summer)

If I know I'm going to be on the freeway for awhile at maximum speeds, I'll switch to HV mode, and switch back to EV mode when I'm back on surface streets. In HV mode, I'm getting around 60mpgs at speeds between 70-80mph.

 

I think the best solution is: start in EV/HVAC mode as the load is then the lightest, then when entering the freeway, either leave or switch totally to EV. You never want to totally deplete your EV charge as it takes a long time to restart. The option of when to go totally into EV depends on each individuals circumstance. I.e.: do you have a free charger at work, how quickly is your EV depleted, Do you want do drivecharge in HV/EV
MODE, Depletion rate is of course determined by load, many small ridges, how fast do you drive ( big load factor) my conservative nature allows me to obey all speed limits and if I leave 10-15 minutes early then my highway speed can produce significantly better mpgs. The best advantage I always arrive early and safely.
So, it's all very individualistic and depends on the individuals circumstances. Good Driving.

 

i would use 'evauto' and let the car decide. if for some reason, it wasn't using up the ev, i would burn it up the last miles of the trip by switching to ev mode.

 

I can't charge at work. I forgot to mention that after 4 miles on HV I switch to EV for the rest of the trip. I'm always at or below speed limit. Now that the weather is warmer, I'm getting 30-35 EV miles that way.

 

Excuse the stupidity of my question, but, how do you determine EV miles?

Remember that, it's really HV/EV mode determined by the cars computers according to load factors. In what is called blended mode.

 

When I deplete the EV miles I subtract the 4 miles of HV from the total miles driven at that time.

 

The Camry Hybrid is listed as 5 passengers, so it must have the middle seatbelt. I'm finding a claimed load capacity rating of 905 pounds, compared to 670 for the Prime.

I'm seeing the divider as being a direct result of our tort climate. Not having an obstruction there either creates some customer expectation suggesting someone may sit there, or is an attractive nuisance. That in turn creates a major financial liability. The best way to head off this liability is not merely to put a label there, but to design away the attraction or customer expectation.

Over the field of vehicles with these obstructions, it is likely that someone is still going to be stupid, sit atop the obstruction, and get killed. But these obstructions will go a very long way towards convincing juries that the deceased had no reasonable expectation of that being a legitimate seat, so the manufacturer ought not be held liable.

 

Correct, I know that in HV mode it will also switch back to EV mode depending on certain factors (e.g. slow traffic on the freeways), and then back to HV when I accelerate, and then back to EV when coasting, and so on and so forth. That's why the H stands for hybrid . I intentionally select HV mode when I'm on the freeways at maximum speed for an extended period of time since it's more efficient than straight EV mode.

 

OK

Totally agree with you.

So if the Total is 100, that = 96 miles of EV. Where do you get 4 miles from ?

 

No, when the EV miles run out it is about 34-39 miles on the trip meter. So I subtract the 4 miles I was in HV mode.

 

re determining EV miles, on the drive monitor screen it shows "EV %", and using the "Trip" button you can go through total miles, Trip A, Trip B and the next one is your current trip since starting the car, so on my commute it site at 49.7 miles, EV% =80 so that's 40 miles EV give or take. I think my total of ~ 2550 miles sits at 62%EV so that would make ~ 1580 EV miles thus far

 

Yes, that works out to the same as what I am calculating on a daily basis. It's just easier math to do in my head.

 

I don't have my Prime yet, but I was going to ask about EV auto here. It appears most people don't use it, and I'm wondering why. It seems on paper that it's perfect for a daily commute job.