Why a Prius over an EV?

That's generally an 'undocumented feature'....or a fault.

It does have the advantage of temporarily taking people who should not be driving off of the public roads for a bit...

 

I've done back to back comparisons on my last 3 Petrol cars. PRIUS is the only one which hasn't taken a hit with litres/100km by using Ethanol blend - possibly because, at ~34% EV ratio, it's difficult to measure. Premium measured a slight but almost unmeasureable improvement - but 95RON here is ~13% dearer which didn't make sense (98 is ~18% more than E10).

 

[1] Isn't that why you carry a huge long extension cord? Maybe 3 or 4 of them?
[2] Won't the AAA bring you a few kW?

 

love your avatar alan

 

One of the all time great styles. I understand the car wasn't, though all that well built. But I recall when I was, I guess, 8 or 10 yrs old, the back neighbour of our Church had one - and he'd put it on the back lawn and wash it every Sunday Morning. In winter, we'd take chairs outside for Sunday School - and I found the P1800 very distracting. His was red.

Never owned one - but did have 3 VOLVOs. I followed Irv in his 3 Million Mile P1800 when I was in the VOLVO-Chat (BrickBoard) - sadly he died last December:

 

i almost bought one as a teenager, i loved the look so much. poly better that i didn't, but the mg i wound up with couldn't have been much better

just having the p in your driveway is worth every cent, even if it won't start.

 

Yes, I sometimes dream of one - rebuilt without rust and something like an MX-5 (Miata) engine and 6 sp Manual!!!!!

 

i wish i had that kind of talent. watching the people do conversions on tv is amazing

 

Interesting. A couple main points:
1. the insurance premium is significantly less on a hybrid car vs a full ev like a Tesla.
2. range anxiety, even with a tesla, travelling to and from remote locations can be challenging in a full ev.

 

Hey this is my first (non-used) car purchase
First hybird too.

I've choosen Toyota because they just barely made the car decent looking compared to other models (as long as you don't look at the back).

Also I was so unsure about myself on how I would like an EV vechile - turns out, I love it.

Plus filling up gas is way faster than EV charging - seconds versus hours.

Standard driving is about 70 miles a day. If I want to do anything extra its abouy 100 to 120. Again depends. That's a lot of strain on a battery, and the cost to replace yikes.

Several times I went from LA to Sacramento with no pit stops. Other than one more fill up to get back from Sacramento to LA.

Insurance was a determining factor but not a major one.

I will say... if toyota doesn't clean up their B.S. and make the car look better. I wouldn't have any issues looking for a different Hybird or EV.

 

The big black front on the Prime is ugly too. One reason I considered the Gen 4 Prius is the LACK of that big black grille.

 

We’ve bought four, since 2008. We still have them all.

The primary reasons we bought them are economy, reliability, and versatility. In a world fraught with sheep-like pickup buyers, we think it’s smarter not to throw any more money in a hole in the road than absolutely necessary.

Electric cars are not “there” yet. The price needs to drop, the range needs to extend, and the charging stations need work. For long trips, we need “battery tray swaps” at “electric filling stations.”

Until that tipping point is reached, the Prius and other hybrids make sense.


— Bill Burkholder

 

thanks to all the bev buyers, without whom, the advances would never come.

 

Thanks to Tesla buying Maxwell capacitor company. We just may see that quick charging times for short trips come sooner than later. With the new super capacitors in conjunction with the traditional batteries of today that are used in Tesla or their next generation batteries that are about to be released.
You will have a EV that operates like this. Your lithium or other chemically-based batteries will get you about a 300+ mile range that take anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours to recharge depending on the charging station you choose.
2: with the super capacitors added when you pull into a charging station and you only need to go another 70 miles to 100 miles you can charge the super capacitors in 60 seconds to 120 seconds and be off and running. Proto types are already working like this so the technology has already been proven and is in the testing phase.
3: like computer CPU chips every nine months system capacity is an increasing new types of batteries are being invented lighter weights with extended range with longer life are all coming into play. And the batteries are dirt cheap to replace compare to electricity prices for your mileage per kilowatt hour to gasoline four dollars per gallon and miles traveled TVs are a fraction of the cost this is a no brainer a fifth grade math student could figure this out. Comparing the cost of a new engine all the oil changes and tuneups: coolant flushes , Emissions problems diagnostic labor and parts,
4: remember back in the old days the hypochondriac doomsday people who said the sky was falling when hybrids were introduced lol . That 4000 $5000 price tag for those Prius batteries that turned out to be a Fing joke. I can now get a factory brand new battery pack set from Toyota for $1900 or get a brand new one outside of Toyota for $1600.
5: now we have the same people with the same limited intelligence and no foresight of technology saying the same things all over again the sky is falling. I have a Prius my wife has a Tesla my ex-wife has to Prius is my son has a Prius and being able to swap out a battery in 15 minutes is like doing an oil change after 200,000+ miles for $1600.
6: Driving down in our new model three to Disneyland from San Francisco one stop in Santa Barbara for lunch or dinner and before we’re sitting at our table and served the Tesla is already re-charged at a super station no difference if you took one restroom break. Is that such a inconvenience in a 400+ mile trip.
7: example a friend of mine just sold his brand new model 3 Tesla because he drives for Uber he bought an older model S that still comes with a lifetime supercharging for life of the vehicle. Because time is money he only has to charge up maybe one time at a supercharger for free he drives 50+ thousand miles a year his payback will be within his first year he gets to drive in the EV lane for free he gets to drive in the commuter lane for free I installed his charging station in his garage at home for free. Well it cost him a dinner Plus parts which was cheap. And free Uber pick up and drop off to airport when I need it.
8: Installing my own solar panels and building my own power Wall. Once our tesla battery runs down to roughly 70% or less of its capacity it gets mounted in our basement wall to our solar panels for free. To spend the next 10 to 15 years of his life providing power to the house.
9: and this is just the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come with electric cars. For the people who say the sky is falling and warn people about the expensive batteries that they’ll have to replace in the future. If it was up to them we would still be cranking our cars in the morning to start them and using carburetors before Catalytic converter‘s when we were all gagging and choking or eyes were burning and you couldn’t even see a mile down the road.

 

How are these fundamentally different than "sheep like Prius buyers?" Is it just the fact that they bought a pickup the defining factor? Or could it be that they actually want to own the vehicle that they bought?

 

Agreed. I bought it anyway, since I don't really care what it looks like on the outside. When I'm driving it, I only see the inside. And when I'm not driving it, I'm not looking at it. Plus, the less than attractive front end helps fend off the hot chicks that would surely flock to my car if not for the ugly front end. I carry a stick in the car to fight them off, just in case.

 

Maybe its because he thinks that people buy cars that they don't really need just to fit in with what others have.
True story. I knew someone who lived in a condo, never hauled anything and suddenly bought a pickup without discussing it with his spouse. It was a mystery and to why he thought he needed this.

Mike

 

Yeah?
Well....I knew a pickup truck driver with a well-used hitch ball that was eco-shamed at a gas station by a Prius driver that burned waaaaay more gas then he did.....
And it's a shame.
Electric vehicles will make excellent trucks one fine day, once they get the developmental and infrastructure problems sorted out.
Their skateboard architecture and the fact that mass and volume are features rather than a fault when you're towing or hauling something makes them ideal for this purpose.

Meanwhile, while we wait we're going to have to continue to endure #5 (Hype/FUD) in the list I compiled above to help answer the original question asked by the OP:
Why a Prius over an EV?

When BEVs scale up to replace a small, 5pax, ecobox in the marketplace THEN they leverage that success in order to tackle the main issues that are keeping them out of the pickup market, which are performance, ride height, and image/driver issues.
(Hint: you can start on the last issue any time! )

 

"Fit in"... ...as in "pc".

Risking sacrilege, I would hazard to guess that this glove fits many a hybrid, EV, BEV, PHEV, owner. Your typical yuppie will own a high-tech fuel efficient car partly, at least, because they want their neighbors to think they're "cool".

On the other hand, I have a hard time picturing your average pick-up driver as pc.

 

Off topic: Pickups and SUVs:
Americans are obsessed with being the biggest and baddest on the block......in general.
Never mind that they don't NEED those kinds of vehicles.......or that they really can't afford them.
I want what I WANT and I will have it.

It varies some by location within the US.
Other parts of the world don't seem to have that "problem" near as much.

I still say that the US Government has failed us miserably by not using tax "incentives" to encourage more fuel efficient vehicles.
Doubling the price of fuel would get most people's attention.