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Interstate Fuel Economy w/o EV Driving/Our Next Car?

Discussion in 'Prime Fuel Economy & EV Range' started by Husker4theSpurs, Aug 18, 2020.

  1. Husker4theSpurs

    Husker4theSpurs Active Member

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    Hello all!

    I have had 3 Priuses prior (2008, two 2010s) and have been thinking about replacing my wife's 2019 Volvo XC60 T8 with a Prius Prime after her lease is up. Her car is primarily used as her short commute car and a solo road trip car when one of us leave on our own on a trip. We have two other cars that fill our needs with family etc. We leased it because I wasn't sure how I felt about trusting Volvo's first PHEVs as far as ownership. We have really liked it and might consider buying it once the lease is up, but the value and reliability of Toyota sounds nice.

    I'm a little concerned about the Prime being a bit long in the tooth, but it really seems like it would fit our needs for a next car (has adequate EV range for her commute, supreme fuel economy on road trips, and super value). I mean where can you get this good of a value for around $25,000 loaded after a tax credit (assuming you travel to get a nice rebate)?

    My question ... what kind of fuel economy are you guys seeing on typical Interstate driving in hybrid mode? Let's say around 75mph or so. I know some of this is dependent on weather and whatnot. I'm talking after the EV miles are exhausted ... say you're on a long road trip and not plugging in. In my 2010 I'd usually average about 47-49 mpg on a longer Interstate trip.

    Thanks! Please feel free to make the case for a Prime for our next car as well!
     
    #1 Husker4theSpurs, Aug 18, 2020
  2. mistermojorizin

    mistermojorizin Active Member

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    Around 50 mpg. I just went to a few different dealerships till I got a top of the line one for $28k before tax license, and tradein. Then got almost $9k back with local and state rebates included. California.
     
    #2 mistermojorizin, Aug 18, 2020
  3. Husker4theSpurs

    Husker4theSpurs Active Member

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    Kinda what I was figuring, thank you! Yeah I almost bought one at one point and was going to pay $28,500 in New Hampshire. No state rebate here :(
     
    #3 Husker4theSpurs, Aug 18, 2020
  4. mistermojorizin

    mistermojorizin Active Member

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    Are you not planning on charging it? Because just charging once a day, that does improve the mileage quite a bit.

    Also, I guess not a lot of people buy them in NorthEast? I bet you could get it for less. It's a pretty popular car here, or I would've tried to negotiate for less.
     
    #4 mistermojorizin, Aug 18, 2020
  5. Husker4theSpurs

    Husker4theSpurs Active Member

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    Oh it absolutely would be charged. I was just curious what I might expect to get for fuel economy on an Interstate trip where I wouldn't likely be charging the car.
     
    #5 Husker4theSpurs, Aug 18, 2020
  6. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Given that I've only driven at 70mph once on a road trip last year, this is the result of an HV only portion of the trip. (But there was construction and also heavy traffic for a portion of the drive so your mpg at 75mph will probably be worse than this, closer to 55mpg methinks (We got 53mpg in our 2016 Touring with the 17" alloys down I-5 [limit is 60-70mph]. A Prime should do a bit better with smaller wheels and a larger battery pack but it's slightly less aerodynamic than the regular Liftback). The entire trip included crossing the Cascades twice and I had 3 full charges (including the initial one at home) - final trip mpg was 69mpg over 876 miles.

    Photo below:
    222.5 miles
    65.3mpg

    IMG_2070.JPG


    Go slower and your mpg significantly rises. This is pure HV mode but the highway speed ranged from 50mph to 65mph. Just over 23 miles of highway travel within the region - 73.5mpg. Note the Consumption Screen bar graphs are reversed for L/100km - shorter bar is better.

    The first three bars on the left would be the faster section of the highway, closer to 65mph (I might've touched 70mph, I don't remember).


    20200724_hwyHVmpg1.jpg
     
    #6 Tideland Prius, Aug 19, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2020
    jerrymildred, Mendel Leisk, Aaron Vitolins and 1 other person like this.
  7. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    IIRC, last year we were getting about 50-55 mpg at 70 mph on the interstate parts of our road trip. I can't be too sure because most of the time it was either pouring down rain or driving into 30+ mph winds. Or both. And the car was packed solid with luggage. Lightly loaded on lever ground with no wind, I'd expect about 60 mpg, but I haven't really looked closely on those rare situations, so that's a bit of a guess.

    We were planning to take the Prime to Ohio in October, but now that the wife has a regular Gen 4, we may take that so we have a tucked-away spare tire rather than a strapped in spare. Fuel economy should be nearly the same.
     
    #7 jerrymildred, Aug 21, 2020
  8. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Here is one example I did on my 2017 PRIME for a full tank of gas all HV mode. It was mostly interstate drive but have some city drive as well. The average speed of 55mph translate ~75mph on interstate.

    upload_2020-8-21_14-5-21.png
     
    #8 Salamander_King, Aug 21, 2020
    Tips, Tideland Prius and jerrymildred like this.
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