2017 Prius (Charging Time)

Impossible to answer - and it's not relevant. The battery only ever goes down to 20-30% and never above 80% - in reality. Those points are regarded as "empty and full".

But with a 50km drive, up and down the various gradients of a Motorway, it could fluctuate from 3 bars to 6 bars and back and forth. The ECU sorts it out - uses battery power when it's the most economical thing to do, turns on the Internal Combustion engine when it's needed. City driving gives more fluctuation - but again depends on the terrain - and again, you don't even think about it - just enjoy only using ~4litres/100km.

That's what a Series/Parallel Hybrid system does well - you don't have to think about it, and it'll average about 30-40% EV Mode - which means that the Engine is doing nothing at those stages - but the battery is looping up and down all that time.

And it depends on whether your battery is full or near empty when you park - but it all catches up as you drive. If I arrive home from the north, the battery is near full, if from the south, generally near empty. But next day, economy is similar - unless the trip is only 4 kilometres.

 

I think you might still be confusing the way a regular Prius works and how a Prime works. The Prime isn't just a Prius with more of the same super powers. It's a Prius with its own additional super powers.

Think of the battery in a regular Prius as a big spring that stores energy when braking or coasting (and a few other cases that get into more detail than needed for this explanation). It then releases that energy when the car asks for it. It doesn't store enough for normal driving on its own, but it allows the car to have a low-power, super-efficient engine. In fact, if there's enough charge in the battery and the car doesn't need a lot of horse power at the moment, the engine will shut off and the battery will power the car for a short distance. But only under light loads and for a mile or two at most. Not very fast either. The Prius always starts up in HV mode and, except for very rare cases, it's best to let the car decide when to run the engine and when not to run it.

The Prime, on the other hand, is intended for primarily electric driving but is also hyper-efficient on gas. It has a battery big enough to be considered as a second fuel source. WAY bigger battery!! It can be charged by plugging it in or by the engine using charge mode. Many of us do 90% or more of our driving without ever starting the engine. But once we do finally use up the wall charge after 25-35 miles, the engine starts up and it behaves just like a regular Prius that has the itty bitty battery. The Prime always starts up in EV mode and you can switch back and forth all you want.

 

Yes. And the PRIME is also heavier as a result (with smaller boot). But - you have to be passionate about plugging it in as much as possible. So - if you're not able to wall charge the PRIME - the vehicle you want is the PRIUS.

To add to Jerry's description of HYBRID - imagine a long road which goes up and down gentle inclines for 1000kms. In a PRIUS, going up each incline, the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) will run in conjunction with the Electric Motors - then going down the incline, the gravity allows the Electric Motors to generate electricity "for free" and boosting the battery, maybe ½, maybe even full. Along the flat at the bottom, it runs in EV mode till you start up the next incline, and the ICE kicks in and drives up the incline - and at the top, the battery is partly emptied - and back down the next incline where it recharges "for free" - and over - and over - and over - and over again.

Overall, I think mine, at 60,000km shows that about 35% of my driving has been in EV mode - using electricity, much of which was generated "for free". Which is why a PRIUS will use 4l/100 - and a "NORMAL" similar sized hatch will use 7-8l/100.