2023 Prius Prime EV Range

Exactly. 50 miles per charge without adding any weight is easily doable from an engineering perspective. I think Toyota is working with constraints imposed by some bad decisions made a while ago.

I can't find battery weight for the RAV4 Prime to see if Toyota has changed anything, or if they're just basically cramming more of the same cells into a larger space.

 

they may seem like bad decisions to us, but i think toyota is quite happy with them. they have been very profitable decisions.

 

I'd rather see the standards changed to match the real world usability. 35 miles is as arbitrary as 25 is. If you take suburban commuters out of the mix, a 25 mile EV range is plenty for every day use. The daily range can be greatly enhanced by home and destination chargers.

Personally, I would not provide incentives for long range BEVs since that's encouraging longer commutes and wasted natural resources.

 

30 miles and 35 miles is perfectly reasonable, and I wouldn't get a Prime right now because I'd want 35 as a minimum (although I would not complain about more if it was possible without noticeable mpg impact).

The post I quoted was asking for a 60 mile range though - quite different from what you are talking about.

I never said they wouldn't make the range longer, simply that a 60 mile range isn't going to happen any time soon, if at all.

 

Panasonic Prismatic Battery Cells

Prius Prime would have 18.1kWh (50+ miles) using the same battery technology as the RAV4 Prime.

 

Well I can tell you I pay much more for car insurance on this 4 yr old Prius Prime Premium (actually now almost 5 yrs old) than I would have expected plus costs for replacement parts (for instance, rear passenger taillight/signal cover) hasn’t really come down in cost. Hence, I wouldn’t consider it the best overall for affordability when other such details are accounted for.

 

Just not true. Going back to my first vehicles in the late 80s and 90s, everyone raved about Honda civics and Toyota Corollas… My Ford Escorts lasted as long and had over 100k on them when I eventually bought newer vehicle to replace them… traded one escort in on the second and gave the second one to a nephew who continued to drive it further into the ground … plus the insurance costs were less expensive and fuel mileage was great!!!

 

But I converted to a Toyota Prius fan with the gen2 I purchased (first new car ever) and bought another used gen2 with low miles to replace it, only to have it totaled less than weeks later, but 5 years later, it’s still on the road going strong! But, honestly, while I love being able to plug in and drive on electric, I’m not in love with this generation Prius, despite it being hybrid plug-in. I hate the current look, and would have preferred that the used the Prius V style for a plugin. Plus, with the excessive insurance cost and excessive pricing for replacement parts on an almost 5 yr old vehicle, I’m not impressed and looking outside the Toyota lineup for my next vehicle! Also not impressed with the Honda Clarity either for the cost to value… Seriously considering Nissan and domestic lineups next for replacement of my 2017 PriusPrimePremium with only 17,700 miles!

 

It wouldn't get that sort of EPA rating, for the same reasons the current Prius Prime's 8.8 kWh battery doesn't lead to an EPA range of 34.78 miles.

 

There is absolutely nothing known about the next-generation Prius Prime at the moment, including when it will be available, which is unlikely to be before 2023 as a model year 2024. So, the next Prius Prime that is totally unknown—and not even designed—at the moment is more than likely at least two years into the future.

 

where would they fit 18 kwh, and what would it cost?

 

Toyota is very conservative in improving their cars. My best guess would be a 35-mile, not a 50-mile EV range for the next Prius Prime.

When lithium-metal (solid-state) batteries start arriving in mid-to-late 2020s, things will change, but this won't happen with the next-generation Prius Prime, and Toyota won't even be the first car company to get them.

 

Toyota has been working on a sulfide-separator technology, which is the easiest to make but known to be highly problematic, and the anode is not lithium metal but carbon (or carbon/silicon) as in a standard lithium-ion battery. It is not clear whether it has much advantage over a standard lithium-ion battery, as the lithium-metal chemistry is necessary for high energy density and fast charging. They have been very quite about it, which suggests that it may never happen.

 

I work at a Toyota dealer. Trust me, Toyotas have their very own problems.. from finicky KDSS systems on 4Runners to just plain unreliable power sliding doors on Siennas and i won't talk about those pesky 2GR headgaskets, etc. Personally, my 288k miles Civic Si always was/is still uber reliable. That's why i could'nt let her go when i bought the Prime. Prime as a daily driver and the Si for the occasional fun drive.

Marko.

 

Consumer Reports surveys don't agree with you.

2021 Consumer Reports auto reliability: ten most, least reliable cars

 

every car maker has issues. every manufacturer for that matter

 

My point, exactly! The thing with Toyotas is, they tend to be very reliable but some things on particuliar models arent. Electric power doors on Siennas, Manual Transmission bearings in 03-08 Corollas and 11+ Scion TC, etc..