As of September 7, 2021 I sold my 2017 Prime Premium Prius Plug-in - I loved the Prime, but my my conscious ate me alive every time I filled up the gas tank. On short trips I was all EV, however on long commutes 70MPG was my best. Truth be told, I continued to put carbon in the atmosphere despite my best efforts to drive conservatively. Hence I went out and purchased a 2021 Kona EV Limited (308 MPGe). Kona EV is not a prius nor will it ever be. I can't wait to see what 2023 holds for the potential release of the hydrogen prius. After storm Ida, I could not help but think what can I do for the environment? Sail across the ocean with a solar powered ship, or go back to school for environmental engineering? I think purchasing an EV is easier. If everyone made the same decision on Sep 7, 2021 the environment would be better for it. Rant: I hate that Toyota has not created an EV Prius Prime for Prius lovers. I would have paid 50K for it. I loved the Prius and just wanted full EV. At least 65 KW capacity. Why is toyota late in the game with EV while it waits to roll out hydrogen. Wouldn't it be smart to keep EV lovers in their cars until they could roll out hydrogen widely? But NO! they want to create tiny batteries and sell more cars as hybrids.
Prius ownership is not mandated for PC membership, and you can BOTH use your recent experiences as a Prime driver to benefit others AND your advocacy for BEVs to help create more demand for this technology in a Toyota community….so…stick around! Either way…. Good Luck!
@The Electric Me hung around for years after trading his Prius for a Fit; didn't dampen his helpful/entertaining insights. Talk about one man's floor being another's ceiling. Just adding an entry to my spreadsheet, for a lowly 2010 Prius:
The narrative of Toyota being so far behind and being distracted by hydrogen happened for a reason, one that will become much easier to understand the next year. In the meantime, some thrive on the attention by attacking Toyota. It's been pretty bad too. Some of the articles posted... by supposed journalists... contain outright lies. Misleading through omission is one thing, but making blatantly false claims is another. Those are an invitation to antagonists, stirring comment posting to generate revenue. That's sad. Think about the challenges that follow early-adopter rollouts. Automakers face a market without subsidies for an audience without background knowledge in a land lacking both public charging-station infrastructure and EVSE support for high-volume residents. That puts them in a chicken/egg position, one with large risks and small reward. Dealing with that is extremely difficult. How do you over decades of expectations catering to want rather than need. It's an ugly situation. If you study what's happening behind the scenes though, there is hope. Necessity to build a better battery is obvious. How is not. A major contributor to both expense & backlash is the chemistry within. Both cobalt & nickel are elements used which stir controversy. They also add expense and fire potential. Both have been eliminated in "LFP" batteries (Lithium Iron Phosphate). Using that improvement results in a cheaper & safer battery while also improving longevity. The tradeoff is lower capacity. In less than 2 weeks, some patents on that chemistry are about to expire. In April 2022, the final one will expire. Notice how such timing lines up perfectly with bZ4X rollout?
^ Only if you use fake units and fake math..... In this Calvinball world we live in, I have my deep suspicions with "MPGe" because.....BTUs are BTUs but I don't think that even the most wackadoodle scientist or engineer out there cab defend 300 MPGe for a baby-ute that the junior high-schoolers at C&D only got 86 MPGe with. If the Kona got anywhere close to that then the EVangelists over at Tesla would be using the tech bros to slander the Kona, and more than 16 people in America would know what a Hyundai Kona EV looks like. No offense intended to the "rhymes with Sunday" company. It's a darned good car, and those Koreans build them as well as their Asian neighbors USED to build theirs......and Hyundai is a much better company with much better dealerships than Toyota by default!!! I'd stick with the US' semi-real-world 120MPGe and give up 8 miles and call it "about" 250 for the "tank range." ...in summer. ...while the battery is new.... ...Driving like Prius drivers used to. If carbon throughput is your North Star, and you live in one of America's Alabaster deserts? There are FAAAAR worse cars to drive!
you need serious mental health help my friend enjoy the kona, looks like a great car! ps: if everyone made the same decision as you on 9/07, there wouldn't be enough electrons
Is that a typo? The EPA lists much lower figures: But switching is not sufficient excuse to leave this group. Come back periodically to tell us how well it is going, and what we are missing.
Congrats on your new Kona BEV. Yeah, I was wondering about 308MPGe myself. But regardless of the real number, the sad truth is that either BEV or PHEV, it will do very little to change the course. Just enjoy your new ride.
Yeah, I sold my Prime in January 2019 and I'm still on here. I'm on my 2nd Leaf now. Once you go full EV, you'll never go back. This is one of the best car forums out there.
I have been, I think it's two years now without a Prius, and I'm still here. There is a wide range of knowledge, expertise, and opinion available here, and people share them generously. I happen to think we could use a resident Kona expert who could answer questions about them straightforwardly, perhaps using the Prius as a common point of reference. Know anybody?
Hyundai has much better dealerships then Toyota?!?? Every Hyundai dealership I have visited has after market add ons (protection packages) and dealer markups on every vehicle. Every discussion about price starts with "what monthly payment are you looking for". Then, the internet is littered with stories of them avoiding warranty coverage (negating their "best warranty in the business"). I've rented a few and they seem like decent cars, but I will not shop them anymore because all the dealers around me seem like slimeballs.
The Prime EV mode has gotten me hooked on electric only. It's been a great 2 weeks (have been wanting to own a Prius for years) but I think it'll get replaced with a Tesla very soon.
I think that PHEV's like the Prius Prime are the gateway drugs to full EV's.......once you feel that instant torque and quiet smooth speed you are addicted. haha
You don't necessarily abandon the tech though. Have you noticed how many households with a BEV purchase a PHEV as their second plug-in?
If you live off the beltline across the country you have to unless you either never travel north or rent Also worth noting CA gasoline ban does not ban PHEVs, might bring a market back into existence
With the insanely high prices now for used cars, I'm pretty sure he didn't just push the "old" 2017 into the woods and walk away. At the other end of the deal or string of deals, someone got a replacement for a junker. And a bunch of other people kept their jobs.
Yes. My household is one of them. 2015 Nissan Leaf and 2017 prius prime. They both serve its own purpose.
What I’ve noticed is that most PHEV households club up to a BEV and keep the former as a ‘range extender’.