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Single Day Century (100+ miles) on EV only - in Chicago winter!

Discussion in 'Prime Fuel Economy & EV Range' started by t4haughton, Jan 19, 2022.

  1. t4haughton

    t4haughton Junior Member

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    We picked up our Prius Prime this summer after previously owning a second Gen. Prius and first gen Honda Insight before that. I've been blown away by the the efficiency of this car. I've seen 40-mile single charge EV range and close to 80 MPG over a sustained 200 mile trip that started with zero charge. While I was looking at my agenda for yesterday and planning my route I noticed that:

    A) I was going to have to drive more than 100 miles (around the Chicago Suburbs) and
    B) I was going to have an opportunity to charge at nearly every stop I made

    That got me motivated, so I set out to see if could do my entire day on EV only. My trip included a couple of stops to meet people, plus Ikea, Home Depot and even a last minute grocery store stop to pick up some ice cream for my wife. When I finished:

    - I spent $0.92 on destination charging (+$0.68 at home before I left) for electricity
    - Traveled 106.3 miles @ 5.7 miles/kWh over ~9 hours
    - Arrived home 25% SOC and 9.1 miles range showing.

    So, has anyone else pushed past the century (100 mile) mark on EV only?
     

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    #1 t4haughton, Jan 19, 2022
    pghyndman and Tideland Prius like this.
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    I’ve done the century mark in km lol. Same deal, just charged throughout the day. $0 in public charging costs. I won’t be able to do it again as some of those charging stations now charge a fee.
     
    #2 Tideland Prius, Jan 19, 2022
  3. Pamela Francis

    Pamela Francis Junior Member

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    No. I did 47 total today and all with EV and came in between and able to charge. I am wondering about how I might be able to increase this to 100+ plus per day? I live and work in area with almost no EV charging stations but I am wondering if there is an alteration that can be done to the car (2017 Prius PHEV) that could increase the amount of the charge the battery can hold? Has anyone tried? My second option is buying a Goal Zero, Yeti power source and charging the car, while I work. Has anyone tried this? Did you know how large a power source I would need? I have been looking at the 1000x or 1500X but can't find the answer.
     
    #3 Pamela Francis, Feb 19, 2022
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 20, 2022
  4. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Maybe, but not very feasible. It will cost too much and requires in-depth knowledge of traction battery systems known only to Toyota engineers. There were some aftermarket proprietary or DIY add-on traction batteries for older Pip and Prius, but they all died out due to high cost and low demands, IIRC.

    Simply calculated, you need ~6.6kWh to fully charge the traction battery to gain ~25miles of EV range. With a 1000W unit, you can only get 1kWh recharged. Meaning only ~15% SoC gained. With a 1500W unit, still, you will get only ~23% SoC. Again it is not feasible to use such a device which costs a few thousand dollars to charge the traction battery to gain a small EV range.
     
    #4 Salamander_King, Feb 19, 2022
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  5. t4haughton

    t4haughton Junior Member

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    I haven't seen anyone make such a modification to the Prime yet. Doing so would likely require a pack that would nearly fill the remaining trunk space while costing thousands of dollars and weighing a few hundred pounds. I suspect if we see another generation of Prius PHEVs, the battery size will be increased. I'm hopeful they can engineer things to get back some of the hatchback height and push to 40+ miles EPA.

    As Salamander_King explained, most of those external battery units are still close $1/Wh, which isn't a very good value proposition.
     
    #5 t4haughton, Feb 19, 2022
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  6. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    The most effective and practical and low-hassle "alteration" is to trade it in for a model with the longer electric range you really want.

    Very best case, it would take more than a dozen of those largest Yetis, very likely exceeding the load limit of the car. And of course, you could use only one at a time. More likely case, 1.5 to 2 dozen of them.

    Trading in for a longer range BEV would work much better.
     
    #6 fuzzy1, Feb 20, 2022
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  7. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Also, there's the current limitation. I'm pretty sure you'd have to charge at 8A. It would take all day to charge with these, even if you could afford to buy them and the car could haul them.

    That's really impressive. I've done 45 miles lots of times and 60 miles maybe once or twice.
     
    #7 jerrymildred, Feb 20, 2022
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  8. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    I looked up the spec for this GoalZero 6Kw power station.

    The spec says it can do it up to 16.5A. May be able to charge at 12A in 6 hours. BUT... it cost $4K... and takes 12 hours to recharge the pack from the wall.
    • 120V AC Inverter: 120VAC 60Hz, 16.5A (2000W, 3500W surge) (output, pure sine wave)
     
    #8 Salamander_King, Feb 20, 2022
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  9. Pamela Francis

    Pamela Francis Junior Member

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    #9 Pamela Francis, Feb 20, 2022
  10. Pamela Francis

    Pamela Francis Junior Member

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    I considered doing this, as I have been thinking about getting the 6K as a backup for my house anyway and don't mind recharging the pack (my home is solar and I live in Phoenix). However, I would then be driving around with a $4Kplus battery pack, in my trunk or back seat and if it was stolen, I would either be SOL or have some explaining to do, with my insurance company. I guess these aren't the answers I was hoping to hear but I am still grateful for the answers. Otherwise, I may have tried it and been really disappointed.
     
    #10 Pamela Francis, Feb 20, 2022
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  11. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Another thing to consider is that you have a $4K battery pack in your car that gets baked in the sun shortening life. And, the battery is rated only Lifecycles: 500 Cycles to 80% capacity, meaning it will last only 500 daily deep cycles to give PP less than a full 4.8kWh of charge. IMHO, not worth the money spent.
     
    #11 Salamander_King, Feb 20, 2022
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