My 2023 Prius Prime EV Mode Costs

In Toronto, Ontario, we have tiered electrical pricing. I charge my rav4prime during off peak hours which start at 7pm weekdays and are all day weekends and holidays.

Link to summer time of use rates here.

Residential electricity rates - Toronto Hydro

I MIGHT barely be able to charge fully overnight off peak, but the level 2 charger makes it a lot more convenient and further reduces my dependency on gasoline and my exposure to volatile gas prices.

Today regular fuel was $1.60 CDN/l; highest I've seen in a while.

 

You’re fortunate in Florida, electrons are 40 cents here and gas is four dollars.
I drive 80% electric and love it, but it’s expensive

 

Here on Cape Schrod are down to 32cents/kwh from 39cents earlier this year--the delivery cost alone is 17 cents. That's been more or less break even with gas. OTOH the local supplier is 100% local wind power.

 

I never intended to save money with the Prius, it’s always been about the environment and technology for me.
Wind power would be great, I’m jealous!

 

I don't really understand what the status is, but in Mass we have the electric company then we have what are sort of "official" third party suppliers as well as the usual bunch of national third party suppliers. So ours is a local coop who's done a lot of deals to set up turbines and solar farms with local towns.

And the environment was really it for me as well, particularly with my son inquiring from the back seat about why we hadn't switched to an electric car. I will say I'm enjoying the quiet and just find the whole thing cool.

 

If I move on to a bev, it will be the same thing. Not going to save money over the 2012 pip with 86,000 miles, but will be even better environmentally in the future.
I just read a report saying the state will be able to supply all our electricity with solar panels on public land eventually

 

Saving can be a 'perk' of being an early -ish adapter. Depending on where you live.

It wouldn't surprise me if, as electric cars become more common, and start eating into revenue from fuel taxes, governments will demand separate meters for home car chargers, so that they can bill users at a different rate.

 

I don’t know how they’ll eventually go about it, but some states are already taxing hybrids and bevs, and others are having serious discussions.
However, there is the inevitable political football.
Right now, it’s easy to tax us. But when ev’s are the majority, they’ll run into the same problem, no spine to raise gas taxes. It’s called the third rail

 

So far, all the "recoup the gas tax" initiatives seem to be political attacks on EVs more than anything else. The sensible solution that won't happen would be to continue to heap it on ICEs to promote EV usage.

In terms of highway taxes, I wonder what a 50%+ share of EVs would mean for road maintenance costs.

 

Or pay by vehicle weight and miles, that’s really the crux of road bed damage, and sun damage is a universal problem, but worse in warmer areas I suppose

 

Check plugshare and you might find some other lv2 chargers around the places where you go anyway or might like to visit. There is one near our public library where we go anyway. A few grocery stores have them too.

We now have a BEV and mostly charge at home on a lv1 plug but occasionally charge at lv2 chargers in town.

For our BEV there is a bit of an increase in efficiency in lv2 v. lv1 since the car uses power while charging. Shorter charging = more efficiency. I doubt it makes much difference for a PHEV, though.

One difference with BEV (and EV mode) is that it is much more efficient for short trips. In our old Gen 2 Prius, the first few miles gave dreadful efficiency. A bunch of short trips always killed our efficiency. In contrast, our BEV is efficient for short or longer trips. I don't see any difference. I figure EV mode must be the same. Good luck trying to calculate that difference! Maybe for short trips go all EV and go hybrid mode for longer ones.

Enjoy learning all the ways to make things even more efficient!

 

The weight difference between a small car and large SUV isn't going to do anything to a road bed designed for 18 ton trucks.

You forgot the freeze thaw cycles that do a number in your region.

 

No one actually uses MPGe (the "e" goes after the "MPG.") How are you calculating this. Your number is about one half of the EPA rated efficiency of 127 MPGe.

My 2017 Prime was usually getting about 5.3 miles/kWh (the useful way to measure efficiency). That converts to 178.6 MPGe. At 68.9 MPGe that means you're only getting about 2 m/kWh. You'd have to be pulling a pretty big boat at highway speed.

MPGe is an obscure but simple formula that the EPA uses so people can compare the relative efficiency off gas and electric cars. There is about 33.705 kWh of energy in a gallon of gas. So MPGe is miles per kWh times 33.705. That's true no matter what the gas or electricity cost. That's why I ignore it.

The number that matters is cost per mile, which you get by dividing the money spent by the miles driven. Separating out the electric cost per mile and the gas cost per mile is almost impossible except on a big road trip where you only use gas or an extended time of electric only driving. My average over 2-1/2 years and 43,100 miles was 2.8 cents per mile.

 

Any use of wall charging skews the mpg, and the electricity used should be accounted for

 

That’s what I did the first few years of owning the pip. I found the consistency amazing, but my driving doesn’t vary much

 

Wow, that was complicated. Let's streamline it.
14.294 cents per kWh and 8 kWh from the wall = $1.14352
24.4 miles for a cost of $1.14352 = 4.687 cents per mile.
Done.

Since my numbers cover many miles and several years, there is no helpful answer. Part way through that time, we went solar. My electricity cost for charging went from 14 cents to 5 cents per kWh since that's what Duke Energy pays me for my excess electricity production.

Also helping improve my numbers, I was able to charge at work part of that time and for part of my miles during that time. And most of my driving was in the 40-50 mph range where I got around 5 miles/kWh indicated.

Hurting my numbers were two long road trips. One was over 6,000 miles and the other was 4,180 miles that got 56.6 and 56.2 mpg respectively.

Our weather in the Tampa area is pretty similar to yours. So, yes, lots and lots of air conditioner use. Almost every day, in fact.

The reason I use cost per miles is that it is what my wallet sees. The 64 "eMPG" you calculate doesn't tell me anything. I don't know it that's $2.95 per gallon or $4 per gallon. Is it five or 15 cents per kWh? It doesn't give me a clue as to how much a trip will cost me. It's just a number. It might be an interesting exercise, but at the end of the day, it's not useful information because I cant use it to plan.

Anyway, I don't want to seem critical. Just want to give you some things to think about any maybe help you wrap your head around the amazing car you just bought. All the reviews I've seen are super positive and I hope you love your new Prime.