Initial thoughts on 2010 Prius Plug-In

If you sell 1 million plug ins, each with a $14,000 battery (based on an article in the New York Times today http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/business/15hybrid.html?hpw), that would be about 14 billion dollars of batteries to save 950 million gallons of gasoline or about $14.7 of batteries per gallon.

If each battery weights 100 pounds, you also have 100 million pounds of batteries for our children to recycle.

Yes, we have to start somewhere but when we start, it is going to get worse before it gets better.

 

For each 13 mile segment driven in EV mode from plug in power each day, you will save $.25. Figure it would cost $.70 if provided by gas, $.45 if the 3.5 kwh were provided by the grid. Your numbers may vary. And you would have to recharge it before each 13 mile EV segment. If you recharged it three times and went 39 miles you would save $.75. That's going to be similar to GM's Volt. If gas and electricity prices change, the equation changes but if gas goes up, electricity will go up also. Energy is a commodity. Some ecological advantage will occur if the electric grid is powered by non-polluting renewable resources. However, the present vehicle ICE's are cleaner than some grid power plants. The mpg figures bandied about for these PHEVs are meaningless when the energy comes also from an additional source.

Lee

 

That is where I was going. Say the batteries/cooling/charging system add only $5000 premium, it will be gone by 100,000 miles. It also adds 100 kg of parts to recycle to the car. Add a low cost of charging at night of say $1 for every 100 miles. You have spent $6000 to save 950 gallons of gas. For my most people it will be significantly less than that much gas. I'm not sure how much energy goes into making the battery pack, but it is likely that there is little or no pollution savings when producing electricity, making the pack, and recycling are added to the equation. This is because the prius is so efficient to to begin with. For the american market a higher capacity battery, or higher performance motor could change this.

 

Anyone knows what happens if I don't plug in the PHEV? Will the vehicle operate like a normal Prius and the batteries get charged via the normal way (brakes) and what kind of mpg will it get?

 

The Prius plug-in is just trying to maintain a certain battery level, no excess charging by ICE, in charge-sustain-mode.
The JC08 Japanese test cycle FE number is 30.6km/L vs 30.4km/L by normal Prius.
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...in-hybrid-into-key-markets-2.html#post1020842

Ken@Japan

 

2011 the target dateline for Prius PHV at dealer's showroom.


Is this really Offcial? I can't locate any Toyota statement as reported @
Plug-in Prius on sale in 2011 - BusinessWeek

 

True dat. A timer would work.

You can buy outdoor 3-prong 15A timers for under $20 too. Would that screw up charging at all?

It would still be annoying in the dead of winter to fish through the snow for the extension cord though. Those of us who have used battery blankets will know what I mean.

 

The gen III plug-in is in... at Toyota port of Long Beach, CA.

 

Damn, so many. Any of them in the East Coast?

 

initially, doubtful. The warmer more temperate west puts EV's and PHEVs in the best possible light, so of course they want to test them (and the Leaf) in the West. You can't really blame them, as they want to put out the best possible first impression.. I'm sure some of them will make it over to the East coast for some winter testing, eventually.

 

I said I wouldn't buy a hybrid until they came out with a plug-in hybrid. Obviously changed my mind and bought a 2010 Prius. At some point in the future, it will be so obvious. Plug-in is the way a hybrid should be.

Don't know what it is about my neighborhood, but when I get to my garage, the hybrid battery is depleated. If I want to show off the car, the ICE kicks in or if I hit EV, it says no can do. It would be nice to be able to bring the battery back to full charge.

When I pull in to work, the battery is always at max.

 

I got the same thing. The Prius HV battery is only good for 1/2 mile of pure EV. If you are coming Home at slower speeds it is really easy to pull in with a low battery.

I have added an Enginer PHEV kit. So when I get home I plug in then later I turn the car and Enginer kit on and that recharges the Prius HV batteries. Then after I have turned it off, I plug it in again. So the next time I leave I have the Prius HV battery full and the Enginer batteries full.

Thanks,
Dan Lander

 

One year after last post, how things have changed. We now know the PHV for 2012 has a range of about 14 miles on EV alone and that the average ratios will be about 80/20. That is 80% EV and 20% ICE, on a typical trip of 15 to 20 miles. Sound disappointing? Well, it seems also that the trips over 20 miles are also going to be fun, as testers have reported mileages of between 50 mpg. To. 350 mpg depending upon conditions. So cheer up, all of our concerns have been answered. Now, I just have to scrape up the dough.:cheer2:

 

No kidding! You mean it's NOT a hassle?

Each day of my test run with the PHEV Prius took me a whopping 15 seconds . . . . sometimes 10 seconds. So even when I'd plug in 2x a day that's what ... an average of 13 seconds? 5x a week, that's 65 seconds? Sheesh, it's 3 or 4x that long filling up gasoline.