Anyone using Prius for newspaper delivery?

There are a few who use the Prius for rural mail delivery. I wasn't able to find the threads after a quick search, but there are at least a couple of threads on it.

 

I'm not really sure what you want to know about it... as far as gas mileage goes, the Pruis does quite well at lower speed stop and go driving... if you look at the EPA estimates the city rating is higher than the highway rating. Additionally, because of the regenerative brake system the brakes should last longer than a regular car too... I saw a report from a taxi company that said the brakes in their prius cabs lasted something like 4 or 5 times longer than the ones in their conventional cabs.

As far as reliability, I think it would be pretty good as well and again, the cab companies that have prius cabs report good reliability and I know there's at least one prius cab that's gone more than a million miles.

Originally I was thinking that you might want to look into a plug in conversion kit since you'd likely be doing a lot of low speed driving, but I suspect that you'd be hard pressed to find one (or at least a reasonably affordable one) that would make it through 60 miles of stop and go driving.

 

Hi Newsie. Yes I remember reading at least one other thread here where a Prius was used for a mail run with good results. Even with all the stops I suspect you could still average in the 40's with a Prius.

BTW. Could you tell us what you're currently using and approx how many MPG's it averages over that mail run. I'd think most regular cars would be well under 20 MPG's with all that slow driving and stopping.

 

If only we could get right hand steering Prius in the US my wife would be using one for her mail delivery.
You have to be a contortionist to do mail reaching into a box, and working the pedals.
She did that years ago, but it messed her up, so we bought a Subaru, then Jeep with right hand steering.

 

WOW
people still get newspapers

 

Hello Newsie11, I have an 07 with my own brake and gas pedal conversion. About 130,000 miles later, the experiment is a success.

Short history: 98000 on front brake pads, 73 miles a day, 450 stops
leaky left front strut at 95000, warrany replacement at 99950
lifetime average 41 mpg
speedometer display problems since last summer,(Garmin)

My paper delivery woman crosses the road in the early morning to deliver, not much traffic in the dark.

Check my posts, ask any questions, today is the last payment. It's mine.
Jerry

 

I think Prius would be a perfect car due to the hatchback and the hybrid system.

I delivered newspaper using hand cart in San Francisco. That was when I was in high school and it was my first job. The hills were not fun.

My uncle was a professional delivery guy. He had a manual transmission (I believe Sentra) car and it was stalling on the hills even in 1st gear. Prius with high torque electric motor would make those hills a piece of cake!

 

I can answer that one. Most braking in the Prius is done using regenerative braking. You only use the hydraulics when:
- You brake hard
- You brake at low speed.

If you brake sensibly you're either not using the friction brakes or you're hardly touching them.

 

Unfortunately, probably not. First, as others have mentioned, under 7mph it doesn't really get any significant regenerative power from the brakes, so a lot of low speed braking isn't going to give you much of a charge. But even braking at higher speeds isn't terribly efficient. I started another thread about this recently and the general consensus was that by the time you count all the losses from the generators and the inverter and the batteries that you might get back about 30 or 40% of the power that was used to get the car moving. Of course, that's still very helpful and much more power than you'd get back from stopping a regular car, but certainly not enough to keep the batteries indefinitely charged on your route.

 

Great deal. Welcome to Prius ownership!

 

That's an awesome deal especially at the current gas price!

Now, you have to post a picture of your Prius loaded with newspaper.

 

Nice! Do you fold them before delivering?

 

Way to go I think the 2010 is a better car in every way! Had an'09 I know.
Yes people still read newspapers! sure I geek around on the computer!
But there is something about the smell and feel of a paper. Thank you!
Stealership you got that right! look at your paperwork! Transit tax?
Wheelage fee? doc fee! argh! How do they get away with it!

 

Hi Newsie. After you've had it long enough to get some useful data could you please let us know what sort of fuel economy you're getting on the run.

Thanks.