2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In: 15 mile EV range, 87 MPGe, $32,000

Can you quick-charge the plug-in Prius?
With a standard level 2 charging station providing 70A at 240V, you could potentially charge the 4.4 kWh battery of the Prius in only approximately 20 minutes. That would be nice!
Or, does the Prius have a current limitation, so that it doesn't really take 70A? That would then be an item to fix on the to-do list of Toyota.

 

See, I would look at the 2nd meter as more of a house upgrade. You know you're going to be using that meter for years and years down the road - well past the life of your Prius. Yes, it's an additional cost - but you're not going to avoid it if you want to plug in. There's no other way to split your house and EV metering otherwise.

A lot cheaper than the solar water heater would be a heat-pump water heater -- should cut your water heating energy usage by 50-75% depending on how warm the room your heater is located in. Solar water heating will cost a lot more. Though I guess if you eventually will add PV you'll definitely want to either do the heat-pump water heater or solar water heating first. Then again, with the rate that PV prices keep on dropping - wait another 3-5 years and PV may be cheaper than both!

 

I wonder.

I live in a 4 season climate, and the pump would be in an unconditioned garage. Also, I only use ventilators to cool the house in the summer.

Do you know of any websites that might model my local use ?

 

What are your typical garage temperatures?

Typical COPs for air source heat pump water heaters appears to be around 2-2.5 depending on ambient temperature (which includes heat lost from storing water in the tank). This means the heat pump would use about 50-60% less electricity to operate.

Here's a good test: http://www.bpa.gov/Energy/N/Utilities_Sharing_EE/doc/HeatPumpWaterHeatersFactorFiction.pdf

Looks like you also want to avoid setting the water temp too high as well as the COP rapidly drops, too.

 

yikes, that's not cheap! thanks hill, how much is toyota's?

 

Re: Heat Pump Water Heaters. I probably should take this to a new thread.

My garage is typically 40- to 50-something, significantly lower than the temperature for which the official COP is rated. Some units cut out the heat pump at ambients as high as 45, seriously impacting seasonal performance in my climate.

Verbal information from my local utility, which had more sparse test data than you linked below, suggested that the best I can expect in this climate is 1.8. One model hardly beat 1.0.

Thanks for the link, this is different than the study I have from another utility. Sorry, I don't know that I'm free to post it yet.

 

A different revision of the same presentation is at: http://www.aceee.org/files/pdf/conferences/hwf/2011/2B - Ammi Amarnath.pdf

The version I received was presented to a different organization two weeks later. It lacks some of these slides, but has additional data relevant to the Pacific Northwest, and colorcodes datapoints by manufacturers A/B/C. One of the models was vastly inferior to the others, not even outcompeting ordinary electric resistance.

 

fuzzy, which one was close to a COP of 1 ?

I looked at the GE model because it is on sale for $1000 at Lowes. After thinking about it a bit though, I think it is clear that a nat gas setup is preferable if possible for my home, since the electricity is coal sourced.

My reasoning is that electricity at the central plant wastes about 68% of energy, and another 7% in transmission, so from the get go I am only utilizing 30% of the energy in coal. If I estimate year-round COP of a heat exchanger at 2.0, then powerplant-water heating efficiency is 60%. I can do better than that with NG year round, do not have to worry about the COP estimate being wrong, use tech that is proven and long-lasting, and burn a much cleaner fuel than coal.

Easy choice really, IF I can retro-fit for NG hot water heating at a reasonable cost.

 

Sage, have you checked out the DIY solar HW at builditsolar.com?

 

^^ Many times

 

Toyota Introduces Plug-in Prius @ Green Drive Expo!
Recorded on September 16, 2011 at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond,

Not sure if this video was posted!

 

Like the fact that he chose to use 9 to 14 miles for the Plug-in Prius even after the official Toyota announcement at GDE, but used 40 miles for the Volt even though it is officially rated at 35 miles EV. Nice!

Why Toyota Will Sell 2012 Prius Plug-Ins: It's The Sticker, Stupid

 

I want to amend this post to highlight one major fail and one minor fail.

First, I cant find anything to confirm it, and haven't had any response to my separate post on the subject, but it appears they chintzed out on the EPS steering assembly and are not using the brushless motor version with the tighter steering ratio, even in the $40K advanced version. MAJOR FAIL! Could keep me from buying.

Second, someone in the American division needs to again tell their Japanese counterparts the blue emblems suck big time on practically every color of the car. Thankfully, if I buy, I'm getting it in the baby blue.

 

I think the blue emblem looks great. Marks out the hybrids from the gas guzzlers. The ones that have been modded to light up look a little ridiculous though.

 

87 mpg(e) what does this tell us?

From Toyota site:
"Manufacturer-estimated miles per gallon equivalent. Estimate includes consumption of electricity and gasoline energy in combined EV and hybrid mode. MPGe value is based on Toyota internal testing. Actual fuel economy will vary depending on driving conditions and frequency of charging."

What missing (could not find) is how much energy is charged into the battery each time it is charged?
Taking 3.6 kWh (assuming it is the same as the prototype, for which we have data) here is some calculation:
3.6 kWh for 15 miles is 4.17 mi/kWh (240 W/mi) including charging losses.
Since 1 gallon of gasoline contains 33.7 kWh, 4.17 times 33.7 equals 140.4 mpg(e) in EV mode (including charging losses).
One have to drive 7.36 miles in HV mode (49 mpg) in addition to the 15 EV miles in order to get the 87 mpg(e) per the definition above.

So, in summary: If you drive 22.36 miles a day, everyday, and charge once a day you will get the 87 mpg(e).

Your mpg(e) will widely vary!

 

That's a pretty good assumption since the recharge time did not change from the prototype to production model.

 

^^ mpg(e) for blended use is the reciprocal of the weighted sums of the energy per mile in gallon equivalents for the petrol and EV contributions. Looks like this:

1 divided by the sum:
energy per mile (electric) + energy per mile (petrol)

 

Except that you would get somewhat less than 49 mpg with a cold engine on the first 7 miles after it starts running.

And the 15 miles is really 14.3 on the European test cycle and not on the EPA tests.

And the car might be really hot or cold so the climate system might have to be running full blast for the first few miles.

In a Volt you could have remotely enabled the climate system from your smart phone while connected to grid power before going out to your car. However, you bought the standard trim Prius Plugin-in so you have to get within line-of-sight so you can press the remote climate control button on your key fob and then go back inside while you wait for the car temperature to stabilize....

 

Jeff N,

I can only calculate to the data in front of me, in this case - data presented by the OP of this thread.
No EPA numbers, so cannot calculate. BTW, Prius team indicated that the EPA mpg(e) will probably be higher than 87.
My main reason for the post was to show that the mpg(e) at the first 15 (EV) miles is not 87 as some posters assumed and calculated to in other threads (were you amongst them?). It is 140 (give or take).
FYI, I did not buy a standard trim Prius PHV!

 

Yes, I was just attempting a joke.