Question about PIP battery longevity

Drove the PIP Baisc for the first time this weekend. It was actually the first time I have driven ANY Prius. I was both impressed and not. It drove fairly well around town in all-EV mode and would kick-in the ICE smoothly if you floored it.

Steering, brakes and road feel are numb compared the my Honda Fit and my old 97 Civic, but not annoyingly so. I would get used to it and enjoy driving this car I think. I really like the small D shaped steering wheel and was surprised that I also really liked the high, centered dash. Overall I liked driving the car, but the interior seemed really cheap for a $32,000k car, not much better than the Fit and I like the Honda ergo much better. The Leaf by comparison seemed much higher quality on the interior and was much more fun to drive, IMO. Torquey and overall just a little tighter.

All that said, I am going to hold off and drive the C-MAX Energi when it comes out. With the 7.5 kWh pack I could do a lot more EV driving and from the pictures I have seen, a very nice looking interior. I would be able to get my whole round-trip commute into one charge with the C-Max. This means my employer would pay for both legs of my commute and I would only need to cycle the battery once per day instead of twice, thus making my 15 year target seem more attainable given the battery technology.

I will be tracking the PIP deals this fall and might just end up in one if the price is right. For now I am going to wait and see what the C-Max has to offer. Thanks for all of the advice!

 

It is a good point that a battery swap would likely not be that expensive in 10 years and might even give more range if one opted for it.