What kind of mileage would one get in a "plug-in prius" if you don't plug-in? Would it be the same as a regular non-plug-in prius (i.e. ~50 mpg)? Or would it be better because the plug-in prius has greater battery capacity?
I had a 2012 Prius Five (with 17" tires), my average was around 50.2 MPG. I then traded it for a 2012 PIP (15" tires), my average without plugging in was around 53 MPG.
What I believe the best answer is: It depends on your driving habits. If you do all freeway driving on perfectly flat ground, then the plug in will theoretically get slightly less mileage because of the added weight of the larger battery. If you have a combination of hills, city driving, stop-and-go, etc., then the plug in will be slightly better mileage because of its ability to capture/re-use more regenerative braking energy.
Thanks everyone. I would thought it would it would have been significantly better because of the larger battery capacity. although the PIP is not that much more than the regular prius when you factor in the federal tax credit, it is probably not worth the extra $ unless you are actually going to plug it in.
yes, i do a lot of 20-30 mph around town driving, and use whatever hypermiling techniques that i can. i never had a standard genIII to compare to, but i think the lithium is quite a bit more efficient. the larger battery doesn't help much because i don't have any opportunity to go down a hill large enough to charge over the hv portion very often.
I get 52ish mpg on flat freeways. For trips into and out of the Sierra Nevada mountains or other routes with significant hills, I get 62ish mpg due to the regeneration capability and large battery. This includes starting with a full charge but on long trips, 200+ miles, without any other external charging that doesn't make much difference.
My lifetime average is a bit over 54 mpg in hybrid (non-EV) mode with the Plug-in Prius. Most of these miles are at highway/freeway speeds. Without having owned a regular Prius, it's hard to say what the difference would be in my case. Agree with CalBear above - with mountain driving, I routinely see similar mpg.
I get 55+ on long expressway trips with few hills, cruising at 70. Generally 10 MPG more than my Gen 2, which used to max out the regen on the last downhill on my daily commute.,
I get between 60-75mpg on my 2012 plug-in thats about an hour drive and its around 19miles freeway driving with lots of traffic. No plugging in but because of the ability to regenerate quicker and the higher capacity battery it really makes a difference. I am able to drive a good portion of it on EV.
I can't speak for the regular Prius, but most of the time I don't plug in my PiP. My commute is about 36 miles round-trip. I often get 62 USMPG, but the average is around 58 most of the time. The commute is mostly freeway, with 3 lights along the way. Traffic is light on the way to work, but it's usually fairly stop-and-go for much of the way home. It makes a fairly big difference by using the air conditioning. I don't see much of a difference due to warm-up these days when the morning temp is near-freezing. On the highway, it's not a lot different, but it makes a big difference how I drive. It varies from about 55 USMPG when I take it easy on secondary roads at 50 mph, to the mid-forties when I'm making good time on primary highways at around 70.
The aggregate answer that many have seen over the years is that the PiP should do slightly better in most conditions because of slightly better efficiency taking energy in and out of the battery. It should do significantly better in the mountains.
As I understand it, the battery has three virtual partitions; one for plug-in power, one for regeneration and one for reserve/normal operations. I guess it depends on whether those partitions are flexible, whether that translates into more efficient use of regenerated energy.
It doesn't depend on whether those partitions are flexible or not. They are independent (or at least somewhat independent) of each other.