Standard Hybrid vs. Plug-in

Nothing even resembling scientific experimentation can find any effect of EMF until the fields are strong enough to ionize. Ionizing radiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia so this is not a concern. (Hybrid cars do not even seem to generate the most EMF in actual tests) The single best thing you can do for their health and safety are rear facing car seats in the outboard rear seats. How long to keep your child in a rear-facing car seat | BabyCenter

It will weigh slightly more and have the same engine, so it will be slightly slower and handle slightly worse. It is not noticeable. One real concern you should have, the PHV has no spare tire, does your lifestyle involve many flat tires?

You left out the real answer, since it can absorb more regenerative braking, MPG is the same or better than a Liftback.

If you mean electric range, yes, 10 miles may become 6 miles. I do not notice a performance hit in cold weather, just a range shortening and lower MPGs. (Mississippi may never get cold weather by Vermont standards)

No, neither NiMH nor LiIon exhibit battery memory, that was NiCad, no hybrids use NiCad. Plugging in is just to save gas, you do not HAVE to. Toyota recommends charging at least every 2 months, but owners report much longer times. (The 12 volt battery needs charging every three weeks when new, but every week by 4 years)

Yes, it will, if charged. The hybrid system gets its poorest MPG when warming up the engine. If you never warm up the engine, the PHV will be cheaper to drive than the Liftback.

 

For starters, there's no scientific proof that electromagnetic fields are harmful to health.

A battery itself does not produce an electromagnetic field. A battery isn't "full of electricity," it's full of chemicals with positive and negative charges, and electricity can flow in and out of the unit, thusly altering the ratio of positive to negative charge. The electricity that comes out of the battery is Direct Current (DC), which doesn't produce an electromagnetic field.

The electricity flows into a Motor/Generator. When this unit spins, it creates an electromagnetic field. However, this unit is inside the engine compartment and encased in metal, so it is extraordinary unlikely to reach into the passenger compartment. And ordinary cars have alternators, which can also produce an electromagnetic field.

 

Since many will have comments to contribute, I'll reply to my favorite of your questions...

Here in Minnesota, the average for my 2010 Prius was 50.0 MPG. For the 2012 plug-in, it's 73.5 MPG. How do you interpret those results?

Being stuck in heavy winter traffic, the electricity for crawling along while using up coolant warmed by the engine for heat sure is nice... in both. The catch is the plug-in does a better job of it. There's no contest when cruising along on suburb roads after the cabin is all toasty either, the plug-in offers greater tolerances.

I've done that quite a number of times now over the past 2.5 years without any issue whatsoever... other than the desire to plug in while on those away-from-home adventures.

No contest. The warm-up process is faster and takes advantage of the extra electricity. So, even if the engine fires up, you'll still see much higher MPG. And of course, errand runs within EV range turn from chore to delight.

 

Carcinogenic gasoline an CO fumes are far more of a risk to health than an car based EMF field.

 

Absolutely go for the PLUG IN! Regarding EMF the frequency is what matters ( higher frequencies carry more energy and potentially are more damaging) a cell phone is FAR more damaging than the very low frequencies in the Prius, and the steel body and shielded wires make even the low frequency EMF truely insignificant.
Your primary use, within 10 miles of home, should mean really great mileage because it'll almost all be EV!
The PIP comes with heated front seats and using them can significantly reduce gas use in colder weather.
I advocate grill blocking especially for colder weather as it significantly shortens gas engine (ICE) warm -up. My lower grill is currently 75% blocked. With a PIP you are using EV miles while the ICE warms up, something that simply can't happen in a non plug in.
Just to give a taste, my current tank has gone 66 EV miles and 243 gas miles at an average speed of 34 MPH using 14KW and 4.12 gallons; so the EV miles are at 160MPGE, the Gas miles are at 59 MPG or overall I'm at 68 MPGE with only 21% EV (the display shows 75 mpg, which is how I know how much gas I've used). I'm in hilly Kentucky which is not ideal for fuel economy.

 

Absolutely correct, except that DC still produces a magnetic field. The field just isn't *changing*, and so has no electric field (well, except when the current changes, which makes the magnetic field change, which creates an electric field*); it's a lot like the Earth's magnetic field. EM fields aren't scary or dangerous, just a little mysterious sometimes because we can't normally see or feel them.

The shielding is a good point; I've heard it claimed (and I think I even saw some measurements somebody took once) that the field strength inside a Prius is less than inside a typical non-hybrid sedan. Everything is well-shielded; the battery is in a metal box, the HV cable carries equal current in both directions (thus canceling out the field) and is sheathed in a grounded casing, etc.


*NB: I may be an Electrical Engineer, but I don't work with fields, and it's been a few years since I suffered through an electrodynamics class, so hopefully any other EEs that remember better than I do will correct my mistakes...

 

I'd like to explain something else: The electromagnetic radiation itself is perfectly safe, and these articles you read on the Internet are absolute nonsense.

Right now, at this moment, your body and everything around you is bathed in electromagnetic radiation. Light itself is electromagnetic radiation.

What matters is the frequency: Ultrahigh frequencies, such as gamma waves and x-rays, are harmful. Very harmful. But the color yellow is perfectly safe. Even a lot of it. And frequencies lower than visible light are used in radio communications. And ultra-low frequencies emanate from electric motors and even the flow of electricity through wire.

These articles you're reading are creating absolutely false fear by confusing these frequencies. Like this: "Even low exposure to electromagnetic waves, such as gamma waves, have been proven fatal! And science has never proven that the electromagnetic radiation found in your car is safe! It's never been proven safe! And it's electromagnetic radiation, which is proven to kill people!!

See, you can prove a danger, but you can't prove safe. You can test 1,000 times and never find danger, but that doesn't "prove" safety. Maybe looking at the color green causes cancer. After all, it's never been proven that it won't! (See how this works? You create a false sense of fear by claiming that a given thing isn't "proven safe," yet, nothing can be proven safe.)

For decades, there have been studies on mice and power plant employees (who are exposed to massively stronger electric fields from the 20 foot-tall electric generators they work around). No proof of harm has been found.

In addition, we explained that the strength of the fields in a Prius are extremely weak, with the seat heaters most likely being the most powerful source, because you sit right on them.

 

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Strident plug-in owners...

The regular Prius is a fine option, worth entertaining. No plug-in concerns, and you'll have a spare tire.

 

Since you live in cold country, there's a thread here that discusses driving distance, etc., that you might want to take a look at. I've thought about a PiP, but I don't know if we can do the traveling we do (4,000-8,000 miles per trip) without a spare tire, even though we've never had a flat tire on a trip. I do like the idea of saving even more money on fuel around town since it doesn't get cold here. This is something I'll check out more in about 3 years when I think about trading. I couldn't wait for the 2016, so I opted for a 2104 in the interim, but may wait even longer.

 

On a trip of that distance, I'd have a carrier on top for extra cargo... which is simple, since I already have the bars for my kayaks. So, there would be room available for a spare.

How packed do you travel?

 

Obviously a good point, John. I could easily get a spare in, it'd just be another thing to think about and pack. I hadn't really given it much thought though since I'm s long way from making that decision and things might be different by then.

 

...you don't have to plug-in ...believe some in CA just use PiP like a hybrid because they get HOV access with the PiP.
But generally I would not recommend PiP over hybrid in the case where there is no intent to Plug-In regularly...the hybrid version is the better hybrid version, all things considered (spare tire etc) IMHO.

 

Another factor to consider, the Plug-In Prius has a 10.6 gallon tank vs the liftback's 11.9 gallon tank. I notice the fuel gauge drops more quickly compared to our gen II liftback.

 

I'm having a mental picture of you and your children in a PiP with a flat tire in the country on a cold winter evening, not a pretty picture.

 

Tires these days are much better than they used to be.
Ask yourself when the last time you had a "stuck on the side of the road" flat.

We live in a new development which has had house construction pretty much non stop for the last 7 years.
In all that time we have had one nail in a tire incident which caused a slow leak. Filled it with air and drove to get he tire repaired.

 

We've had one slow leaker and one dead flat, in about 4 years. That's with low mileage too.

 

So I guess the question comes down to, which is the outlier and which is more typical?