Featured 2G Prius Plug-in Reveal - March 23 @ 9:10 am EDT - Live Stream here

i would like to think that i could live with it. i don't like the missing seat, but maybe i can live with it. i really don't like the raised deck, cause i already keep a spare back there.
i do really like all the new gen 4 features, plus the 22 miles. i need 16, which should give me around 24 average, so 22 should be good for 30 or so in my typical driving. while i don't need that, it will be good in winter when its down to 20, and i can still use some for the heat pump.
but, it's all gonna come down to price and competition. i may be in the market next spring, or i may wait until dealers are more desperate. i really got burned on my price, when i saw others getting them for 24-25k a year or two later.
the big thing is my love of priuschat.

 

Don't need a Prius to be on PriusChat

They might be referring to fat and weight. The statement needs more context.

 

i know, but i don't think i'd enjoy it. i can't spend my time trying to burst other peoples bubbles. and i don't know enough about cars to comment objectively. and to be honest, if i didn't really want to own a prius anymore, i think i would lose interest.

 

There is roughly 1000 watts of sunlight per square meter when the sun is fully shining. Solar panels are about 20% efficient at converting the available light into electricity. An ideally angled solar panel (directly facing the sun) will produce 200 watts per square meter, which is 0.2 kWh.

It might take 3 kWh to travel 10 miles. 3 kWh in 8 hours requires 2 square meters (22 square feet) of ideally angled solar panels in full sunlight, for the full 8 hours.

Solar will never be a practical way to extend EV range. It's better at keeping the 12v battery topped up or running a low power fan for cooling purposes.

 

take it up with jan treur.

 

2017 Toyota Prius Prime Options/Specs:  Solar Panels, Fast Charging (regionally), Heat Pump And More

 

The blue one at the reveal had ZERO room for a spare. The battery takes up all that space, the only way you are getting a spare is by filling the cargo area.

It had a compressor and tire goo to the driver's side of the battery pack.

Merged.

The preproduction PiPs they had people testing had 2 extra battery packs, but they knew at the time that they would be moving to one pack *total* for the release version. I'm just guessing on this part, but evidently the complexity of the 2 packs in software was worth it over possibly fixing the final battery pack size in place too early. I can't imagine why else they would have gone through the nightmare of that 2 pack situation otherwise, though.

Merged

The Volt is essentially a one-off, redesigning it to give a 5 pasenger is "trivial". And it's pretty obvious that mpg was not their concern, the mpg of the ICE isn't exactly stellar. It's good, at least.

The 4G Prius is on a platform that would require changes to ALL models that will use it.

Do I think they made a mistake not doing so, knowing from the start that the platform would have at least one PiP model? Sure.

But obviously enough beancounters won out on arguments to kill off that idea. Most likely because they didn't think the PiP (now Prime) would sell enough to justify the engineering changes to the platform necessary. I see that as a self-fulfilling prophecy, though, when the first PiP was sold in so few states. With the Prime now coming to all 50, perhaps if enough sell, they will consider adding to the engineering budget to enlarge the platform a bit. I personally think it would make sense, as there are far more models than just the Prius that could use a Prime model.

Then again, if the promising carbon battery technology makes it in the market, it may not matter - it's far lighter, has better energy density, and charges faster. But a car company that waits on better batteries before introducing a battery-intensive model will never get it out the door in time to compete with everyone else. Even Tesla is using "old" battery tech that honestly is NOT designed for automotive use.


Merged.

When testing the pre-production PiP for a few days, I consistently ran it down to the Interstate, 16 miles away. By the end of my too-short 3 days, I could floor it going down one hill in a 65mph zone, let off halfway up the next hill, and that would be my only gas usage for 15 miles. If I had had just another few days, I could have gotten to the Interstate at 16 miles easily enough, as I would have been able to figure out better timing on real gas usuage.

That hilly section required gas usage no matter what I tried, if I were to keep up with traffic. There were roads that would avoid it, but would also add too much distance to get me to the Interstate, and that was my goal.

No idea if the production PiP would get there, though, since the battery pack situation is completely different.

Merged.

Weight outside the wheelbase is almost always a bad thing, so I would guess that by "meatier", they mean more of a pig ;-) More on the outside corners pretty much means less tossable. Or at least less recoverable. Once you toss it, getting it back is harder.

 

"There is no specs yet on the unit that we have been able to uncover, but given conventional efficiency to square footage ratios, we assume something around 150W seems reasonable. Of which on a “normalized” solar day, mounted as it is (flat plane/horizontal position) could net upwards of 600 Wh – good for a couple extra miles of range each day."

Not so, there are numerous hitch mounting spare holders out there. They seem mostly aimed at trucks though. So a Prius owner should take a trip to the local metal shop to see about trimming it down to be more out of the air flow.

Only the gen3, gen4, and the Prius c are the only hybrids to have attained 50+mpg combined EPA to date. The rest are lower than that. Take off the Prius goggles once in awhile, and remember it is the high end outlier for hybrid fuel economy.

The 4G Prius is on a platform that would require changes to ALL models that will use it.

I remember one PiP osner complaining about the ICE kicking on near their house for a hill. The EV side simply didn't have the oomph to take it on its own. The total EV range could still have been 11+ miles, but if the owner only has a commute under 5 miles, having the ICE kick on so would be a disappointment.

 

i remember that pip owner too, but he was the outlier. most of us rarely have the ice fire unwanted.

 

Thanks for living up to your name. The idea that a hitch mount would be standard on a CAR is beyond ludicrous. Not to mention the extreme expense of adding a hitch and a tire mount.

As much as I HATE not having a spare tire (I often convert trunk spaces to allow a full-size rather than a donut), on the Prime, I'd put up with their solution, even if I built my own hitch for it (which I most likely would). If I were towing a trailer, I might put one there, though.

 

i keep a spare in my hatch. that makes the raised bed all the more troublesome.

 

Many add a hitch just for a bicycle rack already, and despite not having a tow rating in the US, the previous generations of the Prius, like many cars, all have a hitch available. It isn't cheap, I agree, but other solutions don't work for some. Plug ins just aren't like to have a spare because of the space requirements.

• Cheapest solution is to just live without the spare. Maybe add a tire plug kit to try before the goop in the event of a flat.
• TPMS is now required on all cars. So run flats are an option. They cost more than standard tires, and their extra weight will have a negative effect of fuel efficiency.
  
• Buy a spare, throw it in the cargo area/trunk. If the person still needs that lost cargo space...
• Putting the cargo or spare on the roof is an option with a lower cost investment, but the degradation of aerodynamics reduces fuel economy.
• A hitch mount spare or cargo tray costs more, but won't intrude upon aerodynamics to the extent that putting something on the roof will.

I would go with the first, but some rather have an actual spare because of their roads or simple peace of mind. There is a couple solutions for them, that's all.

PS: This isn't my original name here.

 

Someone purchased a PLUG-IN HYBRID expecting it to be driven like an EV.

See the problem?

Remember what the market was. That context is quite different to the situation now.

 

This estimate is rather pessimistic. On a sunny day in June each of my own panels (area 1.64 m2, which is about the same or less than the available Prime roof area) has a production between 1500 and 2000 Wh. I have 29 of them at different places and at all kinds of angles, varying from 1 degree to 30 degrees. So the most pessimistic case would be 1.5 kWh on a sunny day, which will give about an additional 10 to 11 km or 7 miles. If thin film panels are used instead of the normal PV panels, it may be about 15% lower: 9 km or 6 miles.

What worries me a bit, is that to prevent battery degradation due to high temperatures, it is preferred to park the car in the shadow as much as possible. If you really want to catch the sun, you better can leave all windows open and hope that there is enough wind to cool the car interior.

 

Perhaps the estimate is pessimistic for your area, but not by very much. A 150 watt panel might add 0.75 kWh in a day, or about 3.5 miles of range.

The hood and roof is not an ideal angle to the sun unless the car is driven on the equator. Further, as you point out, it would require parking the car in the sun. Most people that charge their vehicles likely park in a garage where no sunlight is available. On top of all that, trees and buildings are likely to cast shade on the panels.

Solar on a vehicle is extremely impractical. A better use for solar is in a fixed installation, with the vehicle charging from that fixed location.

 

Some of my panels are practically horizontal as well, but still produce 1.5 kWh at a good sunny day. It just depends on the quality/efficiency of the panels they choose. I agree that it is much better to have solar panels separate from the car, then you can choose optimal places for both: panels in the sun, car in the shadow.

 

I wonder why the didn't bother to mention the adaptive high beam feature ?
Unlike the new hatchback gen. 4 which only can automatically turn on or off high beam,the Prime can drive with full high beam without dazzling oncoming vehicles or vehicles ahead .
A great feature worth mentioning in my opinion!

 

Toyota likes to save some reveals for later.