What Drives Us review: Prius Prime

We have never used [nor even seen In-Real-Life] a 'dedicated charger.

We have a 120vac outlet in our carport, that we use to charge our Prime from our household solar system.

So I am not aware of why a 'dedicated' charger would be seen as needed.

 

Hi Russell,

There is a mode I've been experimenting with that given a little more time, you might have discovered:

1. Start EV to cross-town road - the cold engine remains off and the car acceleration, a heavy power demand, is handled by the EV.
2. Switch to HV on cross-town road - this allows the engine to warm-up initially with little load and once the engine is at an efficient temperature, you're driving a 60+ MPG hybrid.
3. Ending trip, switch to CHARGE mode - this replaces the charge that will be needed on the next trip. By now, the engine is at peak efficiency and the power banked in the traction battery will be there for the next trip.

This lets you optimize efficiency so the car is always getting over 60 MPG and would satisfy your affection for patterns and protocol.

Bob Wilson

 

I lived with a 2012 Prius Plug-in in an apartment where my carport was lined up with my apartment. My landlord was kind enough to run an extended outlet to my carport. That is one solution for carport dwellers. Most of us who own their own homes however don't have the problem the author described. I'm able to charge in two hours or less and get somewhere between 30 and 35 miles of range from a single charge. I can do this a couple times a day and basically run only electric all day long. This totally changes my Dynamics from the author's. Also,
A very heavy duty 25 foot extension cord can be successfully used with the plug-in Prius. Both the 2012 and the 2017 Prius that I owned were charged in this manner with no problems whatsoever. When I visit friends and or clients I also am allowed to plug in at their homes from their garages. So my Prius Plug-In experience is much better than the author's. I live in Southern California.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

To me, Prime only has one competitor: Volt.

Ionic doesn't stay in Ev mode so it's like PIP or regular Prius. If you consider the regular Prius a competitor, then the Ionic is as well, but then so is Camry Hybrid and many others like it. I didn't buy a PIP for this reason, and some of my friends did the same. So Ionic PHV is out for me.

Bolt, Leaf really aren't capable of going out of town on a trip. You can sort of make it happen if you're careful, stay on certain routes, and accept a large amount of hassle and wasted time, but that's not competitive to me with a car that can go anywhere with no hassle and no wasted time at all. Model 3 at least has access to the Supercharger network, but that's too limited and its range is too short, at least in the base model. Model S alleviates this slightly by longer ranges, but it's too expensive to be a real competitor.

As for the Volt, a much smaller rear seat and cargo area combined with a far shorter gas-only range and very poor gas and electric efficiency compared to Prime, not to mention a much higher price made it not very competitive for me. I looked at one for about 2 minutes and didn't even bother to drive it.

Since I can get the Prime with tax breaks for a lower cost than I can get a regular Prius lift-back, to me that's a no-brainer. I originally thought the cargo area floor was a deal-breaker, but after more careful consideration and some measurements, I discovered it's unlikely to ever really cause any sort of problem and it actually has some advantages over the G4 cargo area (some hidden storage which they frustratingly removed in the G4). The fifth-seat thing is a non-issue since I never considered a Prius to be a 5-passenger car anyway. It's too narrow, especially with car seats or booster seats in the back.

I'm not sure I'd buy a plug-in if I didn't have a garage. In this case, I probably would because the tax breaks make it cheaper than the lift-back, but that's not true for everyone. I'm lucky because I do have a garage and I can charge at work, soon on L2. Over time, I think we need to move to a society where charging over-night is easy for more people, and I think we're moving that way already.

 

Great points and logic. I'm with you, buddy.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Great points Lee Jay. The Prime makes great sense for many reasons. It is in some ways the ideal mode of transportation in the current age when battery tech is still not sufficient to make a completely affordable and logical EV alone car.

Great 25+ miles EV and an ultra reliable efficient ICE is a perfect combination in a bullet proof Toyota....very difficult to resist all this goodness at this very tempting price , not to mention the Fed Tax Credit!! A fool proof combination that this fool certainly understands and appreciates

 

must---resist---temptation

nice review russell!

why are pay charging spots a bad thing, is gas free?

good point on the compromises and niche vehicle. prime could have been the next gen 2 prius had they figured out seats, storage and looks.

 

I thought review was thoughtful and fair. I would have liked to hear more about reliability of the Hybrid Synergy Drive; it seems to be smoother than the Pip and the gen II.

We have our own single family home and a 220v EVSE, so i'm about to recharge for 2nd time today.

 

Paying for charging is relatively new here in the Southland; it's been free up until fairly recently, so the loss of freebies does trigger some pain.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

i hear ya. my dad was p.o'd when they started charging for light bulbs.

 

futile to resist...give in to the goodness

 

go bisco, go bisco, go bisco

 

Yo cannot reezeest! Yo must have zee Prius Prime! Yo must, yo must!! Har, har, har...

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I bow down to the Prime!

 

when you said, 'they're not free' it sounded like you were complaining. agreed, i would like to see more charging infrastructure as well. but so much of the general population is living in the 19th century, it's too much to expect.

 

Hi Russell,

Have had a chance to drive the Ioniq to compare and contrast with the Prius Prime?

When reading this, it reminded me of the Ioniq stepped, transmission. I've never driven a dual-clutch car which in theory should have smoother transitions between steps but the car will still have that engine rpm and speed step function.

Bob Wilson

 

I was initially very interested in the Ioniq ( as some here know... ). However, the more I read about it the more it looks like a 'good first effort'..and I certainly don't want to be an early adopter. Appears they are having some quality problems in Europe as well.

My next vehicle will certainly be a Prime. The value proposition is just too good to pass up...and is probably the reason it is selling so well. However, I still have a hard time getting past the dreaded 'trunk space issue'. Note that I am coming from a Hyundai Sonata..which is a HUGE car. The trunk is absolutely massive - and we DO frequently use the space ( kids hockey equipment and such ). However, kids are going to be driving on their own soon though so that will be a great time to get me a Prime!