I setup the cameras to capture my drive to the further of my favorite coffeeshops. This time, it would be with my new Prius Prime. A few months ago, that drive was with the Prius PHV it just replaced. This is a route I'd like to capture throughout a year, to show how well the system handles each of the seasons. Watch for new videos. Turns out, the nice summer evening was great for just driving around. Upon finishing what I intended to share, I realized the situation would be ideal to show how far a Prius Prime can actually go on a single charge in ordinary driving conditions just like that. So, I did. At that point, you can see the 15 miles EV traveled and the estimated 16.6 miles of electric-only capacity remaining with the cabin blower on. That was clearly enough to repeat the trip. When I returned, 30 miles of EV had been traveled and the estimate showed 0.9 mile remaining. I continued on, repeating that route again. At 30.6 miles total, the EV capacity had been totally depleted and the engine started up, switching from EV to HV mode. That's well above the 25-mile EV rating listed on the window-sticker, achieved without doing anything special at all. I was simply driving along with traffic on those suburb roads. Speed ranged from 30 to 55 mph, with a few stops along the way.
With all the info shown in the "displays" along the bottom of the screen, what I believe I find MOST interesting is your closing "ECO Score" of "only" 60/100. But, as you stated: "I realized the situation would be ideal to show how far a Prius Prime can actually go on a single charge in ordinary driving conditions just like that." Okay... so I'm thinking maybe the driving conditions were MORE-than-ideal, but still.... (I took a "screen shot" from the end of your video - showing the "ECO Score" - but can't seem to post it here.)
That's a great score, but I can get a 73 eco score on the final screen, but Iook at app and it'll say 30 eco score for your last drive! WTH?
The Toyota Report Card points out that John has a (relatively) heavy foot on the go pedal, but it has little effect on fuel economy because he manages his braking (as in: very little) well. I suspect that Toyota presumes that a heavy foot will lead to excessive brake use. Probably true overall, but it is not a given.
Here's my newest Prime video... 25.4 miles driven with 2.1 miles remaining, all using only electricity. Taking this back route home on my commute was a demonstration of what the system has to offer. In this particular case, I had to deal with construction detour backup in the cities and climbing out of the steep river valley once on the highway. The trip from there to home was almost exclusively at fast speeds, which uses up EV miles faster. So, seeing real-world EV distance exceed that of the 25-mile EPA rating is good confirmation of Prime delivering on expectations.
This is representative of a typical summer commute for me in the Prime, including the road-construction slowdown. I arrived at the ramp where I park for work with 50% of the EV capacity still available. That shows overall electric driving availability is well above the 25-mile rating estimate. And since I recharge there, taking advantage of the 85 kWh solar-array, the drive home is exclusively with just electricity too. Watch the video closely for detail. Notice the hills and variety of speeds. Also, keep in mind that the maximum efficiency reported is 199.9 MPG. Beyond that, there really isn't much of a point. Diminishing returns makes the value less meaningful.
