Before I Overlook the 2024 Prime...

With a guilty heart I'm thinking it's time to replace my 2007 300K+ mile touring. Doing a quick preliminary calculation, it looks like the Prime would save me $0.03/mile, assuming my trips do not exceed the range of the battery, which would not cover my daily commute to/from work, and where I also do not have the ability to plug in. So, I'm thinking right now, the Prime doesn't make sense for me. However, I am hoping to retire, or at the least, revamp my work arrangements in the next year so that I would not be commuting as much or as often for work, but this is all rather nebulous at this stage. Before I rule out the Prime, what should I be considering or reconsidering? I'm familiar with the "regular" Prius, but have zero experience with the plug-in. How convenient is charging? At home, at another's home, or on the go? Honestly? Right now I'm thinking this just isn't the time, as my trips are too long, and once I "retire" and am driving less and shorter distances, I plan to be living in an area mostly without public charging stations (rural NH), BUT I don't want to dismiss the Prime out of hand. Please share your experiences.

Thanks!

Bechi

 

Thanks for the feedback. Right now, I'm undoubtedly leaning towards the AWD model with the Prime tabled under "maybe down the road", but really wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything game-changing.

I'm currently living in NJ, which is considering a new EV tax, BTW (can't have anyone get out of the gas tax increase, don't ya know?), and could charge at home, but it would involve a long, potentially "special" extension cord to reach the outside outlet on the back of the house from my driveway. I plan on moving in the next year or so, so it's not really worth adding a new outlet closer to the driveway. I work in construction, so corporate policy is to place workers on jobsites as far from their homes as possible, so unless the EV range is more in the hundreds of miles range than the ±44 Toyota is quoting, I'm realistically only looking at driving a portion of one way on battery, with the chance, but not the certainty, of charging while at work, and honestly, I don't relish the idea of dragging out a charging cable, connecting, unconnecting and stowing, on a daily basis. However, a year of so down the road, "retired", I would be hypothetically driving less, with a weekly 40ish mile trip (one way) to check in on my mother and help her out with things, maybe charing at home a few times a week, and once a week at her house. I could see that working out, but would it be worth the premium on the Prime? No incentives here that I'm aware except on leases, and with over 300K on my 17 year old Gen2 and an almost 30 year old F150 still in rotation, I like to buy and keep my vehicles. Maybe I'm just talking it out to convince myself, but I do love the idea of the Prime. It's just as Zyrian said; in my case, I think it would be more of a cool toy.

Anyhow, I appreciate the input. My gut feeling has been that it wouldn't be a good fit, regardless of how much I like the idea. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding anything and dismissing the Prime out of hand.

Thanks!

Bechi