I am looking at the plug in Prius quite closely and the more I read this forum the more I plan on renting one for the weekend. So, there is only one traction battery, and that is a Lithium Ion battery which is not the same kind in my 2010 Prius. I have noticed in my 2010 on long downgrades the battery will charge and there is no more room and stops charging and you can hear the engine brake. Now in the Plug in Prius because the battery holds 4 kW instead of 1kw or so does it continue to charge all the time until it reaches its limit and than you can go into EV mode?
On long downhill descents, if the EV portion of the pack is not full, yes it will begin to increase your EV driving distance.
That would be so awesome when descending mountains (Santa Cruz Mountains, Hwy 17) when the battery fills up quickly and all that energy is wasted on brakes, like some old fashioned, dinosaur car.
When we bought our Prius in May 2009 we really thought we had the state of the art car. People would stare and inquire about it. So, less than three years and the plug in Prius comes along. Sometimes life ain't fair.....
Well I call my New PIP a Super Prius, but I'm sure your car is still top of the heap. This is my first Prius and I'm loving it. The whole concept of this and the regular Prius are amazing.
Well, we bought our 2010 in June 2009. But the Plug-in is what I wanted all the time; I just couldn't hold out that long with my 1984 330,000+ miles Mercedes diesel wagon. And so yes, it's not the best financial move now but I'll finally have the vehicle I want and, other than an EV, the cleanest car on the road. For me, that's what it's all about, not stickers or the least I can spend on fuel. So yeah, some money out the window but a good move as far as I'm concerned.
"I am looking at the plug in Prius quite closely and the more I read this forum the more I plan on renting one for the weekend." Do you know for sure that rental agencies have them available? This is the first mention I have seen, and I wonder if they were able to get them on preorder. Edit: Well, just saw another poster mention renting one from a Toyota dealer, so maybe that is what you are doing? So much for my assumptions.:redface:
I saw another post today where the poster said they had rented one from a dealer. (Sure hope it wasn't a waiting-for-pickup preorder!)
Lums Toyota in Warrenton just got a white plug in prius on Monday and it is a rental vehicle and can be rented. I just wish they would extend the federal 7,500 tax credit for the plug in prius like they do the Gov't. Motors Volt.
Got to thinking the PiP could be a pretty flexible vehicle. Say for whatever reason you're only driving 12 miles a day or so, you could keep only a 1/4 tank or less gas in the car saving 50 lbs or so in weight. probably see some really big MPG numbers. It's a great concept, but obviously it's a bit pricey and we'll have to see how people deal with batteries years from now.
Exactly! And I haven't yet seen anyone reporting increasein their EV numbers with tires overinflated, as I've seen regular Prius owners report better MPGs.
Keeping the tank low saves some weight but it won't be that huge a MPG boost. 100 lb is 1-2% impact ( highway/city), so 50lb would be .05-1%. so 50mpg -> 50.5mpg 200mpg -> 202mpg. GM recommends minimizing tank volume if you are mostly using it in EV mode, which lots of volt users do. Since I commute on EV and use gas only for unexpected errands and/or long trips, and since I really really hate standing at a gas station, I tend to just fill it and forgot about it until I need to refill it again. I use it enough that it won't be going stale (part of why GM recommends partial fills). Then again I last filled up in October, about 3200 miles ago -- have more than a gallon left so maybe I'll fill up again in april. I live in CO and get a lot of range/regen from hills. Of course you pay for it going the other direction. Since the PiP will use EV when you start, unless you are at the very top of a hill you should be able to regen a reasonable amount. There is a thread (could not find it via search) where a PiP owner added 5 miles or so of EV range after coming down a hill.
