Just curious if any of you owners plan to never or rarely plug-in charge your PHV. For whatever reason... perhaps you just don't have ready access to an outlet. Never mind the reason why you bought this car in the first place (maybe it's just HOV access).
I'm planning on plugging in. I wrote to my city about the permit procedure, I called the electric co about rates, and I asked my employer for a parking spot with an outlet (and, to my major surprise, they said yes, at least, so far). I'm going to Home Depot to look for conduit, Romex and breakers today.
The flip-side of that question - is an HOV sticker worth the $5k-$7k premium if you never plan to use the true benefits of the car?
I started a survey thread a few months back asking people how many miles they expected to drive between charges. There was a category for 'never charge' and, as I remember, there was at least one person who selected that category as their answer.
So far, I have plugged in every night (only got the car Tuesday). My plan is to have a fully charged battery each morning, so that while running errands, etc in town, I won't burn any gasoline. Our typical day consists of one early morning trip for my coffee gang, then one more trip later in the day for errands, appointments, shopping etc. I should be able to accomplish this in 13 miles or less. I programmed the onboard timer to finish shortly before 6 am.
Yes, it is for me. I have had an 85 mile commute down one of America's most congested corridors for the past five years. From the time my kids were five until ten, I've gotten gone from work at 8 PM. I will be very happy to see my kids at 6:30 or 7:00 from now on. Definitely worth it.
I am one of the people that answered the question that i may never plug it in. The premium isn't too high taking into consideration the state and federal incentives. I MIGHT be able to plug it in if my apartment complex allows me to use the electrical outlet near my parking space, but if not then the next apartment or house I look at will be considered based on the availability of a plugin outlet. I could have waited a year or 2 and then picked up a plugin, but my current car is on its last legs and i didn't want to go through the pain of used car ownership again, and i didn't want to lock myself into a new car with less than the features i ideally want. And just because my daily commute may not afford me the ability to plug in my car (although my work plans on installing 50 charge spots over the next year), there are visits to friends houses, public charge stations, etc... which will allow me to on occasion prevent my car from adding to the global gas consumption. My case a leaf or volt wouldn't be a good idea, but the PiP is a good way for me to have my cake and occasionally eat it too!
85 miles round-trip, I hope. Mine is 87 or 100 miles round-trip, depending on the route I take. I have benefited from my yellow HOV stickers for 5 years and I'm looking forward to getting the green ones.
I will be using (shore power) to plug in when available. My concern is preserving the long term life of the battery , and saving the charge for mid day driving. My typical drive profile each weekday is 1 mile to the freeway , 18 miles of freeway , stop at the office for 2 hours, 10 short trips of city driving ( 1-3-miles each) , then 18-30 miles freeway home. I want to get the ICE running to warm up on the way to the freeway , what tricks can I use to get the ICE running at low speed ? (Toyota says my prius will be built in March)
Welp, everytime I set out for a 1 mile trip to grocery store in our local mega shopping complex, I know what this 2011 is in for .... MPGs dropping down, down ..... If I had a plug-in hybrid, I'd plug it in
Turn on the heater or hit the EV/HV button (car defaults to EV on start up). As soon as you hit the button, the car will switch to HV and start the engine warm-up. I hit the button about a minute before I know I'll "need"/want the engine for power.
