Did you consider the Honda Clarity before your Prius Prime?

Nope, not assuming.

The Honda Clarity provided Level 1 charger looks a bit familiar...


Rob43

 

That is absolutely correct.

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Honda Owners:

If any Honda Clarity owner were to build the same 120v to 240v conversion plug I have detailed in this thread:
Using the Primes 120v Charger at 240 Volts, Cost $59 !!! | PriusChat Posts 1, 2, & 50

Your 12 hour charge time would get knocked down to roughly ~5.5 hours to a full charge.


Rob43

 

That was another reason I decided not to purchase Clarity when I was looking for a second car. While the 49 miles EV range is perfect for my 18 miles (one way) daily commute, a long charging time on L1 could be a problem. Installing L2 would mean thousands of dollars of additional cost for my situation, and it was not something I wanted to undertake at the time.

 

Yeah, my commute is 37 miles without any side trips. I often run a few errands in town adding a few more miles on my regular commute distance. With PRIME I always run out EV range by the end of a day. With Clarity, I may have a few miles left, but still likely to take 10+ hours to top off. Besides, when I was considering Clarity, I was thinking to add Clarity along with PRIME. I could not be able to charge both cars at the same time on my current electrical panel.

 

Ouch.

 

I took one look at the side profile of the Clarity and moved on.

This is much better:

 

One does not need to charge it completely. When you need to go unplug then go. You got the gas to take you the rest of the way. (At this point just suggesting a possibility for someone else considering with similar situation to you). 36/49 is 73%. This would roughly be 9 hours of charging. On days you use up more, you also fill up more because filling up the last portion (to full) is slower rate taper, than the bulk filling when battery is low...

 

In fact for PHEV, like PRIME and Clarity, one does not need to charge at all. For most of this winter, I did not charge my PRIME. Its range diminished to less than 18 miles and temperature below 14F or use of defroster forced ICE to come on anyway, made it very inefficient EV. On top of it, during this winter gas price got ridiculously low, it was much cheaper to run on gas than charge and use EV. Still, for two PHEV/BEV cars in a household, I thought bumping up the charging capability was prerequisite.

 

This is an unusual way to operate a PHEV.
I realize you live where electricity costs are high and currently gas is cheap.

Did all this change after you purchased a PHEV?

If not, why did you buy a PHEV in the first place?

 

To be honest, I did not do detailed economic analyses of EV vs HV before I purchased my PRIME. At the time, I was just interested in seeing the newest plug-in PRIUS and test driving it. But after seeing the offer, I could not turn it down. The price of the PRIME PREMIUM was less than PRIUS TWO after all the incentives and tax credits are considered. Therefore, even if I knew what I know now about the cost of electricity being more than cost of gas, purchasing PHEV PRIME over regular hybrid Prius would have been economically advantageous. That said, the gas price was higher and electricity rate was lower when I first purchased the car almost two years ago, not much, but the EV vs HV was about even or slightly better for EV during summer. The cost reversed this winter when gas price hit the all time low and electricity rate went up at the beginning of the year.

 

I still think you have a great deal regardless because PRIME has a better MPG than a regular Prius.

In my case is due to HOV alone daily to/from work. I do need a bit more of EV range which the Clarity was a perfect fit but after owning the PRIME, I only need to fill up gas every 3 weeks and I am still getting 2.5L/100kms (94MPG) since day 1.

After finding out so many firmware issues with Clarity, takes 10+ hours to fully charge, heavier dead weight of the battery, PRIME is the better choice overall. If SSB (Solid State Battery) is here today, I bet PRIME is a a full BEV by now.

 

Agreed. On EV range alone Clarity is better choice for many, but for overall efficiency, utility and reliability, PRIME is on the top. No question about that.

 

Damn, @ $26 I'd jump the ship in a heartbeat.

 

Only if the two cars would be charging on the same circuit.

Otherwise, there shouldn't be an issue charging 2 cars on Level 1 for a majority of American homes. Some older homes may have sub 100 amp service, and then charging 2 EVs, and running a couple vacuums becomes iffy.

 

Yap, that is the case for my house. The 120V plugs in my detached garage is on a single 15A circuit on a 100 Amp service panel. I have absolutely no room for adding another breaker in my current main service panel. Adding a sub panel and updating the garage circuit to 40A with 240V receptacle was quoted to be ~$2500 labor and parts. If I have both PRIME and Clarity without upgrading, I would have to charge them staggered, making it 18 hours to charge both cars from empty to full.

 

Yeah there is one in the parking lot at work. I was surprised it was not as nice looking from any side in person. It is rather large and looks ungainly, almost boat like.

 

It's actually a bit better than a Prius, both city and highway.