First day with my Prius Plug-in

So I saw the first screen shot of 44 MPG and I'm thinkin' what? ... I'm gonna go photo my CONS which is at 53 today ...

then I see the 763 MPG screen and I'm like ... it's coo ... no contest here

I want a plug-in, a big new toy, ... but I ain't gonna get one, wahh

Seriously, congrats all of you. It was said 4 years ago at the first 'Plug-in America' conference ever, in San Jose, CA, that Plug-in Hybrids stand the best chance, at least for now, of becoming 'mainstream' plug-in electrified vehicles. I really hope so. PiP, Volt, whateva, go clean, go green, let's do this America!

 

While you have a choice to CHARGE or not charge, the Leaf MUST charge, as it has no backup power source, so get used to those "Leafs" hogging the J-1772 chargers. You should see if there is a 120V outlet near them, as thats all you would need to charge, 3 hours and it would be done @ 120V.

 

Tracksyde,
The two-tone looks really nice. Do you know the number
_ for the darker one? Maybe 112?Dianne gave that for the dark charcoal, which they won't have until next week. I think it's worth waiting for.

 

Nope, no 120VAC anywhere, i'd be fine with that option if we had it. That has been brought up but we're lucky to have anything at this point. On one hand i appreciate that the Leafs need to charge, depending on what the drivers commute distance is. But i'm trying to keep my emissions low as well, so while i appreciate their need, i'm not going to give up on charging mine.

 

You should see if you can do some parking spot juggling so you can charge, too. With 6 cars and 2 EVSEs and 8 hours in a work day, that's 16 hours of charging available or about 2.5 hours each. Almost enough to charge the PiP twice and enough for a LEAF to pick up 30 miles of range. Unless someone is commuting 90+ miles/day in their LEAF, that should be more than enough for everyone.

As a LEAF owner, I'd be more than happy to move over once I have enough charge for my next trip to let others plug in, especially since the PiP only takes about 1.5 hours to charge from empty to full on L2 - then when done knowing there's a shortage of charging stations you should move your car to let others charge.

The LEAF can send it's owners an email and/or text message when charging is done. Can the PiP do the same?

IMO - the way to keep plug-hoggers from hogging plugs is to charge even a nominal fee when plugged in. Even $0.50/hour would deter most from hogging a plug when done charging.

 

Yep, my PIP emails me any time it's finished charging or charging has been interrupted.

There are some recommendations for for using charge cards on the dash and sharing the chargers. Though most folks don't do that. Though part of the problem is proximity. They installed the chragers so that only about 2-3 cars can reach the charger. So sometimes I can't even get within distance of the charger. They should have installed them so that about 4 cars could park next to them so at least you can get in line.

I imagine they will start charging $ for the service at some point, which is ok, although I think the space issue needs to be solved as well.

 

I see where the battery in this image differs from the next one...





interesting. I got lots of questions...
Does the battery indication differ in HV mode vs EV mode?
Does HV mode behave differently with a fully EV charged battery vs depleted EV charge?
Does there seem to be any "blending" enhancement in HV mode with a fully charged EV battery?
Is there a "Glide" range while driving in EV mode, or is it just EV and Regen?
Is the *new* ENERGY screen on the 2012 MFD useful for manipulating any of this while driving, the way it is in a GEN2 Prius?

 

Thanks for the post.. good info. Too bad you cannot make it I really like the "consumption" display above.. shows the regen regions and gas and such. Very useful for improving performance. I'm guessing this data will be exportable/accessible in OBD2 for torque so one could do map overlays as well.

 

Looks nice. What strikes me most, as an EV driver, is all the concern related to the small battery and the EV power limit: Accelerate too hard or use heat or even forget to shut the heater off at the end of a cold-weather drive, and the ICE comes on. The need to think about routes as related to speed, and to juggle EV vs. ICE usage to minimize energy usage and gas consumption.

My biggest annoyance with the low-power Xebra was that it couldn't keep up with the flow of traffic, so if people were behind me they clearly got annoyed. In that car, there was nothing I could do about it. I would not like having to decide between using gas or holding back traffic when accelerating from a stoplight. I much prefer a proper EV, where I can accelerate quickly, and where I get instant heat without an ICE.

The PiP sounds like a great transition to electric, just a few years too late. With Leaf, Tesla, and Volt on the road, the PiP's electric range and power seem too small to really think of it as intended for EV driving. I'd say it's more a gasoline car with a moderate mpg boost from a grid-electric assist during short commutes. Trying to keep it in EV mode makes me think of trying to pound in a nail using a plier: too small a tool for the job.

If I didn't have my Tesla, I'd be envious of the Leaf owners, not the PiP owners. I hope this doesn't sound too negative. It seems like a very nice car. I just don't think it's the right car if what you really want is to be driving on electric.

 

Daniel, I agree that PiP is the wrong car for someone who drives fairly short distances and who is intent on using zero gasoline.

But consider my situation. I'm an average guy, at least in many respects. I have an 86 mile daily commute through heavy traffic. Moving closer to my office is not an option.

I would happily accept your donation of a Tesla S, but short of that car, I believe that the Nissan Leaf is not a viable solution for me, because I could easily have a dead battery with that much daily driving.

My 2010 Prius delivers consistent 48 MPG and better. With the Plug-in Prius my mileage may be about 70 or 80 MPG. I won't need to think about it, I expect that's just what it will be. And on weekends, I may have nearly pure EV.

We can never have a world 100% petroleum free, we simply need to reduce our consumption. Prius and Plug-in Prius let me do that. An all-Prius America would be a land of $1.50/gallon gasoline and clear blue skies. But I'd never be able to find my parked car in such a utopia.

At any rate, in my case, I just drive.

 

my .02

Yes, maybe the PIP is too little too late, but i think it's the perfect car to get people hooked on EV. You don't have to think about range and charging, but if you do you get some good benefits. If you have a mix between long drives and short errands, it's also a great car.

Electric vehicles are still on the leading edge and I think there are still some battery technologies that are being worked out. I want to see how the EV cars today are still doing in 5-7 years. How much will it cost owners to replace batteries, etc. At least with a PIP if the battery becomes useless you still have a 50mpg ICE vehicle. I'm even hopeful that in 2-4 years either Toyota or some other aftermarket could come up with a higher density battery pack to give it 20-30+ mile range on EV.

My take is there is no winner here. And we are all going in the right direction with emissions/energy usage. We just need car mfg to do more, faster and cheaper.

 

I think that we all agree that the PiP is not an EV. Nobody would buy it to use 100% EV. The whole point of the car is to build upon the great success of the Synergy drive and raise to the next level of MPG and reduced pollution. It is and remains a Hybrid car, augmented with a larger battery. With it you can drive across the country at >50 MPG and refill with gas. No EV can do that of course. If that means using some gas once in a while to accelerate stronger in EV mode, or generate a little heat, then that is part of the package and will work very nicely. There are so many advantages in the whole idea of enhanced hybrid with a large battery that we will easily accept a few compromises.

Besides, I think that most people on PC will like to play the game of trying to use as little gas as possible in EV blended mode. The Pip allows you to play that game, whereas a full EV like the Leaf or Tesla is probably a little more "boring" in that sense. The PiP is a big toy for a lot of us

 

I agree, The major point of the PiP is to eliminate the "worst" part of using the ICE... Very short trips.

Think of the mile a normal Prius gets when doing 2-5 mile trips, it's horrible. The PiP permits you to not use the ICE for these short trips, which will greatly increase the average MPG.

This is why my wife will be driving the PiP, and I will be driving our 2007. Almost all of her trips are under 10 miles, and one of the longest is to her parents house, where she can plug in to charge (at 7 miles each way).

My office is ~18 miles from our house, and I don't currently have a charging ability at the office (working on that).

In ~5 years when we are looking at another vehicle, it will be something like a Leaf (for me only) or a Tesla model X (if we decide that having room for the kids is needed), and I will probably drive it most of the time, since it will work for getting to the office nicely, and we will still have our PiP for long trips.

-Harry

 

IMO - the PiP is just fine even today - this level of electrification should be an option for every single vehicle on the road. Should it have been available 2-3 years ago? We all wish. My only beef is the price premium of the PiP for the EV range. It should be significantly cheaper.

Looks like the PiPs are performing as advertised so far!

 

But I'd love to be bored with a Tesela :rockon:

 

awesome numbers and great photos.

i'm waiting to see the abusive owner. the guy who jackrabbits, and drives like he's a teenager. i like to have the hard core date of the absolute worse. this is the things other people feed upon for their negative comments and i like to crush them...

 

No pressure, eh?

I appreciate the information you've shared so far. It brings me back to Sept/Oct 2000, right when I got my first Prius and others were craving any nugget of online material they could access. Those of us having taken delivery already did the best we could to feed that hunger.

It's actually quite fun! :rockon:
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