I would guess that you could run the PHV on the ICE only. what if you didn't have electricity for a week (act of nature) but still had to run errands? this is the downfall of all electric vehicles and having it as your only driver, you could be screwed if you don't have electrical to plug in your car.
You're right. Running on ICE for weeks on end does not hurt anything. Almost any Plug-in on the car lot has been sitting there, maybe for weeks, without being charged.
In other words, it'll still be running some of the time with the engine off, and engine off at red lights. I believe due to the larger battery it'll come out slightly ahead of a regular Prius for mpg, under the same driving condtions.
Well, it operates as a"super" hybrid that never needs to "spill" extra charge on a long downhill coast.
You get TERRIBLE gas mileage. LOL! I ran the last tank without plugging in just as an experiment. After driving 441 miles, I put 7.904 gallons in the tank for a calculated 55.8 mpg. (58 mpg on the HSI) Previous tank was 117.4 mpg (125 on the HSI).
