New Prius Plug in less than impressive

I have no doubt that a ~ 30 mile AER PiP will appeal to a lot more people than this G1 version, including many current PiP owners. The Volt is not a competing choice for a host of reasons, not least the connection to GM.

 

I am in a similar situation in that I live about 11 miles from work and my employer also has charging stations that employees can use for free. I have had the PiP since May 3rd and it is the first Prius that I have owned or even driven. Originally I was interested in the Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric, etc. but price pretty much forced me away from those vechicles. The price of the PiP seemed reasonable and my wife was agreeable so we purchased it. I think this car is a remarkable feat of engineering and right now I have put about 675 miles on the PiP (75% EV!) so I am getting 219 overall mpg right now. The tank as originally filled by the dealer is only down 3 notches.

But I do have some recommendations for improvements that Toyota could make:
1. Give me more EV range. I am having range anxiety, even with the knowledge that I have a hybrid system! I guess anyone with any EV of any kind wants more EV miles than they currently get. It's like a drug. The more you use it the more you want it. The system currently is showing 12.3 EV miles available after a charge. 20 would be a great improvement (and I would have less range anxiety). But I realize there are design compromises to keep costs as low as possible.

2. Give me more control those EV miles. I find myself getting disappointed whenever that gas engine kicks in. When I am on the highway I try to keep it below 62-63 mph but sometimes the engine just kicks in and it seems like it is not always easy to get back to EV mode. Even if I take my foot off the gas and coast the gas engine seems to still be engaged. Unless I put that pedal to the floor keep it in EV mode as long as possible!

3. Increase the top end speed in EV to 68-70 mph. I stay in the right hand lane on the highway and try to keep it below 63 mph but in order to not be totally annoying to other drivers or to gain adequate speed on the on ramps I wind up going over 63 and the gas engine cuts in (more anxiety as I lose mpgs).

Overall, I think the car is awesome and I probably have a situation where my distance to work and the fact that my employer gives us free charging makes me the perfect PiP owner, if Toyota implemented some of my recommendations it would make it even better.

 

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New Prius Plug in less than impressive | Page 7 | PriusChat​

I can see the allure when the traction battery is bigger, but if you did that now your AER could plummet to ranges you would not be happy with.

 

andy, you have nothing written in your post?

 

Unless you only drive short jaunts on the highway, that can actually be counter-productive.

That EV-BOOST mode (still in EV, but the engine is running) will deliver around 150 MPG at 65 mph.

I've found it a better use of limited EV capacity at times.

 

Yes, Very wierd, I replied, posted and then noticed nothing there. I gave up. Anyway I thought the poster had some great stats.

PS The Apple I Pad does some very strange things sometimeS, From time to time, posts just disappear, never to be found again...........?

 

was that true of the old software as well?

 

Gort: I noticed that after the first tank (820mi or so) the engine did not kick in unexpectedly so often. For a while every time I started the car to go home in the evening it would turn on for 5min even though it seemed completely unnecessary. That doesn't seem to happen anymore.

I have noticed that where the display used to say 10 or 11mi if range, I am now sometimes getting less than 10 on a full charge and this rapidly drops to 9 after some low-speed driving. Not sure what causes this. However, this does not seem to impact the way the car drives or prevent me from completing my trip in EV mode. I guess the math is too smart for its own good. At this point I've started ignoring the estimated range somewhat.