PHV Prius Owner Videos

Having documented many aspects of plug-in Prius driving on paper, it's now time to get share some info in video format...

Colder temperatures bring lower efficiency, for all vehicles. Prius is no exception to that. Air & Tire resistance increase. Gas is switched to winter formula. Combustion itself produces less power. You've got a variety of easily overlooked influencing factors easily overlooked. And that's just in the fall. When winter arrives, traffic is slowed by snow & ice to make your MPG drop even more.

This particular commute with my plug-in Prius nicely shows how my drive to work in the summer, which had resulted in the low 200's for MPG, now only gets around 150. It gives you an interesting dose of perspective. That's still quite remarkable.

Watch the video closely. Notice how that even at 70 mph, most of the time MPG stays over 100 once the engine is warmed up. That's what owners have termed as EV-BOOST mode. Even though gas is consumed, the quantity is much less than from a hybrid without plug-supplied electricity.

At the conclusion of the commute, you can see the average resulting from the 16.7 miles of driving on that 37°F morning was 143 MPG.

 

The battery hit is rather subtle still. I suspect it will become pronounced enough to quantify as the true cold temperatures become an everyday situation. 10 degrees below freezing for the high is about a month away. Stay tuned.

 

The speed limit is 70, then drops to 55.

 

I filmed another...

This was my morning commute taking the route along the river, starting with a cold engine and a battery-pack near full. The temperature was 25°F outside, but in true Minnesota style I saw no need for the heater. My winter jacket did the trick, even with the windows cracked to prevent fogging. There wasn't a need to turn on the heated seat either. I was comfortable, gloveless and driving an iced coffee.

The engine stayed off until I wanted it to start. Toggling the HV/EV button when turning onto the 50 mph section works best. With a 17.3 mile drive that route, there isn't enough battery to travel entirely EV anyway. And of course, there's the nice benefit of EV replenish resulting from the engine running to produce thrust & heat.

Anywho, you get familiar with you commute after awhile, so the what to do when becomes rather mindless. So, pushing the button again while on the ramp to merge onto the 55 mph is a rather routine thing to do too. And I did, saving electricity for when it could be better utilized.

I ran out of EV as I entered the parking ramp. That was perfect, since power demand was low enough for Stealth mode to get me to my spot, still driving with only electricity. You can see it automatically switch in the video too.

Despite the cold temperature, the resulting average was 204 MPG. Using the heater, efficiency still would have been in the 100's. No complaints about that. The plug is delivering a significant boost, exactly as it was designed to.

 

This one is great...

Having missed summer opportunities to film my commute to work and it already snowed the week before, I jumped on the unusally warm fall day (48°F) to capture it with the plug-in Prius.

This is the same route as many other videos. With the 2010, it was exclusively HV mode. With the 2012 PHV, there is the choice to switch to HV in the middle when it potentially could yield higher results. Instead, the plan was to take advantage of EV mode until it was depleted entirely.

Remember, when in HV mode you still have electric-only drive available. It just isn't as powerful or as fast as when in EV mode. That means the slow part of your drive near the ending can still be without gas. Also, don't forget that the system is configured with maximum emission reduction as primary priority, not the highest efficiency.

I was especially happy with the camera setup this time. The quality of the dashboard image has been improved. The soft lighting during most of the drive and the sun emerging at the ending just happened to be well timed too.

Anywho, the 17.2 mile drive was 14 miles of EV with the remaining in HV. The result was an overall average of 328 MPG. That's about 3.0 kWh of electricity (including charging losses) and about 0.01 gallon of gas.

 

Today, I drove the same route the same way again. It was even better... 14.6 miles of EV and 383 MPG.

Knowing that makes using the video as an example of what some could experience with similar conditions.

 

Yes, I can and do recharge at work.

178 MPG was the commute home today, which was on a route 1 mile further.

227 MPG was the round trip for the entire 35.5 miles of driving.

 

One last video with the PHV before getting the Prime...

 

Here's the collection from late last year, just before I thought I'd be getting my Prime...