why are you focusing on expected range? it's actual distance that matters. the two are mutually exclusive. e.r. is based on historical averages and will change as you drive the car more. toyota's claim is based on the type of testing they do. just like mpg's, 'your electric range may be different'.
I am asking because I want to be able to commute to work on electric only and I do not want to use ANY gas at all ... zero gas (this is mandatory for me)... I have 12km each way (ie. 24km) and I cannot charge at work. So based on the information I read, if it is right, The PiP lithium battery should holds 14+ Miles when fully charged (14 mi. = 22.53 km). Therefore, I would probably be OK to commute to work without using any gasoline at all. I have owned 2 Prius GenII and 1 GenIII. I do 90% city driving with distances below 25km. These regular PRIUS are not very efficient for short stop & go trips (3-5 km) because the ICE starts to warm up all the time. I was hoping to go PiP and this would also allow for long trips on weekends and vacations. The Volt is much more expensive here and I really need a 5 seater car. This is way I am asking, should I wait 6-12 months to get the PiP or consider something else now. Dan
Why is that mandatory? The absolute of nothing whatsoever doesn't acknowledge the reality of diminishing returns from only running the for warmup and basically remaining off the remainder of the drive. Keep in mind that warmup in the summer for the PHV only takes about a minute. That being said, I will enjoy my errand running in the suburbs using only electricity. .
If I lived in Montreal-wish I did, beautiful city- I would also consider temperature in my analysis. Under a certain temperature which if I recall is 0 Celsius, the PHV will run the ICE to protect the battery. Even if your range is within 14 miles, you might end up using some gasoline in the winter to generate heat.
EV range is not just a product of flat / hilly land, cold will knock an easy 15% off the top too. Speed will kill range as well. It takes a whole lot more power to go 60mph than it does to go 35mph. Add 7 or 8 years and/or about 150K miles, and that aged battery will have less capacity too. ie - YMMV .
The PiP will likely go 24km gas-free only under careful driving and optimal conditions. The PiP uses the gas engine for cabin heating and, in any case, colder temperatures limit the range capacity of the battery chemistry in Winter. There is no way you will drive gas-free 24km in the colder part of the year in Quebec in the PiP without additional charging. Also, the battery range capacity will eventually decline over a few years and you would, maybe, just barely be making it gas-free in warm weather when the car is new. If a LEAF or similar all-electric car doesn't work for you then you might try waiting to see if the Ford Fusion Plugin will work when that comes out but I suspect you might still have problems with battery range in Winter.
I use android on a G1 all the time.. great with torque and a USB Bluetooth OBD22 ($25 on ebay I have the VSCAN ELM327 v1.5 type.. better than the older v1.4 versions). I don't use it as a phone, only a datalogger (upload data via wifi or usb). Good use for an old phone. I keep it plugged in in the car as well (usb port in the Volt) so I don't even care that the battery does not work too well. Don't have a PiP but with the right PIDs (and I'll be the existing Prius one get you most of it) you get Battery SOC, and overall milage. Would be pretty easy to use the plug-in for tourque to make your own extension that measured SOC and RPM and computed EV miles.
This is all I needed to hear.. thanks Dr.. I'll go order a Bluetooth USB now.. finally something to use my G1 for
G1 will work fine since it has Android Market and Bluetooth. Get the Torque app for $5 and that $25 Bluetooth OBDII adapter and you are ready to roll. You can try Gen III Prius PIDs and see how it works with the PHV.
If my experience with pre-production PiP is worth anything - I could do 18-20km from fully charged battery. So really I doubt you could make it. I have 23km both ways and I know I couldn't. I usually started driving with 21km estimated range left after a fully charged battery, but came to work with 8-9km left. This is my driving to work: P.S.: I'm an experienced EV driver with my Vectrix.
Maybe you shoudl try drafting behing the truck your passing.. will make you go slower and reduce grad both wich would add to your EV milage ..
I am interested too. Looked and could not find it on e-bay. Amazon has different models, quite confusing. I am not sure which one to get. Any link?
I understand the desire to commute all electric, but I would encourage you to look at it the other way too. Right now the cost of batteries is a substantial factor in PHEVs/BEVs, so cost efficient battery use is a key to wide scale adoption. Wide scale adoption will be key to long term price reduction. A given size battery charged from the grid offsets a roughly fixed amount of gasoline regardless of whether its depleted "all electric" or blended with gasoline. You only get the full benefit of that potential gasoline offset if you fully deplete the battery on every trip and charge at every opportunity. Failing to do either means you are spending more money on battery than you needed to in order to offset the same amount of gasoline. From that perspective you are much better off with a PHEV that has slightly less electric range than you regularly need than significantly more.
Andi, Thank you for posting your videos in the Plug-In driving in Slovenia. I enjoyed them very much. Watching them reminded me of the four years I lived in Germany from 1984-88.
This is the one DrInnovation uses: Mini ELM327 Interface V1.5 Bluetooth OBD-II OBD2 Auto Car Diagnostic Scan Tool | eBay I ordered the same. He said some people said they had issues with them, but he did not. I ordered the same one, hopefully it'll be here soon since the seller is in CA (there are sellers in China selling the same one for $3 less if you can wait). I searched for recommendations but it seems the general recommendation is "just get a cheap one on ebay". If you can wait until the weekend, I'll let you know how it works (assuming I get it by the weekend).