Our family's transportation setup is much like yours- one small economic vehicle for almost all travel (2019 Niro PHEV) and a larger vehicle for the family vacations or long trips. During Covid 19 I began riding my bike again and actually rebuilt it. It is a 40-year-old Schwinn Sprint still going strong. It has two rear saddlebags and living in a small town- if the weather is nice will use it for most errands. Riding the bike these days does require extreme caution if going near main roads.
My plan was to trade in the PP for a BEV this year to further reduce our gasoline consumption. But when I did the calculation, it turns out it will actually increase our annual gasoline consumption if I do that. This is because we have no charging infrastructure to support the long-distance trips by a BEV. So, if I trade in PP, all long trips have to be done on our SUV which results in an overall increase in gas consumption. When gas was cheaper, we used our SUV for most long trips regardless of the need to haul. It is far nicer to drive and ride in an SUV than PP for a long trip. But now with very high gas prices, we have made a conscious decision to use PP for those long trips as long as we don't need to haul more than 5 people and large cargo. I wish we have an alternative method of transportation in our area. The closest store is 10 miles, and the only safe road I can ride a bike or take a walk on is our long driveway. As soon as we are off our driveway, the road has no sidewalk, no shoulder, and most cars speed above 50mph on our rural roads. I basically have to drive our car to somewhere safe to ride a bike or take a walk, which we used to do often before the pandemic, but now, we don't anymore.
I like hybrids...when we bought a Prius in 2006 the purpose was to be insulated from gaso price increases. I have a minivan for hauling, which I use often but sparingly, but the last time I filled up the minivan gas was $3.59. We got the RAV4HV now which gets 40+ around here, better than the 2nd Gen Prius for shorter trips we mostly do now. I would like the Sienna hybrid but the damn 2nd row seats do not come out. Probably cannot get my 10-ft kayak in there.
Similar situation for us. In our case, a hybrid hauler and a plug-in hybrid daily drive. Our hauler Pathfinder Hybrid gets only 24mpg but our PP gets ~100mpg average (but no gas usage for short in-town trips, or 999.9mpg as displayed). The last gas fill-up for our PahHy was in Feb when gas was $3.50/gal and I still have near full tank. Yep, I was thinking of trading our PathHy for a better mpg hauler. But the new Sienna with non-removable 2nd-row seats was a deal-breaker for us too. When the new Sienna was introduced, the Pacifica plug-in was a better choice, but I missed an opportunity. Now, I can't find one, and even if I find one at a far away dealer, it is marked up so high, that it makes no sense to trade the PathHy.
Maybe they are removeable, but the 2nd row Pacifica PHEV seats do not fold and stow like in other Chrysler minivans. The battery is taking up that space.
Yep, I know that. Our old Sienna minivan had no stowaway 2nd-row seats. But they were removable. I had the 2nd-row seats stored in our garage most of the times I owned that van. It doesn't have to be stowed away under the floor, as long as the 2nd-row seats are removalble. For a new Sienna, as I understand it, the 2nd-row seats are not removable.
I had understood that while not officially removable, it can be done, even youtube video showing how. But that was good only for permanent removal or seasonal re-installation, not for quick configuration changes when suddenly needing more passenger capacity. And a couple mounting brackets still poke up a couple inches.
Yeah, I have not seen the new Sienna in person. I don't know how "removable" their 2nd-row seats are. The older Sienna we had was with the 2nd-row seats that were easily removable without any tools. And the floor was completely flat. I believe the Pacifica PHEV is similar, but I have not seen the real Pacifica PHEV either.
In intimate moment, Biden vows to 'end fossil fuel' - ABC News Promises made.... Promises kept.....kiddo.
Untrue. Gas prices are controlled by supply and demand. Oil companies have some control over supply, 6-24 months out. We have control over demand.
I saw $4.88 yesterday. Most places nearby ar still $4.99. Hopefully this is the start of a downward trend.
