Prius Prime Plus in my hands

The LiIon battery lasts longest in a moderately discharged state. Not fully discharged (which a Prius won't allow), but moderately discharged, between 20-40%.

Therefore, I disagree with your suggestion that the cars should be fully charged at the factory, on the boat, etc. The dealer should do it before customer delivery. I don't think it's ideal for the car to be fully charged and undriven for potentially several months.

As a rule, I prefer to charge my car in the morning (with a timer, if possible) and drive it to depletion.

 

Prime cheaper to drive in electric at 18 cents kWH than gas @ $2.00. With my PiP it was more expensive to drive in electric (not counting my Solar production).

Doesn't Toyota not allow fully charged batteries anyway? Am I wrong?

 

About 5.5 of of the nominal 8.8 kWh is used

 

even so, they would go against there own recommendations if they charged them at the factory.

 

what mpg are you comparing your 32 miles of ev to? in my pip, i use 15 miles ev and 60 mpg. so maybe $2.30 for 60 miles of electricity?

 

bob, are your mpg's based on strict hybrid use with no wall charge?

 

70 mpg at 55 mpg is incredible. but i guess all my testing includes warm up and some side streets, so i don't know the actual steady state pip value.

 

I agree with your 4 and would add
5) to not use cruise control unless the road were flat. I mean to keep your potential energy when going down hill (within reason for legal and safety reasons) and use that extra momentum for making it up the next hill fast when you first approach the hill and gradually decrease the load on the engine or traction battery as you climb the hill going slower and slower until you reach the hill peak at which point you can begin accelerating faster and faster down the next hill.
6) You are already doing with higher tire inflation pressure.
7) Remove unneeded weight. Just use the drivers floor mat. The carpeted version weighs 0.9 lb, the all weather version weighs 2.2 lbs. The complete carperted set including cargo are is 5.2 lbs, the all version complete set including cargo is 13.6 lbs. Leave out the tonneau cover. The light weight version is 0.8 lb, the roll shade type in the advanced model is about 3.8 lbs (based on a 2015 Prius that is very similar). Some of the manuals may not be needed, as well as the silver engine beauty cover.
8) Keep the windows closed but dress appropriately to avoid using the AC.
9) Just fill the gas tank half way on a refill to save weight and allow stretch breaks.
10) Stay at motels that have the door on the outside of the room and try to stay in a less populated area of the motel so you could recharge the traction battery overnight by parking right in front of your door. Or find hotels that will guarantee you a charging port.
11) Drive on 2 lane state highways at 50-55 mph were possible, rather than interstates.

 

That's drafting. Which is fine, but it is drafting.

 

Bob, I had not considered that. I see your point. I'm so used to not having dynamic cruise control.

Do you use dynamic cruise control on the least sensitive setting,1 bar showing on MID, allowing you to get closest to car in front, as opposed to 2 or 3 bars, to get the best mpg result.

 

On the Gen 4 Liftback DRCC acceleration is tied to the driving mode. Eco is much too sluggish for DRCC. The regular cruise on these models always has brisk acceleration. That is part of the reason I drive my Liftback in Normal instead of Eco. I am considering a switch to Pwr mode.

 

I sort of wish it was configurable whether to use driving mode or not. I understand that some criticized the older DRCC because it did not change with driving mode.

I wonder if the Prime acts the same as the Liftback.