Studies Question Plug-in Hybrid Mileage

How are they driving these things to get such low mileage? I as well as many others average better then that without even having a PHEV. How dissapointing.

Josh

 

Hi Josh,

I'd recommend reading some of the literature and studies but short range of the PHEV and driver demand are the limiting factors.

Our Prius has a relatively low maximum EV speed, ~32 mph (not changed in the 2010 near as I can tell.) This means it works best when the driver has a route and the self discipline to stay in the 30 mph range until the plug-in battery is exhausted. Apparently the fine art of tickling the plug-in battery into the traction battery hasn't quite worked out.

The second problem is demand. If the driver simply floors the accelerator or stomps the brake, there is no car that sustain respectable mileage. Since fleet drivers are really not into fuel savings (they get no benefit from saving fuel,) they tend to drive in ways that often waste fuel.

Bob Wilson

 

well i can agree in principal since i only need a 7 mile EV range to be able to commute back and forth without burning any gas. but i am in a "crowd" that only represents about 11% of the commuters who drive.

what we really need is laws requiring employers to allow employees to plug in. that would halve the range needed. i am allowed to plug in, but there is only two places where one can plug in. so even my employer would have to upgrade if others decided to plug in (i am the only one so far)

now, lets cut the EV range in half to 20 miles.... plug in at work and now over 60% of commuters could do that. that would be a significant reduction in battery pack costs.

 

the Seattle test is using severe driving and terrain conditions. without plug-ins, the fleet is averaging in the low 40's in summer. high 30's in winter, so although the results seem to be poor, its still a very significant increase in performance.

also, remember fleet use rarely allows opportunity charging. and should not be used as a direct comparison to what a normal driver could do. for me, i drive in the morning. use about 30% of my available range. plug in at work. charge back up. drive home at night. done.

fleet vehicles can be driven all day. frequently to areas where its not feasible to plug in. so as soon as you reach your EV range, you are back to regular gas driving at the 40 mpg rate. so to average 50 mpg is actually doing a pretty good job

 

Just wait until the results are in for the next generation 2010 plug-in Prius.

The current plug-in conversions limit the battery usage to 21-25 kW even though the plug-in pack can discharge more and the MG2 is rated at 50 kW. There is definitely a bottleneck in these "conversions" because it is only utilizing half of the electric power and run the gas engine for additional power.

The next gen plug-in Prius would have more powerful electric motor and the battery pack designed to take full advantage of it, the gas engine will be used much less often. With the new Exhaust Heat Recovery system, it can shut down the gas engine much sooner too! Overall, it will truly lower the gas consumption and emission, especially in the cold weather.

With the ~$3,000 tax credit, it should be a sweet buy.

 

yeah but even then if you drain those 10 miles of electricity right away, you wont have much left for rest of the commute - and fleet customers spend a lot of time in cars.

i think next gen plugin hybrids might solve the issue by trying to estimate (or by your input) what is your daily commute going to be, and use appropriate blend of ev/hybrid mode...

 

Thanks for replies to my statement, sometimes I think I live in a world where everyone cares about fuel efficiency. As stated thats pretty far from whats going on in these tests, they are doing "them" driving. Atleast their plug-in numbers are better then their "normal" numbers. That atleast proves to the masses that it does make a difference.

Josh