Will you switch to the plug-in when available?

have wanted PHEV Prius for a few years. Now that I have the 2010, it will be hard to justify for a while anyway. Maybe a Leaf BEV. Who knows. Next car I buy will have a plug, I hope.

So I guess that's a not for now...

 

I just voted, but it's a little skewed. I own a Gen III prius, and an Enginer kit is waiting for it right now! So I will already have a plug-in prius.

 

What is a "plug-in"?

 

Remember, plug-in is not free of charge. You still need to pay electricity for overnight charge. I am happy with my gen III Prius now. As we all notice, generating an electricity and storing it is another matter and we are still far from effective storing of electricity. Maybe at least 5 years down the road... Then I will consider switching

 

I would like the official plug-in Prius because I could take advantage of the higher speed EV mode but the battery thats currently planned for the official plug-in Prius is just to small for me.

With a little work and careful driving I can keep my current plug-in Prius in EV mode and warp stealth up to about 55mph and have enough range to get to work and back using only a small amount of gas.

Plus Toyota still does not offer an "everything" package. I want it all and I don't want to have to pick and choose between the solar package and the tech package.

 

As I understand it, PHEVs excel at short commute (under 13 miles round trip) urban driving, I do a 110 mile round trip at 61 MPH, so a PHEV would not do me much good. (One would be great for my wife, she commutes 15 blocks, 5 minutes, under 35 MPH)

 

Why not? The all-electric max speed is 62.1 MPH (100 km/h). Faster and you still get a significant MPG boost. You'll be able to take advantage of the full capacity each drive.
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i am all over it! i have been holding off on a gen III, waiting for the plug in. i have a 14 mile round trip commute and i can plug in at work on their dime. i don't know how long i can hold out know there are some genIII's sitting at dealers waiting for an offer because of the recall fiasco. may have to go to the gen III now and the plug in when it's available. not cost efficient, but i'm bad at resisting instant gratification.

 

Here in the Silicon Valley, P G & E (Pacific Gas & Electric) is our supplier of electricity. If I use more than about 800 Kwh, I pay 40.577 cents per Kwh. (Last month, we used 845 Kwh.) Now if I had a plug-in Prius, I would power it with electricity that cost me 40.577 cents per Kwh.

Now does it make sense for me to buy a plug-in Prius when the current 2010 Prius gets 50 Mpg and gasoline costs $ 3.00/gal.???

Keith

 

Lets say the Prius gets about 200Wh per mile. In my experience in pure EV mode I get between 200-250Wh per mile. With your 40.577 cents per kWh it would cost you a little over 8 cents per mile.

At 60MPG and $3 a gallon gas it would cost you 5 cents per mile.

In other words your electric company is screwing you more than the gas companies.

I pay about 8 cents per kWh after you include all the transmission fees and stuff.

This comes to about 1.6 cents per mile.

So for me I'm better off using electric as often as I can.

This is all if your more concerned about saving money or polluting less.

 

Thank you for your analysis. It confirms my own calculations.

FYI everybody, P G & E has a graduated rate schedule which encourages conservation of electricity. Unfortunately both my wife and I have jobs where we work a lot at home. Consequently one of us is here most of the time. We do conserve power with just about all lighting using CFL's and we keep the (gas) heater at a toasty 60 degrees F. Our P G & E rate schedule is as follows:

Baseline Quantity 403.2 Kwh
Monthly Baseline ------ $ .11877 / Kwh
101-130 % Baseline -- $ .13502 / Kwh
131-200 % Baseline -- $ .27572 / Kwh
200-300 % Baseline -- $ .40577 / Kwh

Keith

 

I could run house current for 13 miles (bet it is less at max rated speed) then for 97 miles I drag the larger battery around. (About 220 lbs more than my current battery) I truly beleive that, for me, the 1 mile battery better matches the speed of my commute and the length of time I spend at low speeds. (it is shame too, eight 220v outlets in my garage, two are 3 phase)

 

The Plug in will come, probably not in a usable form until 2014-2015, so by then most of the 2010 Prius owners could be looking to "upgrade/trade in". The time frame for plugins is not next week, or even next year. Yes, there are some BEVs out, but no one is spending $108K on a Tesla, and their lower cost model, who knows when/if that will be produced, the GM Volt is vaporware, and most others are glorified golf carts still. When a plug in that has a 50-100 miles range (enough for the average round trip commute), can go 60mph on a highway, and costs around 30-40K arrives, then the age of the plug in will be here, until then, the Prius is the best we can do for now. I might add the a Plug in Prius with a 5-10 mile range is also not too useful either.

 

I believe for most it would depend on price. I think I would wait 1 year for them to work out any issues.

 

i thought the plug in prius was coming in 2011? are they not already sending some out for testing?

 

i wish our power company would do something like that. encourage conservation. we are home 90% of the time and use an average of 240 kwh per month. no cfl's or anything, just turn the lights off when not using them. easy on the hairdryers etc. energystar appliances, electric stove and well pump. 3 bedroom house, 2,500 square feet.

 

Don't forget the supply and demand rules. When more people use electricity to charge up their cars, the demand goes up and so will the electricity price. If the general population switches from gasoline to electricity, gasoline demand will be lower and so will its price. When this happens, will it be cheaper for us to use gasoline than plug-in? You may agrue gasoline combustion polutes air but so is the power generator plants. I think the future will still be a 50/50 power contribution of electric and combustion engine design.

 

This is a chicken-and-egg situation. While EV/PHEV makes sense for local trips ("local" is defined differently for different vehicles), on out-of-town trips it is unlikely that there will be a plug available. Once plug-in vehicles become common and the plugs are everywhere, the decision criteria are different.

BTW, I spent some time on a college campus in Canada a long time ago, and every parking space had a plug for a block heater. Is there enough power there for a plug-in vehicle? Do they turn them off in the summer?

 

Where is the option for a plug in vehicle period, I'm not sure I would get a Toyota Prius plug in, Toyota dealerships need an overhaul and Toyota has been very slow in bringing options to the American market, already Ford has surpassed them, lots of other vehicles are in the chute.