Hypothetical question - PiP Potential 90% Hwy Commute

Now that the PiP has been out long enough for early adopters to rack up some miles I would like to ask the following question.

If one were to purchase a PiP but has a 90%-98% Hwy commute of 50miles but travels at 60mph would the PiP be useful? At face value most would say no but there is one segment of this commute that is 50mph rural side road that is approx. 6 miles long including the short distance from that road to my house. This could be done in EV Mode completely. So assuming you can store your EV potential until this particular stretch of road, or any other low speed side route I may take, could this really bump up your average mpg despite this not being a typical PiP-friendly commute?

I ask because there are many places where I could slip it into EV mode and travel the max PiP range almost every day on my 100+mile commute. If I average 60mpg (calculated) now. What could I expect with a PiP if I am careful about choosing when to use EV Mode and when to use HV?

I know how quickly my average mpg goes up when I am able to glide for long distances so this makes me think that with 11-15miles worth of EV I could boost average calculated mpg up quite a bit! What do you think?

In your situation, I would go for it.

Can you charge at work? And what are your electric rates?

Mrbigh,

Off Topic - have you ever noticed that whenever someone is mentioned from Long Island, they very rarely state their actual town and just say Long Island? As you know it has over 3 million people and that not including B & Q. Why don't you put your actual town? Just a thought!

now matter what the driving situation, the battery is still stored energy which can be utilized by the car up to a 85-90% efficiency from the wall which is up to 3X more efficient than a best case gas scenario. Also, CA power for the most part is pretty green, so the more you use electricity, the cleaner it will be. as far as cost? well, that depends. some places in CA its prohibitively expensive but most have good TOU rates for late night charging

I assume the question was directed to me, Yes I do.
At my work place, the most we are wasting is electric energy; and we are dealing with greats amounts.

If you can charge at work, you'll be running 25 miles or so per day on electricity. Add the carpool lane sticker (CA) and it looks like a winner.

And if you're even considering trading in a 2012 Prius Three, you probably would enjoy having the latest toy - er, technology.

In fairness you should also consider the Volt; the EV range is a better match (although a full recharge at work would take 10 hours, but you'd get close). Me, I just would rather own a Prius - so I do.

someone did a pretty good chart on how far you had to drive to justify a PiP over a Volt. if you can charge on both ends, the Volt wins. if you cannot, the PiP wins due to much higher gas mileage

Actually, it was for the OT, since that info would play into some answers.

Well, in the previous version of PC it was not sufficient space on the user's personal details to type all I wanted to type. Now it's different story; I included my town also, I'm a proud Babylonian.

king tut?

If all miles were equal and you get 12 miles AER and no added regen:
-no charge at work: (50-12) = 38 miles on gas at 60 mpg, so 50/(38/60) = 79 mpg
-charge at work: (50-24) = 26 miles on gas at 60 mpg, so 50/(26/60) = 115 mpg

In practice, you might use the EV on easier miles, meaning less than 60 mpg on gas miles, but you should also get more regen than your current car, so hard to say...

Payback may not be great on gas savings alone, but you also gain a short trip EV, a HOV sticker, etc.

can you put a value on fun? you know dianne will make you a great deal!

Maybe we will see each other on the SSP sometime. I commute to Bethpage.

10hours is about the max on 120v. Mine rarely takes more than 8 hours.. (it depends on temps and actual line voltage (120v vs 110v) and such.

If work would do a 240v its 4 hours for a full charge.

Here is an estimate for the Volt compute MPG . First off, if the OP gets 60mpg in the prius they would probably get 42-45mpg highway in a volt. (EPA is 48 for a prius so they get 25% better. EPA for a volt is 40highway, 25% better would be 50 -- but I'll be conservatie and use 42). Same on the charge.. EPA is 35, but an efficient driver can usually get 45-50 in mild temps at 55-65mph. But I'll be conservative and use 40 miles per charge.
If they can get a full charge on both ends
50-40 = 10miles *2 = 20 miles of CS per day /42MPG = .476. gallons per day, = 210MPG.


If the op only gets a partial charge at work, say 8 hours then (4miles of charge per hours = 32miles)
10 miles CS inward trip, and 50-32 = 18 CS home so 28 miles CS per day /42MPG = .66gallons = 150MPG overall.

No charge at work, would mean about 60miles on ICE, 60/42 = 1.43 gallons = 70MPG (i.e. PiP does better).

This is exactly the type of information I was hoping for. I am not sure I could afford a switch right now unless Dianne were to make me a smoking deal on a trade and for the PiP. But this question opens up a new realm of possibilities for those with my type of commute who would have never considered a PiP because of the short EV-only range.

I cannot charge at work.

The other driving force is I tend to get into arguments with my significant other about using my car for short in-town trips because I don't want to bring my MPG down with a 4 mile trip to the store. She doesn't see the logic in using her Rav4 (22mpg) for the same trip. Grrrr lol

For domestic tranquility and a win-win outcome, go with the PiP!

I was seriously considering it but then I remembered I would be on the hook for financing the entire $32K+ and not for the total AFTER the tax incentives. That would drive my monthly payment much higher than it is now.

You have a 2012 and want a PIP already? I'm thinking this wouldn't be a wise financial decision.

Have you considered an upgrade your existing prius. adding a PHEV kit? It could seriously improve your MPG even if its not in pure EV range. And they can be much cheaper than a new car. Some discussion in this thread
Turn your Prius into a EREV (or close) | PriusChat