This week I was investigating companies that do battery upgrades on older Prius models in the hopes of finding a company that was making a battery upgrade for the 2012 PiP. While I love my PiP, I do have range envy over the Chevy Volt. Thirteen miles goes pretty quickly! I sent an email to Plug-in Supply, not expecting to really hear anything positive. To my surprise here is the response from Robb Protheroe, President of Plug-in Supply, Inc.: "We are working on a system for your car now. We will have something in 2 months. Regards Robb" This offers some interesting possibilities. What do others out there think of this?
might be attractive for people who need more ev miles. and while i would love to have more, i'm totally thrilled to be able to make my 15 mile commute in pure ev. i would rather see what the mfg.'s have in store for us over the next few years rather than pour money into this vehicle.
That's awesome news! In 2014 I'll buy a used 2012 PiP and with all the money I save from not buying brand new I'll more than cover expanding the PiP battery pack! Seriously, people who buy brand new cars are people who don't know how to spend wisely. The value of a new car falls off a cliff in the first 2 years. I mean if you're part of the 1% and make more than a million dollars a year a new car is a very small percentage of your income... But people who go into debt buying a brand new car that represents 1/2 or more of their annual income, they're not spending wisely at all!!!
Then anyone who goes out to eat and pays more for food than they can cook cheaper at home is also unwise. As is someone who pays $3 for a cup of coffee when it costs maybe 20 cents at home. Dude get off your high horse, different strokes for different folks. If it's paying a 900% premium for a cup of coffee, or twice the cost for a car whom you are the original owner, it's not that they don't know how to spend wisely, it's that they have different priorities than you.
Any financial adviser worth their salt will recommend buying a new used car for anyone with less than a million in annual income. It's their argument not mine. Listen to financial planning shows on AM radio, they will say the same thing. When it comes to high horse, I'm not on one. I won't buy a car until it has at least 100K on it and I usually do all my own work on my cars and most often get an additional 200K out of the car. But there are plenty of people on Prius chat driving their new cars around upside down, aka: living way beyond their means and I think that's sad and wasteful.
financial advisors also say not to eat out, or buy coffee out, and to do anything you can do to conserve cash. It's their job to save you money, not assign priorities in your life. Financial health and happiness are not the same thing, nor does financial health instantly mean you are not unwise. Again life is a balancing act, to each their own. If people want to live beyond their means then that's their issue. If you have a problem with people going broke and living on wellfare or other government programs, that's an issue for an entirely different venue.
Life is too short, I enjoy life, especially on cars. That is a wise choice for me. Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2
Note to self: Plug In Supply only offers a 2 year warranty on the batteries Toyota Hybrid Battery Replacement Cost Guide
usdmattiphone: not to be unduly contrarian, but I couldn’t possibly hold all the coffee and food that the nearly $30K I spent on my PiP would buy. (I did recently calculate that my home espresso machine has saved me more than $10K over ~10 years and the embarrassment of going outside each morning in my jammies.) Cars are generally a necessity and a poor investment*. But sometimes you simply have to replace one or drink expensive and bad airport coffee, c’est la vie. I do feel the PiP was right for me considering what else was available, and things such as reliability and durability. But for the most part, when I see a new car at my house or anyone else’s, I do think there’s a bit of foolishness at play. Especially when considering that the embodied energy in producing a car is on average roughly equal to seven years of fuel! Mr PriusCamper is doing us all a favor in some sense. I’d like to see the thing, honestly. As to the Plug in Supply battery: I’d sure consider it a few years down the road, but I likely won’t be as bleeding-edge as I was with the car. *I’ve made money on all the crazy old unreliable English convertibles and “just-about-to-catch-fire” Alfas I’ve owned, go figure...
Well ya, but what do you think you pay for the chevy volt battery - and its CS mode is only around 37mpg. And don't kid your self. After market equipment is not a de facto voided warranty. OEM equipment failure must be shown to be directly caused by the aftermarket stuff you install. But there are still peeps that believe they risk having to pay for main bearing failures / voided warranty - if they'recaught using non-OEM synthetic oil . . . or worse yet- because the were caught using aftermarket air filters - or windshield wiper blades. My carpool partner falls into that FUD. .
Gort: if you live in Colorado (or move here the plug-in-supply will likely quaify for its own tax credit.. If not you might want to check with your state to see if there are any incentives. I think there is another thread hear on PC where someone else (engineer?) was looking for a PiP for their first prototype? Maybe you can get them in a bidding war to be first..
I know Phil was looking for a crashed Leaf - but I havn't heard that he wanted (another) PiP too. Sent from my SGH-I717R using Tapatalk 2
I think he meant Jack at Enginer, who is looking for a PIP owner to work with (basically to verify their existing system works, it should). Interesting about PIS. Going either Enginer or PIS you are going to be running out of boot space pretty quickly.
