Why get PIP, no cost savings.

Got that covered. I got the Master lock Cable Lock mentioned in another post here on Priuschat.

Many people don't understand the joy of driving electric. I will never go back

So when your lease expires, what will you consider next?

We will have to see. If Toyota comes up with a PHEV with 40 or more miles of electric range that would be our lead contender.
We are also contemplating 2 full EVs. Probably the 300/265 range Model S and another EV that has about a 150 mile range (base Model S or hopefully an improved Rav4 EV).

We have a couple of years and I expect there will be a number of options available.

With you on that one.. One you go EV, you'll never want to go back.

What's the value of a quiet car? of a smooth ride?

Cost savings is just one dimension of a purchase decision.

With my driving and how much I was spending on gas weekly with my commute with my other car (2012 Jeep Sahara) I figure my break even point will be just over 3 years or so. I didn't get the Advanced PIP (I got the base PiP but with all the options avail for far far less than the Advanced Trip and with pretty much all the same bells and whistles that I was interested in. Previously I was spending around $140+/week in gas for my commute, now I'm spending less...my fill up was only just a tad over $36 and lasted 7 full days so ya, it'll pay for itself in under a few years.

dwcerra, mind telling us what those b&w were that you wanted, and got?

r

Thanks to all those that responded in this thread...

I LOVE technology, but have a practical side also and have been trying to understand the economics of the PiP and how they would apply in my current lifestyle. All of our situations are a bit different and I have reached the age where cars have become a "tool" to do a job (of course I don't mind giving the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate to the folks in the middle east).

So I have been asking the same question the original OP asked in the opening. I need to check and see if Nevada offers any kind of incentive, but I doubt it as the PiP is not on sale in Nevada yet... I would have to go to SoCal to purchase one.

For the folks that live in an area of California where they can use the PiP in the HOV lanes... I would agree... absolutely no-brainer. While on vacation in SoCal last year we chatted with a lady who had just pulled in next to us and her Prius had the HOV stickers on it... she told me she had paid $10k above what the normal price for that year and model would have been... just to get the stickers.

However, my wife and I put about 28k per year on our main car. Much of that driving back and forth from Las Vegas to Northern Utah. Obviously the PiP is not going to help much with that commute. When in Vegas my wife is a Realtor (not a great profession the last couple of years) and she drives extensively showing property to prospective clients... so no chance to plug in there either. Her brokers office has not created any capability for external charging of vehicles.

All of this added up would seem to indicate for our lifestyle (right now) the PiP would probably not be the best choice. Now as soon as the Feds will clear me from my Cancer issues and I can return to work the PiP "could" make an excellent choice if I could get the airport to install some charging stations so I could charge up while on my flight... of course I am sure it would not be very popular for me to leave my car in the charging spot while gone on a 3 day trip either... lol... well as the future rolls at us we will have to figure these things out. Congratulations to those of you whose schedule and lifestyle will make this work for you. One of my son's who owns a Volt tells me the PiP has been kicking the Volt's booty in terms of sales since it became available.

I totally lucked out with having a ChargePoint available at work and I'm totally taking advantage of it, while there's still no one else to share with. All good things...

All the advantages are totally obvious, no matter what your situation. Should one drive 75 to 85 miles an hour predominately, your wasting your time buying a Prius. Any Prius. Incredibly even the most inefficient mode will be an improvement over ANY other car. The OP has dropped out, It is really time to drop this thread, we are just convincing the choir.

Yes, you're missing something . . . ah la Art Spinella; He to doesn't "get it" . . . claiming that even the regular ol' gen II prius "costs more" than a Hummer, in the long run. Maybe you ought to go read the thread;

Prius vs. HUMMER: Exploding the Myth | PriusChat

It'll help you 'get-it'

.

I think there are a few of up that have the best situation. My daily drive to work is 25 miles one way. I charge at home and my work has 4 BLINK chargers in the front lot. Also, living in the SF bay area, there are so many free ChargePoint network charges, so I am always using them too.

Ugh, you shouldn't be allowed to make these posts without including the amount you spent in electricity from the grid. So realistically your are spending $36 in gas and at least $20 in electric bill. You are probably saving but it's dishonest to compare $$ without including it. Unless people are all including ChargePoint as free, which they can't be forever, or at least someone else like taxpayers are subsidizing you.

I should get a salvage PIP and get the chargepoint stuff out of it and a big battery and siphon off this free ChargePoint stuff then go home and run an inverter off the battery to power stuff.

I cannot answer for cwerra.. but I'd be surprised if almost any volt driver spends $20 a week -- that is $80 a month. I spend about $25-$30 a month all in (taxes and all charges). Though there are other places in Cali that have some crazy high rates, I find it more interesting is that many in california, with is bizzaro rate structures for eletricity, there are many Volt owners that actually SAVE money on electricity by having a volt or other EV, as it switches their house into a new category-- e.g. see Consumer Reports 7/10/12: Volt owners tell us they use even less gas than we do
So for that owner in cali.. they saving both on gas an electricity.

Why would a eletricy company do this? They want to better balance power demands.. they know EV users charge at night and so given them an intensive. At night power is often much cheaper for the company.
And there are rate plans in TX where "nights" are free, even for non-EV users. (Though of course nights are when people charge.) At night lots of wind plants have excess power -- there is more wind at night and less users -- and with eletricity its uses it or loose it. There are regular occurances of "negative" prices for power at night.. because it costs to stop traditional generators, its better to pay other power companies to take it than to shut down a genererator (which addsa a lot fo wear and tear on the facility).

Enjoy the free chargeing while you can, nothing last forever.

Tell him to recheck his sources on that.

June 2012 Dashboard | Hybrid Cars

"The Volt continues to lead this category [plugin cars] and sales should continue to increase modestly as better availability in California occurs."

Code:

U.S. plug-in electric sales for June 2012
Model	        Units	 CYTD	
Chevrolet Volt	1,760.   8,817
Prius PHV	695	 4,333

Take a look around to see what's on the road today. Notice all the Prius?

With availability of PIP limited to just 14 states, it's easy to see there's a lot of untapped potential in the waiting. Adding a plug to Prius is a very natural next step with a sizeable return.

The whole idea "cost savings" has never made any sense. What's wrong with just breaking even or contributing a little to support a better future?

I completely agree. I picked up my first Prius just a week after you picked up your car back in 2000. It's been great seeing the huge success of Toyota's hybrid strategy over the last 12 years.

The plugin Prius is a good car and a natural extension of the Prius family. It has great potential. It's cheaper so it should get higher volume sales but it's not actually kicking the Volt's booty in sales quite yet.

It's too bad they didn't use larger LiIon to justify the extra cost and maybe the premium in price will go down as they increase volume. But you are really gambling on future energy prices to break even compared to the non-plugin. It may make sense depending on where you live.

From the PIP spreadsheet averaging the reported mileage so far.

Code:

16 real world PIP recorded 120.73 gallons and 1323.2 kWh
11,660 miles total
 
@$0.12/kWh & $3.70/gal --> PIP Cost  $605  (saved $257 over 50mpg) ($743 over 32mpg)
@$0.12/kWh & $5.00/gal --> PIP Cost  $762  (saved $404 over 50mpg)
@$0.30/kWh & $5.00/gal --> PIP Cost $1001  (saved $165 over 50mpg)
@$0.30/kWh & $3.70/gal --> PIP Cost  $844  (saved  $19 over 50mpg)
@$0.20/kWh & $3.20/gal --> PIP Cost  $651  (saved  $95 over 50mpg) 

The way I look at it is...
If one fewer soldiers are killed in our countries efforts to 'protect our nation's interests' in the middle east or other oil producing area of the world, the additional price of a Prius, PiP, Volt, Tesla, Miev, Focus EV, Leaf, etc are more than worth it.