2014 Honda Accord Plug-In site Live, Available in CA, NY

Yep different strokes for different folks. If we were all price shoppers we would all be driving a stripped down Yaris or something similar. I had my share of the Camry and Accord type cars not sure I want to enter the Frey. The Prius to transport 4 adults a short distance around town is not that awful but I agree the bigger car is better if you like to travel with people often and far. But 40K for an Accord seems lofty? You can get a 3251 or an Acura TL Audi A3 and one of those Infitity cars and others in the entry level luxury car market for that price.

 

yeah, what's up with that? it's got such a massive battery for …what exactly? more weight? greater IRS rebate?
i'm so lost.

 

how tall are you? how does the Prius headroom work for you? I'm 5'10" and have never felt cramped (nor is my seat anywhere near all the way down).

Btw, I remember the original announcement thread where people said that the trunk wasn't a big deal! yeah, 8 cu. ft, with no fold-down seats, i'd like to see how many people will sign up for that. i guess it is slightly bigger than a tesla trunk, though not by much.

 

Head room is not a Make or break for me unless I hit my head on the roof.

 

Its likely that at less than ideal temperatures they greatly limit the SOC for longevity. Honda used too wide parameters in the nimh hybrid civic, and ran into trouble.

We probably won't know the true figure until they get an epa rating, but I don't think honda wants to say 14 miles then get 11 on the test and still use 1 mile worth of gas like the prius phv. Without a liquid cooling system it may pay to be conservative.

 

Just to be fair - the Tesla does not have a trunk. It has a frunk and it really is just extra space. The total cargo volume is just about what the Prius V has.

Of course 8 cuft is a problem. I was waiting for this car and that number stopped me in my tracks. Back to the drawing board. There isn't a really good plug in for road trips that is nicer than the Prius - until you pony up for the Tesla. Why can't someone make a 40+mpg plug in with 15+ cuft that isn't the Prius or Tesla?

 

i realized after posting this – i meant the tesla roadster, not the model s.

 

Just for fun, here's the old thread: Honda Accord PHEV: 115 MPGe for $39,780 | PriusChat
I hate to say "i told you so", but, really, i told you so. i don't know how this is a surprise to anyone. ProximalSuns, in particular, was very adamant about how the trunk in this car was adequate, as well as claiming that the Camry and Fusion hybrids had trunks that were just as small (reality: TCH is 13 cu ft and Fusion is 16 cu ft). Kudos to Trollbait for basically predicting the trunk size (half of the 16 cu. ft. of the non-plug version).

 

Fusion hybrid trunk space is 12 cu. ft. Energi has 8.2 cu.ft. It is hidden in the spec sheet. Camry hybrid has the biggest trunk space despite using NiMH.

Now fix your other posts.

 

Hey you got to store that battery somewhere.

 

Yep, the battery does.

The low trunk space is only going to hurt for occasional use, like vacation trips with the entire family. Those that could afford the plug in can afford a rental or delivery costs. Savings from fuel costs would like cover that. for day to day use the small trunk will work.

 

Troll bait - it isn't so simple. I take frequent road trips with the family and 8 cuft is not enough. A rental is not only expensive but a PITA.

The savings from fuel costs from a plug in are pretty small. I mean I figured a PIP saves $350 a year at best. 2 rentals for a weekend road trip cover that.

Sure a Fusion energi or Accord PHEV would save more like $500 - so maybe, just maybe 3 weekends worth of road trip. I take 15 per year - not really long but enough that a Leaf won't cut it and neither with 8 cuft.

 

I got 2 large suitcases and a cooler bag in the FFH trunk for a trip to Florida. It may not be deep, but it is long. The rear seats also fold flat and there is nearly 8' of room between the trunk lid and seat backs.

 

Then it doesn't work for you, but you aren't everyone. For people with smaller families, or another vehicle for long trips, 8 cu.ft. is plenty for commuting and weekly trips to the market

There is a spectrum of compromise between an ICE car and a BEV. The electric doesn't burn gas but has a limited range that makes it impractical for longer trips. The ICE doesn't have that limit and can haul all your stuff, but many want to burn less gas. They can choose a hybrid to reduce their gas use, but many have reduced space for the battery. A PHV reduces gas use further with many of the benefits of a BEV at the cost of greater reduced cargo space.

No one car will be one size fits all. Which is why more hybrids and plug ins on the market is good for us all.

 

Odd, I was pulling my numbers off fueleconomy.gov. And I was only looking at the regular hybrid, since that's what was brought up in the original discussion.

And renting a car is a pain in the nice person. No, seriously. Plus the irony is that you have to rent it for longer trips, so if you don't want to downgrade from your vehicle, you'll be paying through the nose for it. No way in hell will fuel savings cover that.

 

FFH would be tolerable but the plug in would not. We take my HCH on some road trips and it is probably 8 cuft but mostly we can't take it.

Obviously the plug in sedans today won't work for me and I get that I am not everyone. But to say that a small trunk just doesn't matter is what I was disagreeing with. I think there are a lot of people who won't buy these things because of the space.

I mean if you can't take roadtrips in a $40k car, then buy a Leaf. Cheaper to buy, maintain and fuel.

The other issue with the current plugins is that it is really hard to justify the price increase. A quick look shows a fusion hybrid at $27k and an energi at $35k (net of TI). $500 a year is really optimistic and that is a 16 year payback. Add 5 years if you ignore distorting incentives. Add 3 more years if you take my states property tax into account (est $100 a year extra). Now factor in battery degradation or replacement and you are at infinity.

$500 a year assumes 40 mpg, $.1 kwh, $3.5 gas, and 8000 miles per year on electricity, 4 miles/kwh (optimistic).

You could easily get that number to $300 a year with 6000 miles, $.12 kwh (national average) and 3.2 miles/kwh (realistic).

I didn't bother to take extra content into account and it seems the Energi has some. I am so disgusted by its mileage that I won't take the time to figure it out. But it might be $2k in content but hey I neglected the EPA rating being lower for the Energi. So even taking content into account, it is probably an infinity payback.

 

the current-gen HCH has a 10.7 cu ft. trunk. Seriously, 8 cu ft is insanely small.