Featured Legacy Prius batteries

control laws?

 

I've worked with computers long enough to know that they do what you tell it to do; NOT what you want it to do.... I don't use and turn-OFF my lane keep assist, Don't need a nanny or back seat driver trying to tell me what to do. If you have that turned-on, you better be using your turn signals; otherwise it'll always nudge you anytime you get close or go over a line.

I've never had my gen4 enable ICE when it didn't have to - in fact I force the ICE ON when I'm up to speed on the highway; because it's more efficient beyond 50+mph. Switch back to EV mode when I'm on city surface streets again.

 

In my 2024 RAV4 Prime, LKA (Lane Keeping Assist) feels too intrusive, so was quickly turned off. I didn't use it long enough to determine if it was trustworthy.

"EV-only" has worked worked perfectly, apart from the one coldest ski morning in Colorado where "Start" went instantly to HV mode, skipping EV.

 

I hear you on lane assist - it’s definitely not for everyone

 

ICE activation also bothers me in my Avalon. There seem to be quite a few hills around here that I end up parked at the top. So, as I go down the first, at about a speed the car could coast in neutral in and maintain the same speed, the engine just has to idle all the way down the hill. Then, when I get to the bottom, it's warmed up, so it kicks off, and then runs on battery as I go up the next, turning the engine on and off, on and off, until the battery is fully depleted, and now the engine runs the whole way down the next hill to try to charge the battery back up again.

 

I’m comfortable with the way our ‘24 hycam works.
50 mpg is nothing to complain about for this class of car.
I don’t care about when the engine fires or doesn’t.
Boston to Florida, $75. Plus tolls

 

The Gen 4 Prius Prime PHEV is the best PHEV out there by far.

Not everyone wants to have the headache of owning a BEV. I get a range of close to 800 miles on my Gen 4 Prius Prime, and refueling takes a few minutes. And, oh, driving on gas is cheaper than on electricity in California, where we pay 45¢ a kWh. And no high-cost maintenance associated with BEVs like frequent tire replacements, battery replacements, etc. Even in Alabama, where the electricity is almost free, you ended up spending a fortune fixing your Model 3.

And I drive in the BEV mode in the city. I use the HEV mode on the freeway.

It is not only the best PHEV but also the best car out there in my opinion, hands down.

 

You must be under PG&E or Southern Edison. There are pockets of city and county wide grids outside of those two that only charges us $0.12 - $0.16 KwH and $0.38 during peak hours; that's excluding the penny and a half discount for registering your car with your utility. You obviously wouldn't recharge during peak hours. I don't see why anyone would shell-out extra for a PHEV, if they're paying more than $0.38 KwH; since free charger are few and far in-between now-a-days. A colleague of mine that's still at work, stated that the facility started charging for plugging-in mid last year. It used to be free with our monthly parking pass; assuming you could get a hold of a free plug. It was so bad; parking service installed cameras, sensors, and more chargers - limited those parking slots to 4 hours, plus a waiting EV slot for every two slots.
BTW, our facility was located in a $012 - $0.16 KwH district; though most employees was under PG&E, which explained the high usage of those chargers.

 

SCE. Off-peak is close to 45¢/kWh after taxes and fees, and it will keep rising as EV usage increases and natural-gas appliances are sunset. So, what is good for the environment is not necessarily good for your pocket.

But then gas prices will keep rising, too, as the state shuts down refineries. I heard they are already importing gas to California from Caribbeans.

 

Yep; we're going to trade high-speed train debacle for a Texas to California gas pipeline debacle.

 

And as AI data centers make electric demand go up over double within a very short period of time. There are places already where electric bills are going up because a nearby data center has been built there and is now consuming way more electricity than the area had before.

 

Rising electricity prices will make solar affordable again. MSAA!

 

Nahh; fast tracking dirty coal fired electricity plants will turn the sky grey, blocking solar panels and degrading their output capabilities.
Gooooo Clean Coalie, the new mascot for the coal sector. Like fast fashion, what's old is new again.....

 

It's not even bit-mining that's the major problem anymore. I'm talking about Apple, Google and Microsoft and everyone else in tech, including Tesla, that are making these giant data centers to host artificial intelligence.

• Power consumption is projected to more than double in the USA due to these data centers.
• As we speak, RAM, SSD and hard drive costs are skyrocketing. Forget that new computer or phone you were hoping to get in 2026. Buy it now or wait for a few years as we are again heading into yet another chip shortage.
• Meanwhile the handwriting is on the wall as far as jobs go. Many jobs are being replaced and will be replaced by AI. We just don't know how many.