Charge Milage

Many post address your question. This is a on going question with many new PIP owners.

Start with this one and read the two pages of replys: Prius Plug-in L2 charging current | PriusChat

 

Winter goes down summer goes up. In summer I was getting about 10.5-11. Winter about 8. But also realize you should clock it yourself if you are interested as it may be more than the gauge reads, Also a lot will depend on your driving.

I have had the car for a year and I love the fact that I can plug it in its a joke that I only get 8 .5 miles. In addition if you want heat or of you need some acceleration the engine comes on. Hope this helps

 

Milder temps here in SoCal.. I'm getting about 11 EV miles.. same as last year. Summer, I get about 14-15 EV miles. The batteries just aren't as happy in the winter. Those of us that bought the 2012 model have witnessed the drop in EV during the cold/mild months (depending on where you live).

 

Also depends on your recent drives' mpg. Charge more often, hyper mile, etc will boost the EV miles at full charge.

 

Actually, you just unknowingly contributed to the generalization misconception we've been struggling to squash.

Heat will indeed cause the engine to start, but it will shut back off too. People jump to the conclusion and just assume it never does. To keep warm, all you need is not engine coolant... which remains that way for awhile, even with the engine off. Years ago, I remember getting stuck in a really bad snow-congested traffic jam with my 2010. I was able to creep along with the other cars in EV, watching the engine remain off for 8-minute cycles.

Acceleration isn't cut & dry either. I certainly can't accelerate onto a highway using only electricity, but turning onto the big 45 mph road through town in EV is no big deal. Climbing the steep 40 mph hill by my house from a dead stop at the bottom is no big deal in EV either. But even if the engine did fire up, when warm, it shuts off immediately after the acceleration is complete... and you sometimes get a little bit of electricity replenish from the engine at the same time.

In other words, the system is much more dynamic that people realize and we often don't realize our side comments contribute to confusion about how it actually works.

 

If you want to experiment, just give the car a full charge then drive around the local roads and see how far you can go with the engine off. I'd be surprised if you don't exceed what the charge said you can go in EV.

 

Really?

I had no real problem accelerating onto the freeway when I drove the Prius Plugin for a few days last winter. While acceleration power becomes noticeably weaker above 40 mph, I had no problem as long as I kept an eye on the power display to keep under the line where it switches to HV.

I guess it depends on how long and flat your local highway onramp is.

 

all these replies notwithstanding, have you spoken with your salesperson? they have the knowledge and expertise to guide you to the correct information. all the best!

 

Now that's a joke right?

 

Short on ramp? Up hill? I guess I've never had power issues in EV in mine.

 

affirmative. it's way to serious around here.

 

Why wouldn't you take advantage of having the engine available? It's a plug-in hybrid. That's what it's for. The warm-up is quick that way too, plus you recover a decent chunk of what was used then when you exit.

 

Because if my round trip is less than what I can do on EV it would be foolish to start the ICE up.

I thought we were talking about the power of the EV, not best usage of EV vs HV on trip outside the EV range.

 

Because you may just be starting your drive and starting the engine due to acceleration followed by several EV highway miles may cause the energy of warming up the engine to be wasted. Starting the engine farther down the highway when the battery reaches empty is just as efficient. Actually, it may be more efficient because the warm up cycle doesn't have to make efficiency compromises by prematurely revving up the engine in order accelerate the car. Plus less wasted heat energy.

A counterargument is that you should manually switch to HV on the highway in order preserve EV for when you exit and finish your driving segment on city streets. Doing that efficiently requires precisely guessing when to make the manual switches in order to avoid arriving at your destination with EV range left in the battery. In my experience, it's usually more efficient to just drive EV until the battery is empty and then drive efficiently on city streets in HV at the destination with an engine that started and warmed up automatically during later highway driving.

 

Kind of an aside, but does anyone know how much torque the PiP makes in EV mode?

 

I don't know the actual value but it looks like the torque at the motor is 153 lb-ft at 60 kW so at 38 kW max burst power from the battery that probably makes it around 90-100 lb-ft. That torque is then multiplied by the transmission gearing and so is higher at the wheels.

 

Well, Toyota rates the motor at 153 lb.-ft.

 

Different routes, different trip distances, different terrains - different strategies.
I wonder if the OP is at all interested.

 

I too can accelerate up to freeway speeds in EV... but I once went over the 62 mph line and when engine kicked on, it was a bit startling as it definitely KICKED on.