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EV mileage down in 2015 PiP?

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by pdelacorte, Feb 19, 2015.

  1. pdelacorte

    pdelacorte Junior Member

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    I just took advantage of incentives and traded in my 2012 PiP for a 2015. In hilly San Francisco I'm accustomed to between 8 and 9 all-electric miles per full charge. Today was the new PiP's maiden voyage--a six-mile trip that in the old car would leave me with 2.1 to 2.3 EV miles remaining (per the readout.) But the new car actually ran out of electric power just before the trip's conclusion. I have no idea why this should have happened, but I'm concerned.
     
  2. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Tire pressure difference?
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yeah, other than tyre pressure, was this your first trip? was it fully charged?
     
  4. pdelacorte

    pdelacorte Junior Member

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    Yes, it was fully charged. Not sure about difference in tire pressure, but the low-pressure icon in the 2012 PiP was not on, and the 2015 PiP had come from the dealer the day before. One other bothersome detail: The new car's odometer read 157 (miles) and the mpg readout was 37, which seems inordinately low for a PiP, unless someone at the dealership had been drag racing. I'll take another familiar trip this evening, and see if things improve.
     
  5. MikePIP

    MikePIP New Member

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    Hopefully your car's build did not fall outside of Toyota's Six Sigma model of quality assurance. For every 100 cars built, there will be one that deviates in a negative way and one bad car part can affect fuel economy.
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    just because it came from the dealer, doesn't mean your tyre pressures are correct. however, that's probably not your problem.
     
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i would go right back to the dealer, have the service manager follow you in your old car, and when you run out of juice, pull over and see how much he has left.
     
  8. Jeff N

    Jeff N The answer is 0042

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    I would expect a new car needs a little break-in time on the road for the bearings to loosen up and the tires to lose a little stickiness and improve their rolling resistance.

    I wouldn't immediately expect a new car to match the rolling efficiency of a car with 2-3 years of wear on the tires.
     
  9. -1-

    -1- Don

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    :(My 2012 PIP gets around 10 miles EV on a charge. That was cool, two years ago. I out grew that range real quick. I would rather have a regular (ICE) Prius than another newer PIP with such low EV range. I have another 100% EV and still use my PIP, almost exclusively in ICE mode. Can only speak for myself, but what did the original OP gain, or possibly lose?
     
  10. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    Hahaha, cold. If it wasn't for last year's warm winter, yesterday's warm weather would be odd. It was so warm yesterday, I had to turn the temperature of my car down from 75 to LO last night. A single trip does not make a statistic. Let's see how it performs the next few trips.

    BTW, why trade up to a 2015? There are no significant changes. My 2012 just turned over 63k miles. Drives about the same as new 2.5 years ago except for a few squeaks when backing out of a parking spot. On a normal Prius probably wouldn't notice because the ICE would turn over but the PiP is near silent on EV.
     
  11. Redpoint5

    Redpoint5 Senior Member

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    I'll find a regular Prius and talk to you about trading for your PiP. (y)

    Are electrons expensive over there in Virginia? It's still cheaper here in the PNW to use electric, even when gas prices are down to $1.80

    I imagine the OP traded up due to the original lease expiring and incentives on a new lease.

    That said, I dated girl that had purchased a new Chevy Aveo; the crappiest car in America, and a couple years later traded in the crappy car for ANOTHER NEW CRAPPY AVEO. o_OHer reason for the purchase was she liked the color of the new one better.:rolleyes: I saw the writing on the walls in that relationship...
     
    #11 Redpoint5, Feb 21, 2015
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2015
    mmmodem likes this.
  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    the right job, for the right tool.
     
  13. evfinder

    evfinder Member

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    I too have seem my mileage estimate drop on my 2012 PIP so I have been watching things carefully for the last couple of months and What I found is interesting. Over my last 30 full chargers from being in HEV to showing full I have used an average of 2.71 KWh with the range being from a max of 2.797 KWh to a min of 2.573 Kwh, My start up estimate has ranged from about 10,8 miles down to a low of 9.7 miles. Typically my actual is about .1 to .3 miles above the estimate although the worst drive I had was 9.5 miles from full to HEV kicking in.

    Now, what I have found is that the miles traveled is lower when it is spread over a few days. The 9.5 miles was done with a full charge on
    Sunday afternoon then driving a couple of miles per day and kicking in to HEV on Wednesday. Last weekend I had a chance to drive into Santa Monica starting with a range estimate of 9.8 miles and I ended up with HEV kicking in at 11.3 miles. It seems like lots of very short driving segments really cuts down on range.

    The other thing I noticed is that the range estimate seems to collapse when it gets very low. I will get down to about .6 miles of range estimate then it will only be about .3 miles before HEV kicks in. I think this may be due to the batteries aging since when it was new it seemed like it was the other way around and I would get at least .5 miles from the estimate hitting .3 until the car went into HEV.

    My PIP has about 9,800 miles on it at the moment. The area I drive in is mostly flat with no really steep hills.
     
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    okay, been 3 weeks since the o/p's complaint.
     
  15. pwp1943

    pwp1943 PHEV Afficionado

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    Here in New England we have had a cold, snowy and difficult winter in 2015. My EV mileage estimate after charging from mid-January to March 1 was about 9.5 miles. During this time I was able to measure about 9 EV miles in commutes around town. The past summer was a different story, specifically between July and August. I often have estimated EV miles of 15 and can actually measure about 13 EV miles out of the battery. Again this is for commutes around town with speeds less than 40 mph. This is a 4 EV mile loss due to winter's cold temperatures and snow on the roads. As we approach spring (3/16) the indicated EV miles after charge are near 11. Warmer temperatures seem to be making the battery operate more efficiently.
     
  16. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Yea, Lithium doesn't like cold weather.

    Despite that, my PiP EV miles (2.5 years average) are more efficient (135 MPGe) than Leaf's EPA City figure (126 MPGe) under more favorable conditions.

    My gas efficiency (54 MPG) is also better than what I would get (most of my trips were under 2 miles) with a regular Prius.

    I am happy with my PiP efficiency and it's capabilities.
     
    rxlawdude likes this.