Reasons NOT to buy a PIP

ElCrucero and Giora,

Thanks for the clarification.

 

so, at the end of your drive, you would have around 30 miles ev and 0 hv on evdr1 or 2? or 30 miles on a trip and 999 mpg?

i gotta re think my ev hypermiling technique.

 

el crucero, you are pulling our leg aren't you?

 

if i could ev uphill until the ev portion ran out, maybe i could ev all the way down?

 

Maybe I'm not understanding! When my PIP is fully charged, I have 6 bars on the battery icon. When those are used up, the battery icon switches to HV mode and there are another 6 bars on the battery icon.

 

???

 

the bars don't translate to ev miles. when fully charged, i have 8 or 10 bars (i think) and a numeric ev mile estimate below the battery icon.

when the bars go all the way down, and the numeric estimate goes to 0, the icon switches to full again, but with different lines. this is now hv mode. (i think the icon changes at 1.0 ev miles as well)

if the ice is cold, it comes on to warm up. if it's warm enough, i can drive a little further, but the battery icon drops rapidly like a lift back, and the ice comes on when it gets down about half way.

 

Maybe, but with one ICE session for warm-up!

 

right, unless i'm already warm.

 

I'm confused. Isn't there only one battery (ignoring the 12V)? When that battery is depleted the car will switch to normal hybrid mode with the single battery low from being used in EV mode right? There isn't one battery for EV mode and another for regular mode is there?

 

correct. but to the driver looking at the display, the software changes the battery icon on the display, based on the state of charge, and also allows ev or not.

when you have wall charge, (or ev charge due to going down a long hill, enough to recharge more than the hv 'portion') it will show 'ev miles available', and let you use the ev button.

when the 'ev miles available' are gone, based on the lower state of charge, you can only use the ev button like the lift back.

some people are still under the impression that there are two batteries. and, in fact, the test mule did have two, which has added to the confusion.

 

So, the PiP has only 1 battery.

There is no 12 volt battery for starting the car?

Only the regular Prius has 2 batteries.


iPhone ?

 

The PiP has the 12v battery, just like the regular Prius.

 

The 12-volt battery is only used for powering the electronics, not starting the engine. The battery-pack is for that.

 

you'll notice, in post #90, jdonalds writes, "(ignoring the 12v battery)".

 

Thanks for the clarification Redpoint, John and Bisco.



iPhone ?

 

Reading through this new thread turned out to be rather inspirational. I hadn't noticed some similarities until now. For example:

• PHV is a mid-cycle rollout to a limited market. CLASSIC was a mid-cycle rollout to a limited market.
  
• PHV calculations are done to see if it will save money. CLASSIC calculations were done to see if it would save money.
  
• PHV comments about how its design are based on assumption & observation and are often wrong. CLASSIC comments about how its design were based on assumption & observation and are often wrong.

People didn't know what a hybrid was back then and most don't know what a plug-in hybrid is now either.

That makes me feel like we're starting all over again, which is great. I recognize the potential. It's a new audience, new market, and there's lot of new opportunity.

 

El Crucero, do you check your Eco Score on the smart phone/tablet Entune app? If you do what is your user name on the Eco Score board? Also, please reset trip B before you go on a easy city 30 mile drive and report the average MPG with 30 miles on the trip counter. If that MPG is near 999 then you are extraordinary hypermiler, but I suspect that after the EV miles are depleted you are using the ICE more than you realize. I am predicting that your 30mile average MPG will be closer to 200MPG. After EV depletion, driving slow in the city for 15 miles at 100 MPG uses 0.15 gallons of gas => 30 total miles / 0.15 total gallons used = 200MPG.

Please help us understand your fun and efficient trips in the city.

 

Deleted

 

Weighing in a little late here, but here's my take:

If you love the Prius, you will probably like the PiP even better.

It is a Prius and will function just about the same as a normal Prius, with a little bit more efficiency. There's no additional maintenance or complexity to speak of, other than a couple more buttons. It's a normal Prius with a bigger battery.

Downsides are price, no spare tire, and plugging it in (but you don't have to plug in if you don't want to). No point in getting a 240v charger as the charging time on 110v is so short.

Just don't make the mistake I did, and think that it's an electric car. That's what I wanted, so I eventually switched to a Volt. The Volt 2, which is just appearing now, is an awesome electric car with a range extender ICE. It's a great choice for people who want an electric car. If you want a Prius, the PiP is a reasonable choice, if you're OK with the downsides.