Have you noticed that you drive a lot more than before?

Well, now that my teen can drive (my 2008 Prius), I don't have to drive as much. I'll keep you posted now that I have my Prime.

 

When there isn't any wear and tear from driving a cold ice, and no gas usage, it's a no brainer to make a couple quick trips as needed instead of lumping them into one big adventure. Time running back and forth seems like the issue now.

 

I have definitely taken to run out to the store quickly to get something that I would normally have stuffed into a weekend trip. I also have a tendency to think that the long trip to the remote grocery is justified now to get that obscure thing we get there and no where else. There is a store 1 mile from my house, but I went to the grocery store that was 8 miles away so we could pick up a few 'special' items. Normally the trip to the further away store happened when we also had to shop at a department store for something or we went to the movies.

The fact that I am still figuring things out with this makes it way too easy to just go cruising off.

 

It happened with our 03 Prius and never looked back. Do not tell the auto writers but quiet, low vibration, and cheap driving is fun.

Bob Wilson

 

On day 3 with my new Prius Prime. I work from home. I usually barely leave the house during the week but in the past two days I'm looking for any excuse to inhale new car smell and take my little baby for a drive.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

On day 2 I drove 200 miles just to see what the hype was about with a prius.

 

this happened with my pip. took about 4 years to wear off. so i'm not wasting as much electricity now, but i still love driving ev!

 

I find that I'm inventing reasons to "go to the store" just to drive my Prime in EV. Feels soooo good

 

Just got back from the ICE (get it? lol) cream parlor. Just to drive in EV. 2 miles, round trip.

 

Don't know why, but I have been taking the longish route to do errands.

 

well.....you do have time on your hands, go for it

 

Yes it does. I noticed since I got Prime I have adjusted my driving habits to stay with EV range (sic!). And yes if I have enough EV juice (level 2 charged in garage) to stay in EV I tend to head out and take a trip (despite horrible Houston traffic). I wonder when I will start to use Prime as normal hop'n go car.. LOL

 

I've personally noticed a lot less hesitation to make those "quick" trips to Costco or restaurant whereas before we would probably eat in or save it for the weekend. I guess I look at any EV driving as "free" miles since I charge up at work for no cost.

 

I look at EV driving as "free" miles too. In Maryland, utilities have to split their bills into two parts, the part that covers what they provide to cover the wires to your house, maintenance, transmission, etc. and the part that is due to generation of the energy. This way, dozens of energy suppliers are available in the market. So several are renewable-only. I've chosen CleanEnergy, so that portion of my monthly bill goes to fund renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. I know it's not free energy, but it feels a bit like it.

 

As an avid cyclist and a truck owner (see fuelly badge), I too am driving more. The choice was between bike, TDI Jetta with a terrible rattle in the dash, and the truck at 21' long. Now I love the truck and I love my bike but when we replaced the TDI with the Prime for short runs in hot weather I am finding the Prime irresistible. It is fun to drive, easy to park, and with my solar system providing the charge it is pretty much guilt free.

 

I'm not driving more, but I like using EV mode a lot now that I have it. To maximize the EV mileage vs. gasoline, I combine and route my trips more logically than I did before. And that I should have done more of that with the Gen3, but didn't. Thinking green. And thinking greener, better.

 

Have I noticed I drive more than before? No. I still only drive when I need to.

However, one should be careful of the temptation to completely get rid of the positives of the Prime (or other similar cars) by driving it more than you would a normal car.

Put another way, for years, someone might have been taught to always "turn out the lights" when one isn't in a room. But then if that person switches from 60W bulbs to more efficient 10W LED bulbs, some people will then think "Well, now I don't have to turn off the lights when I'm not in the room -- it's not such a big deal anymore, because the new bulbs use less energy" -- and will then completely wipe out the energy-saving benefit of the bulbs by changing their behavior (for the worst, energy-wise) by thinking they don't have to think about it as much anymore. Don't mean (or intend) to lecture, but the topic reminded me of some studies I read a while back on this subject that showed this can happen quite often. Human behavior, and all. Just something to think about..

 

^ This. Decreasing one's carbon footprint includes everything we can do to, um, reduce it.

Facing a double digit electric price increase the first of August, I replaced every single bulb in the house (except the unavailable LED utility bulb under the kitchen microwave) with their LED equivalents, and even watt-ing down further than before (in lumens) to offset the increase, especially now with plugging the car into the new 240v L2 charger every 3rd day or so. The goal was to not have a $ increase, as well as just use less juice.

Now, if I can only do something about these 90 degree days and the central air conditioning usage!

 

With the comments I wrote above in mind (about not driving more just because it's more fun) I will say, that though the amount of driving has not changed with the Prime, I prefer to drive with EV when I can (until I run out of EV range), so do try to charge it often, because (a) the grid, at least in SoCal, is much cleaner than gas, and (b) yes, it's more fun to drive in EV for me. However, the caveat is that my electricity usage is VERY small every month before charging (don't have aircon because I'm only a few miles from the coast) and don't drive a whole lot, so even when I charge 0-3 times a week, I still stay in the "lower tier" price (16c/kwh). If charging were to move me to the middle tier (24c/kwh) I'd have to try to balance EV vs HV a little more, probably.


(Off-topic, about LED bulbs):
Not to get off the subject, but if one is considering upgrading to all LED bulbs, check in your area to see if your local power co "subsidizes" low-cost LED bulbs at certain outlets (often dollar stores). In SoCal, SCE "subsidies" LED bulbs (though they try to make it seem like they're doing it, it's actually us, the ratepayers, that subsidize it through the bill, with SCE just the middleman), but regardless, every once in a while, some good quality LED bulbs will appear at the Dollar stores, "subsidized" by this program (in Calif, they have to meet certain quality/color/dimming standards to be eligible for the program). A couple years ago, Costco was selling some really good Feit LED bulbs for $19 for a 3-pk (on sale). And about a year later (and even just the other week) one of the local dollar stores had the exact same bulb for $1, "subsidized" by this program. Just avoid no-name cheapie non-subsidized ones at the Dollar stores. Look at the color quality rating, if it can be used in enclosed fixtures, etc. If not, WalMart sells decent LED bulbs made by TCP (a decent maker) under their GreatValue brand (note that they usually sell 2 quality levels for each wattage, compare the lifespan, wattage used, and price). The price is usually around $2 each, which isn't bad. One last comment: always read the fine print on the LED bulbs. MANY (about 80%) will say "not for use in totally enclosed fixtures" -- meaning you can't put them in globes or anything that's not open (ie, useless for many house lights), because they'll get too hot (you can technically use them, but they won't last as long because they'll get hot). But the better LED bulbs (maybe 20% of those on the market) won't have this warning, and are ok for enclosed fixtures (the TCPs are all ok for enclosed).