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Interactive cost calculator in plug-ins?

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Jul 19, 2018.

  1. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Our new c has a feature that lets us tell it the cost of the fuel in the tank, and it uses that to calculate the cost per trip.

    There is another feature where we can tell it the efficiency (MPG) of the car it replaced, and it will report the savings on a trip-by-trip basis.

    These are nice features... wholly unnecessary, but they probably didn't cost much to put in and the informational benefit is just sort of nifty.

    But it got me wondering- do the plugin/prime models have a similar feature to let you know how much to pay for electricity?

    If you roll up to a free public charger, that's wonderful. But what if you're at a charger where you have to pay with a club account or the like? Wouldn't it be fantastic if the car could pop up a message letting you know "Yep, this is a good deal" or "Whoa, pardner... the fuel in your tank was cheaper than those amperes."
     
    #1 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, Jul 19, 2018
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    coincidentally, someone started a thread today asking for electric vs gas cost calculations be made a sticky in prime forums.
    pip has no such feature, unless they added it after 2012 sometime.

    i wonder if some type of phone app is available.
     
    #2 bisco, Jul 19, 2018
  3. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    I don't think so, but I must say I never even looked at those gas cost features in Gen3, so I may have overlooked similar feature for electricity in my Prime's convoluted LCD screen navigation. One problem I can see is that while gas station is clearly marking cost of gas per gallon, there seem to be many charge stations that such information is not available. Even charging at home, cost per kwh is not something most people can recite top of heads.
     
    #3 Salamander_King, Jul 19, 2018
  4. gallde

    gallde Active Member

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    Plug-in Advanced
    It would only matter in a place that has cheaper electricity than our Con Ed utility in NY metro. It's ALWAYS altruistic here to charge rather than drive on cheap gas. But I do it anyway.
     
    #4 gallde, Jul 19, 2018
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    not that many phev drivers charge on the road a lot. i use ev no matter the cost, but some own phevs for cheapest transportation.
     
    #5 bisco, Jul 19, 2018
  6. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Not as of 2013 in the Base model at least.

    I haven't seen one, but it would be nice. I use a spreadsheet to calculate a bunch of stuff.
     
    #6 jerrymildred, Jul 19, 2018
    bisco likes this.
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