Plug-In Prius misrepresentation

To me, one of the most common one is that... if you accelerate hard, the gas engine starts and it defeats the purpose of using the battery (to save gas).

It is true that any power request more than 50kW (67hp) would start the gas engine, per design -- reason why it is so light (compare to other plugins). What people don't realize is how little the amount of gasoline is consumed. The 10 miles long EPA highway test cycle triggers the gas engine but Prius PHV is still rated 95 MPGe, despite 0.2 gallon of gasoline blended in.

The gas engine would shut down (if no longer needed) in about 42 seconds (depending on outside temp) after completing the warmup cycle. That's over 20 seconds faster than a normal Prius.

 

forgive me if this doesn't apply, but i wish they would stop spamming the plug in threads to tout the superiority of whatever it is they are driving. they completely disrupt the flow of conversation in the thread and i wish the mods would remove their posts.

 

Bottom line is this;
The domestics are (or will be) using a larger battery (more expensive, more resources, longer charge time) to mask inefficiencies elsewhere in their design.

Reality is, Prius PHV is the most completely efficient, optimal, total package available. It does MORE with less.

Oh yeah, These new national CAFE mileage standards are going to be achieved primarily by mating a plug- in electric drive system to every car. Once again masking inefficiency, instead of advancing true fuel economy.

Prius achieved that goal over 10 years ago with true innovation, then took it to the next level with PHV.

 

Totally agreed. Prius PHV respects both fuels (electricity and gasoline) and it does not discriminate neither, therefore it was optimized for both.

In-car reporting of the fuel consumptions does not discriminate (or hide) as well. The car displays both kWh and Gallons consumed along with the miles driven under each fuel.

 

Remember the old domestic muscle car manta, "There's no substitute for cu. in."

Soon it'll be, "There's no substitute for kWh." (yee-ha)

I can hear the Mustang/Camero driver of tomorrow, now.

 

The Camero driver is sitting on the other couch !!!
She has the cu. in, while I have the kWh.

 

I also resemble your remarks. Another way to look at this, whereas the Feds and some States give $7500 bonus for Volt etc, and $2500 or less for PiP, based solely on traction batt size, really if based on gaso avoidance (which I don't really like that metric either) but my point is the PiP should be getting about 1/2 of the $$$ incentives. One could propose the $$$ incentives should be based on EV-mile capability (~12-14 miles for PiP) but if you consider most trips are short I think you can argue the 4.4 kWhr batt on the PiP is ~50% of the gaso avoidance of the Volt.

Which brings me to my next (unrelated) question, alluded to by OP (John)- can someone summarize if the 2013 PiP is much different than the 2012?

 

Other threads seem to indicate the 2013 is a carry-over model, with only some color options changes from what I have read.

 

i think 6 months of real world driving has proven out 10-15 miles of ev in mild climate. (except possibly socialsuzy)

 

Another common misrepresentation is the benefit of EV miles. A lot of people assumes that the plugin with more EV miles is greener and would emit less emission.

According to EPA, the midsize Prius PHV would emit 210 gram of CO2 per mile (tailipe+upstream). The smaller compact Volt is rated 260 g/mi despite having more EV range. A regular Prius is rated 222 g/mi.

We have yet to see the EPA emission figure for C-Max Energi and whether if it'll retain the 47 MPG once the battery runs out. That will play a big role in the emission for sure. Online preview articles are saying it'll have 20 miles EV range. However, the floor of the trunk would not be flat.

So, it is not about EV range. It is about how a plugin car uses electricity efficiently, responsibly and not taking a step back in term of emission or the interior space.

 

Can you point us to these forums/posts where people are providing misinformation. I'd join in the fight against misinformation about the PHV and a correction may even mean more coming from a Volt owner!


In the goal of stomping out misrepresentations, note the remaining energy in the pack after the ICE starts at 6 miles should be less than half, not as you stated "you've actually got more than half remaining". The energy remaining is not reported but it must be less than half because blended EV ends at 11 in EPA testing, and the ICE would provide some added energy as well, so must be < half at the 6 mile mark. If/when you post such obvious overstatements/misrepresentations you loose your credibility.

 

you knew this had to happen, right?

 

Hey, it was great while it lasted.

 

i guess post #13 is unlucky.

 

Where in your statement

was there any mention of real-world data. Those "statements" are all about the 6 miles in EPA, and your final sentence is simply wrong. Pointing out errors is not SPIN, its exactly what you said you wanted to do, stop misinformation. I'm just sticking to facts, and trying to keep you to as well. Don't say I ignorned things, when all I did was respond to your statements, and point out your errors. It would be hypocritical to say you want to stop the spread of incorrect information, then continue to make incorrect statements yourself.


If you had posted that you personally get better than EPA and have more than half in the tank after 6 miles I would not have responded.. you probably are, like many people better than average. (I know my MPG/range is way better than EPA). And if you tell personal stories, people are unlikly to care as much. Anecdotal data from a single trip does not carry much meaning, and hence is not really much "real-world data". While we have Fuelly and the PluginPrius spreadsheet, are beginning to accumulate real-world data, neither has a direct measurement of average EV range until depletion.

EPA testing is design to predict the average, not the exceptional driver and definitely not the exceptional trip. From the postings here, I would agree the real-world data from PC owners shows [10-14] miles average EV range (slightly above EPA estimates), with outliers on both ends. If you have real data sampled over a meaningful size population, I'd love to see it.

Real-world data at Fully has Prius PHv at 81.7MPG. A nice bump over the 49MPG of the liftback, but there is no way to reverse that number into an estimate of EV range as many small trips can change the ratio.

Is there real-world data on EV range compiled by Entune?

 

i don't like how the pluginsupply website says 'you get the features of a 2012 prius plug in with more than FOUR TIMES the electric range'. what? four times???

 

Can you link to posts where people say the PIP only gets 6 miles of EV. I know this is the EPA test but I don't recall seeing it on this site.