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Prius Plug in actual mileage on only battery

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by lablover123, Aug 21, 2014.

  1. lablover123

    lablover123 Junior Member

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    I'm thinking of getting my wife a new Prius Plug In.. I read on the Toyota site it can go up to 95 miles on battery power only.. Then on Edmunds.com they state 15 miles..
    How many miles can you go on only the plug in battery.. we only travel about 40-50 miles a day .. if we can get that on just the battery (the plug in battery not the hybrid battery) we would never have to buy gas again..
    I have a Prius C four and love it.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    15 miles. you read 95mpge, which is a confusing number for most. and some don't get 15, it depends on the type of driving you do. how about a leaf?
     
  3. lablover123

    lablover123 Junior Member

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    So the C is still the best value then .. I"m averaging 51mpg...
     
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  4. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    OK I'll go out on a limb and say, I agree, for you the C is the best value.
    If Toyota had already released a C with a plug I would be driving that instead of the full sized plugin.
     
  5. mrbigh

    mrbigh Prius Absolutum Dominium

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    I average about 10.5 electric miles on a full recharge with my driving pattern with out hypermiling at all.
     
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  6. CaliforniaBear

    CaliforniaBear Clearwater Blue Metallic

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    The 95 is not miles. Its the equivalent miles-per-gallon based on energy use. Most electric cars and plug-ins get about the same mpg-e, that is, they use a similar amount of electricity kWh per mile..
     
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i'm averaging 70mpg without plugging in.
     
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  8. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    After a base C test drive and seeing a C 4 in a parking lot, if Toyota offered the C with a plug I'd probably go for the Cc equivalent to the PiP Advanced.
    But that is all just speculation on my part until Toyota offers the plug C.
     
  9. shiranpuri

    shiranpuri Junior Member

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    EPA rating for electric range of the pip is 11 miles. Obviously, your mileage will vary... (how you drive, temperature, terrain...)

    If you're looking to make your commute mostly or all on the battery, the pip has the lowest electric range of the plugin-hybrids.
    The volt (EPA of 38 miles) and the BMW i3 (EPA 72 miles with range extender) fit that profile much better.

    Note that even if you can make your commute on battery only, you'd still be using gas on the plugin hybrids:
    The engine still needs maintenance, and fuel needs to be used before it gets too old. Eg, to keep the engine lubricated and in working order, the pip runs it every 124 miles; the volt runs it every 6 weeks. Manual for the pip recommends burning through a tank of gas every 6 months to keep it from going stale. Volt does this automatically when the average age of the fuel exceeds a year.
    It would certainly be a lot less gas (and less frequent trips to the gas station), but just to be pedantic, you'd still be using some gas.
    The engine might also get used to help with acceleration, if there's a higher demand than the electric components can handle alone. Pip does this... actually, all of the plugin hybrids do this with the exception of the volt and the BMW i3 rex.

    If you were to get a BEV, you would avoid getting gas for it... but you'd want to make sure that you'd have more than enough battery range to account for loss due to temperature (summer range would probably be a chunk above EPA, but winter range generally falls a chunk under EPA - especially if you are using some of the juice to heat the cabin), age, unexpected trips/traffic issues/etc. Just as you'd have a reserve of gas in a regular car so you're not running on fumes, you'd have a reserve of energy in the battery too.

    So... question is, what all is it you are actually after? There's a variety of aspects... electric driving experience, gas usage reduction, efficiency, price ... what do you actually need in terms of range, fallback (to gas), trunk space, number of seats, ...?
    Note that for price there's various federal, regional, and manufacturer incentives, so MSRP/sticker price is not the number to go by for that.

    You might want to test drive a number of the different plugin-hybrids and BEVs to get a better feel for what's out there.
     
    #9 shiranpuri, Aug 22, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2014
  10. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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    Pretty much the same as I was getting in the PIP...
    As low as 8.9EV mi in the winter and up to 11.3 EV mi in the summer.
     
  11. se-riously

    se-riously Active Member

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    "Best value" can be easily debated. After state, county, and federal rebates, my 2014 PIP cost just under $22K including TTL and I get a green HOV sticker. And compared to a Prius C, I get more power, more room, more features, more freeway stability, lower operating costs, and higher resale value. Now this is not a knock on the Prius C, and granted, the deal I got can no longer be reproduced, but rather than using a generic "best value" term, I prefer to use lowest cost to serve your needs.

    For me, given my regional incentives along with my space needs, that was the PIP.