Toyota is comparing the Prius PHV to the Chevy Volt

Volt's transmission is not pure ECVT since it shifts gears between two different ratios. GM marketing will want to hide the fact that it has 3 clutches to change mechanical gear ratio. Toyota would want to point it out by labeling it as automatic transmission. It is not surprising.

 

Y'all're missing the point. Some people will want one, and some the other.

Me: I can plug in at work. My commute is about 52 miles each way, meaning I'm right at the cusp of where a Prius gets better than a Volt (the Volt having far lower gas mileage.) I really liked the concept Volt implements, and I was really interested in one... until I test drove one. Seat is not as comfortable (I'm very tall), the roof raked down over my sightline so that I had to duck to see the horizon (see previous note! ), and I couldn't stand the console's flood of tiny buttons. It *felt* like a tiny car.

Besides, I'd rather have a later-generation drivetrain than version 1.0.0a. And I've owned a Toyota before, and know how rock-solid it is. And 40K for a car's base model? For 40K I can get the PiP's top-of-the-line model. And the Prius looks better, too.

Everybody will have their reasons. I'll cheer people getting a Volt as much as I'll cheer people getting a Prius, because it means they're not buying a Hummer.

Me? My Prius is due to arrive at the end of this month.

 

No... Only a few people are missing the point. Others, like myself, are non-commital to the whole thing. To be honest, the poster that was shown is a marketing thing, to convince people to buy the Prius Plugin over the Volt and "Here's why..." bit. Some of it is a bit optimistic and in others just fluff.

You are buying a car for a specific reason. You do realize, though, the Prius Plugin Drive-train, is, technically, a 1.0.0. As the battery pack is not the one normally with the other Prius systems, a larger Electric motor that isn't governed at 42 mph, but at 62 mph, so technically, it isn't exactly a 'later' gen drive train per say...

I'm just trying to keep this real for all sides.

 

MG2 is the same 60kW. The battery voltage is the same (~200V), just bigger capacity. The gas engine and everything else is the same. Obviously, the control logic (software) is different.

 

I was told differently, as people insisted that the current Prius drive train Electric motor was weaker, and given that the NiMH power voltage was not the same level as the Lithium Ion's output voltage, not just capacity.

 

The voltage is about the same (around 200V) but the power they output is different.

MG2 is the same 60kW motor. NiMh on a regular Prius is rated 27kW. The Plugin lithium is around 38kW.

 

The specs on both motors mg1 and mg2 are the same. The Lion voltage in the demo cars was higher, but production models have a new battery design that has similar voltage to the nimh standard liftback. The power out of the battery pack is higher in the phv and the inverters are different. I do not know if voltage out of the inverter is different, does anyone know the specs.

Different battery, charger, inverters, cooling, software. These are major changes, although likely to be reliable. There may be small problems as there are with any new car.

 

Chose the Prius Plug-in.
Wanted a primary plug-in vehicle with excellent fuel economy and lowest emissions when EV mode is depleted for overall use. . .Not "just to get to work".
Wanted "Selectable" EV Mode.
Not willing to have to buy Premium gas as the Volt.
Not willing to sacrifice the additional seating, interior room and styling, cargo room.
Toyota Prius decade-long history of reliability and its commitment to hybrids a huge plus.

 

I do not know for sure but I think the inverters are the same. The reason for my belief is that the overall combined power is still 134hp.

 

Just curious, how many mile is your commute?

 

+1

Yes, these are quite different cars, and have tradeoffs. Its not phv versus volt so much as pluig-in versus conventional ICE But toyota obviously is going to highlight their strengths.

Ok looked it up
https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/priusphv.pdf
The inverter in the phv puts out the same maximum 650V. This should be a different inverter than the regular prius because it needs to handle a higher power load, and different than the demo cars because of input voltage. IIRC the demo cars had beefed up inverter cooling that made it into production also.

 

Unless the inverter in the regular Prius was designed with the plugin in mind. The inverters in the regular Prius, Prius PHV and Prius v look the same to me.

I can't read the part number on the inverter. Perhaps, an owner can take a pic of it.

 

I have to throw this in, I just have to.
I was at my 95 year old mother's house yesterday, my younger brother was there and asked if I was polluting less by plugging in to our coal fired electrical grid than if I were operating a regular car.
I've had my 2010 III for almost 3 years and 40K miles.
as;dflq ev[oi wetop 4ot aq[ot

 

lol. Doesn't your brother know that green bay starts with green. I drove a friend from NY when he was in town for a music conference. He hadn't been in a prius before, saw the battery indicator was low and asked how often I had to plug it in. When I told him I couldn't, he was disappointed. I guess that is the opposite reaction to your brother.

If you do buy a phv, or simply want to use less coal for your homes electricity you can pay about $0.024 more for wind biomass. With the 10% renewable plan for Wisconsin in 2015 though, your utility is likely adding wind as fast as they can. I locked in early and actually pay less for wind than normal electric rates, but wind is cheaper here.
NatureWise® Renewable Energy Program (Wisconsin Public Service)

 

In the state of WI (63% Coal), every kWh of electricity generates CO2 equivalent of 1.6 lbs - per eGRID 2010 data.

A full charge of Prius PHV requires about 3.2 kWh so it would generate 5.12 lbs of CO2 equivalent.

If you can get 13 EV miles out of a charge, the CO2e emission would be 179 gram/mile. If you get 11 EV miles, it would emit 211 gram/mile. A regular 50 MPG Prius emits 222 gram/mile.

 

So basically, the current Gen 3 Prius cars, (Standard, v, and c) could, theorhetically, be retrofitted to function similarly.

 

I think some of the key benefits PiP has over the Volt are -

* PiP can charge up on 120V in short time - 3 hours. 120V dedicated circuit and easy installation from subpanel

* PiP seats 5 with much more reasonable rear seating room

* When L2 chargers become more common at shopping centers, PiP can charge up on 1.5 hours, closer to the time one might shop at one location.

 

Just look at a long list of standard features not in the Volt. Choose either those or a bigger battery that takes longer to charge.

 

IMNSHO, the chassis of a car is very important. Cannot screw up a car's dimensions, interior room, seating capacity, and expect to get big sales numbers.

Why is Camry so successful? Because the chassis, is just about ideal - very good seating for 5. Not just 5 seat belts, but seating where you can put 5 reasonably sized adults into. Big trunk. Not too wide, not too long, not too tall. Pretty good fuel economy in the eyes of most drivers. Good price, just over $20k....

this is what makes the best vehicles. It's about balance. Considering all factors. PiP seating and overall interior room is much better than Volt. More customers will sit in back of Volt and rule it out than PiP.

Toyota knows traction batteries just aren't all that good for driving cars at high speed now at a reasonable cost. But, Toyota does know many can accept running on gasoline at or near highway speeds, but people also would like electric drive at speeds around 45 MPH or less.

I don't have anything against the Volt or Leaf, but I won't be surprised to see PiP outsells both of those combined when it's rolled out to all states. Leaf is a serious commitment to electric driving. Some will do it, but you watch how people are. Most will not go all EV. Most will choose PHEV over BEV at least for about x years, maybe much longer.

 

Well, as someone mentioned, they felt more comfortable with a older generation drive train versus a first run one, which the Volt and Leaf both have a new drivetrain technology that is completely different than even some the gas burning or flex-fuel burning engines work. I do agree with you on the interior, I test drove one after I got my Prius just to get a feel for it, and just didn't feel like it was worth trading my Prius v of a month old for it. Especially not so after putting money into putting a Lojack and tinting and finding myself looking at the rear window bar again and without a wiper for the rear window.

The Price tag of the Volt also turned me off, even with the incentives. While the Prius Plugin will come out lower, I still can't move myself to get it mostly cause I like the space of the Prius v and the interior of the Plugin is the same as the Prius sedan which I am not sold on still either.