Ev Range Of Prius + (Plus)

[rob the bank]

Hi guys, I popped in the Toyota dealership yesterday to book a test drive in a Prius, and they had a + in the car park so I had a look around that as well, so I am in two minds now.

I see from the spec that the + has the new type Lithium-ion Battery.

I also spotted that the urban mpg was 74.3 (quoted) compared to the 72.4 for the standard smaller and lighter Prius.

As they run the same engine, is this difference due to an extended EV range?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Probably uses the HV side of things more. Li-ion tech is largely unproven as yet and apparantly isn't as robust as NiMh. You should be OK with the 5 year 100,000 warranty on offer but as other posts indicate on here, there do appear to be some issues with the gen3 Prius HV Battery compared to the almost bomb proof (not literally of course) HV Battery in the gen2. If the + is going to be even heavier on EV demands to get the economy, then there might be long term issues.

The Prius+ is overpriced too, a) compared to other markets with the similar PriusV and B) when you consider other 5+2 estate options for the same size.

[rob the bank]

OK, i have been looking at Prius V forums to try and get the EV range, but the US spec is 5 seat only and still has Nimh Battery in the boot, so i guess that would account for a cheaper list price.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

OK, i have been looking at Prius V forums to try and get the EV range, but the US spec is 5 seat only and still has Nimh battery in the boot, so i guess that would account for a cheaper list price.

That is correct. The + is the 7 seater and the V is a 5 seater and uses the more established NiMh Battery tech. If you look at Toyota Australia they have both options available with the V being a few grand cheaper but you will notice that the + (once considerations for duty and vat have been adjusted both ends) is much cheaper than the pricing in the UK - again.

Still, the + has all the benefits of the Prius with the extra load capacity and better rear headroom. The placing of the HV Battery in the console between the front seats is interesting and that might allow it to be cooled by the a/c easily and leaves much more room for the cargo area.

There's one down my local dealers so I might pop down and have a look.

[rob the bank]

There's one down my local dealers so I might pop down and have a look.

Excellent while you are there, see if they will let you see how far it will go in EV

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Probably not much further than the Prius non plug in. You can eke out about 1.5 miles to maybe 2 miles of EV out of a Prius on a flat road in idea circumstances but all that energy needs to be put back in usually using the petrol engine which uses more fuel than if you'd just let the car sort itself out.

A lot of folk and a lot of dealers even, have a false idea that the traditional Prius runs on electric upto 30 mph before switching to petrol. It is possible to do that on the odd occassion with the right engine, Battery and outside temperatures but generally the electric side of things is usually for assisting the engine at most speeds inc motorway speeds, or for keeping the momentum going upto about 40 mph on a flat road or crawling in traffic. Any sort of acceleration or incline will significantly eat the HV Battery charge very quickly resulting in the engine kicking on (or kicking you out of EV mode). Driving on EV mode is probably like driving a traditional car where you can't rev over 1,200 rpm - it's that gentle.

To complicate things, there are times when the Prius will run like an EV but these occassions are rare and usually if you have come down a really steep hill and the HV Battery is topped right off. The car will try and get the battery back to its happy zone of 6 out of 8 battery bars and will do this in a number of ways; sometimes it'll just rev the engine without fuel to burn off the charge or will drive like an EV upto about 45/50 mph with reasonable acceleration. However, this is on a sliding scale so as the battery starts to get back nearer the happy zone the EV acceleration will drop and the engine will become more keep to switch on etc. Hard to explain without driving one for a while. But thinking you can buy a traditional NON plug in Prius and use it to pop to the shops half a mile away on EV is NOT going to happen - it's JUST possible to get there if you don't mind not exceeding 20 mph and accelerating like a snail, but you'll be unlikely to get back without the engine. Think of the Prius as a traditional car with battery assistance and you'll be nearer the mark.

Any questions jus ask. :)

[rob the bank]

Cheers Grumpy, i was given a pretty short window to sort out my next company car, and you would be amazed how many spec's and forums i have read in the last 5 days :=)

I have a Prius for a 4 day test drive in a couple of weeks, so hopefully it will all become much clearer then.

I was just trying to get my head around the plus getting a better mpg figure (on paper) then the standard Prius, and the only thing that seemed to make sense would be having a better EV range.

[rob the bank]

Had the chance to do a back to back demo, 4 days with the Prius and then 1 with a Plus.

Found a nice flat slow section by me with two stops (traffic lights and a junction)

They did identical distance of 1.7miles EV only, no air con, nice day outside with a warm engine.

So from that i would say the capacity of the Battery is the same.