2016 Prius Two : Base Package
Let's shatter all expectations.
In September 1996 we bought a 1997 4-door Rav4 with a manual transmission, and front-wheel-only drive. On 4 July 1999 I picked up a 1997 2-door Rav4 (pictured below) with a manual transmission, and front-wheel-only drive. Mid-July 2016 we drove the 4-door Rav4 to Medford, Oregon and traded it for a 2016 Prius Two (also pictured below) with no extra bells, or whistles, and front-wheel-only drive. These three sentences summarize three very long stories with which I will not bore you. Suffice to say: For many reasons I chose and continue to choose to drive these vehicles.
I traded my "Puppy Dog" 1997 Rav4 for an "Anime Dragon" 2016 Prius Two
The 1500 ± 15 mile drive to Medford required about 2.5 times the fuel as the similar drive back to Kearney, NE. This intrigues me: What is it in detail about the Prius the gives it a 5:2 advantage over the Rav4. It's a hybrid, stupid, duh‽ Yep, it's a hybrid, which is to say it is a very efficient gasoline powered vehicle. Both vehicles in the picture are powered by the exact same process, so why does the Prius have 2.5 times the efficiency of the Rav4? The answer, my friends, is in the details.
How about we start with a definition?:
- hy·brid car
-
noun
a car with a gasoline engine and an electric motor, each of which can propel it.
What‽, well the definition contains some truth, however, the electric motor can run only as long as the battery of electrochemical cells have stored energy. Once they are depleted (on the order of a few minutes or a very few miles) the electric motor isn't going to run any more. So, maybe we shouldn't start with a flawed definition . . .
Maybe we should "think like a physicist" (Eh, that's what I do).:
Stopping a vehicle involves dumping a large quantity of kinetic energy. I usually bring a vehicle to a stop in stages: First, I use a combination of depleting the engine's fuel flow and downshifting to generate compression breaking. This takes the vehicle from highway speeds through city speeds to nearly stopped. Then, I use the brakes to heat the brake disks and pads to dissipate the last of the vehicle's kinetic energy as it comes to a stop. Ever tiny bit of this sequence of actions dumps energy (ultimately in the form of heat) to the environment. What a waste!
This is but the Beginning of the Answer.
Driving the Prius for the first time last month, I did what any physicist would do: I experimented! When you want to slow a Prius you lift your foot off the "go petal" and (if you like) you can "shift" into Dynamic Breaking Mode. Awesome! The computer display rewards you with a pretty cartoon representing a bunch of kinetic energy being transformed and dumped into a huge battery (thirty modules of 8 cells each for a total of 240 cells) of electrochemical cells. At about 1.2 volts per cell that's a 288 Volt battery getting charged. Another computer screen shows your Regeneration Credits for each trip, the more you get the higher your score. Oh, did I forget to tell you: This Toy is really just one big video game, and yes you get points! And yes some drivers compete with each other for high score!
The battery of electrochemical cells is really a very well engineered very temporary storage device. This energy can be used and the details are very interesting and account for the boost in efficiency referenced above. As suggested in the caption above: The Regenerative Braking is just the beginning of the story.
Stay Tuned for the next installment (with more pretty pictures) coming to you soon.
Comments
we've got one
in the winter, when we run the heater and the windshield wipers a lot, our mileage in the city goes down to 30 mpg. Right now, in nice weather, in city driving, we're sitting at 41 mpg.
The first year we got ours, I kept track of every fill up. Total for that first year: 96 gallons. Granted, at that rate it'll never pay for the car but it does help on a weekly basis...because weeks go by before we go back to the gas station.
Meanwhile there are newer vehicles that are interesting in this field. All electrics should become as normal as the Prius. I think that'll be our next one, if this ever gives out.
Economics
Like most people I bought my RAV4 "on time", similarly when I bought my Prius I entered into an agreement with a Credit Union to pay for it course of several months. The first contractual arrangement was executed in 1996, while the second occurred in 2016 a few days ago. Those two contractual arrangements are virtually identical. As the numbers on the second are nearly the same as the first, when inflation is factored in I am paying less for the Prius than I did for the Rav4.
I expect the per diem costs will be interesting to track as I did with the Rav4 twenty years ago. How, if I can just find those records‽
Don't forget
the aerodynamics. The teardrop shape of the Prius is much more aerodynamic than the Rav4. At highway speeds, aerodynamics are king, really any speed over 45mph for that matter. Ecomodder.com has an interesting forum and some good tips and tricks. Some of the most fuel efficient vehicles ever produced came in the late 80s and early 90s in the form of the CRX HX and the Geo Metro with the 3 cylinder engine, gas only cars that got 50 mpg!
Gold is the wealth of kings; silver is the wealth of commoners; barter is the wealth of peasants; and debt is the wealth of slaves.
National 55 mi/hr
For a few years we had a nationwide speed limit of 55 miles per hour. It is not a coincidence that the "Drive 55 and say alive!" campaign occurred during the 70s "Oil Crisis". The emphasis was on safe driving, but as a consequence of this campaign and the strict enforcement in many places, suddenly we had lots of data confirming what we already knew: Large scale energy conservation is achievable by simply slowing high speed traffic by a few miles per hour. This will be a thing again if we ever seriously address global warming and energy conservation issues.
I planned to completed the "slides" detailing how the energy management in the Prius' system gives it an advantage and how that influences driving characteristics before getting into aerodynamic, weight, and other issues.
Speed plays a massive role
when it comes to aerodynamic drag. I've got a handy app on my phone that pairs with a bluetooth OBD dongle that will give instant fuel economy readouts and other interesting data; while on the freeway, there's a huge difference between 55 and 65. I can put my truck in 5th gear and toodle along at 45mph and get excellent fuel economy on some more rural roads.
The Prius and other hybrids, aside from their excellent aerodynamics, save MASSIVE amounts of fuel by killing the engine when the vehicle isn't moving and getting rolling from a stop. I've seen some pretty impressive numbers from Prius owners that are able to "pulse and glide" to keep the gas engine from starting.
Gold is the wealth of kings; silver is the wealth of commoners; barter is the wealth of peasants; and debt is the wealth of slaves.
Ummm, the weight difference?
The RAV-4 is a behemoth compared to the Prius, plus loaded with cargo (much more capacity than the Prius has) is another factor.
Reality Check
You got me thinking, so I drove both to my friendly neighborhood salvage yard where they have certified scales.
My 4-door Rav4 was certainly larger than my 2-door Rav4, but a behemoth‽ I don't think so. As for cargo space: The Prius' cargo space (about 50% more than the 2-door Rav4's and about 30% less than the 4-door Rav4's) is reasonable with an important caveat: The space (approximating a rectangular parallelepiped) in both Rav4s is much more usable.
Correct me if I'm wrong
but isn't a large amount of the weight in hybrids and EVs due to the batteries? I drive a 20 year old Ranger pickup and was astonished to learn that it weighs less than a Nissan Leaf; and the Ranger has a steel frame!
Gold is the wealth of kings; silver is the wealth of commoners; barter is the wealth of peasants; and debt is the wealth of slaves.
In the summer, minimize the use of the AC
if you think the heater drains the battery (and it does) the AC is worse. I've been the primary operator of my Prius since I bought it in 2007, so I can tell you this has most significant effect on mileage I've found thus far, that, and driving 55 as much as surrounding traffic will tolerate. The DC Beltway and 95 are my only exceptions to the 55 mph rule, since DC area drivers will charge up to tailgate and try to intimidate operators of "slower" vehicles, just because (it's a power thing). By minimizing the use of the AC -- watch the climate screen, as the AC will kick on in front window defrost mode when the outside air temperatures are between about 40 and 70, for reasons I really don't understand -- you can easily get over 50 mpg averages for a tank of gas during the summer, when the batteries have their maximum charge storage capacity.
I second B. Joe King's comments about aerodynamics: the teardrop shape and near-vertical sides are great for reducing wind resistance, and mean you can run with the windows down in hot weather, even at highway speeds. The air circulation is good without too much buffeting inside. Lower the two front windows, or all four windows, but not the back two windows alone. The large interior volume with the hatchback creates a resonant pressure that is uncomfortable for more than a few seconds with just the rear windows down.
Don't take these as complaints. I love my Prius. Every car has its quirks. These minor adjustments to how one drives are more than outweighed by how long one goes between stops at the filling station (two weeks in the winter, three weeks in the summer, usually). When it does finally give out, I'll happily trade it in for an all-electric vehicle, and move further off dependence on fossil fuels. Living in the DC area, I don't have to worry about finding charging stations. My place of employment has several, which is a small side-benefit of working in a research institution.
littlevoice
Great comments, thanks.
As for all-electric: I will be expanding on that theme, big time, when I get to Medford. It is a real hot button issue for me. As for charging stations in the vicinity of Kearney NE. Two years ago HyVee* moved into town, so now we have three or four charging units in their parking lot. So, the all electric option in this region is a bit limited at this time.
*For those that do not know: Hy·Vee is an employee owned grocery chain with a dedication toward economic and environmental sustainable.
Wow, PriceRip, a big TY for this! I learned so much from this
essay. I wonder what their resale values are like? Surely not around the average. A lot above average? I would like to learn more about hybrid and electric vehicles. Thanks for this and looking forward to the next one. Have a great day, mate,
Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.
I've only owned Priuses (Priusi? Priai?)
My first was the 2002 model, the second year they were on the market. I had it for 5 years.
Then it was totaled in an accident. At the time there was a waiting list for Priuses and even a used Prius was selling at high prices. After 5 years of ownership my $22,000 Prius was listed in Blue Book at $18,000. That's what the insurance had to pay me. One of them commented, "What the heck? Is the car made out of gold?"
I used that $18,000 as a down payment for a 2007 Prius. Which I drove for another 6 years. Then I moved to SF, CA and the car became an albatross. So I sold it.
No, the gas savings won't pay for the car, but it will make up the difference between a $18,000 car with inefficient gas mileage and the $25,000 Prius.
The people, united, will never be defeated.
Plural of Prius
According to one Toyota source:
it's a stretch to think "Prius" is a Latin word
but that's surely the explanation for "Prii".
My Latin is very rusty:
so I checked LatDict for prius and found:
earlier, before, previously, first
I wonder if Toyota knows that! I didn't.
so then Prii makes sense. Thanks.
Professional Marketers
I suspect the professional staff knew what they were doing. As I pointed out: I haven't kept up with Latin (or any of the other things I was supposed to study in Grad School) for a very long time. I am hoping to insinuate myself into that sort of academic atmosphere when I get to Medford. So back on track: I had to check out my go to source before commenting.
In that case I loved both my Prii
The people, united, will never be defeated.
Priori
Prius is a slight mangling of the Latin adjective for "that which comes before," i.e.from Toyota's perspective, a hybrid drive train would be profitable BEFORE a fully electric one would be. It's from the same Latin root as the English words "prior" and "priority" The closest Latin plural is, you guessed it: "priori." So, one can make the not too execrable pun of waving one's hand at a line of Priori at the dealer's and spouting, "Ah, Priori."
littlevoice, who likes her Prius very very much...
According to LatDict it's real.
Computer Scientist Snark(!)
When the Prius first came out, I remarked to a bunch of coworkers "Why did it take Detroit 100 years to install a cache?"
(For the non-nerdy, in software, a "cache" is a way of keeping data around that was expensive to produce but which you might need again soon. You sacrifice some of your memory to save time in the future.)
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Yes !
And!, I cannot simply download it to my many computers. In fact I do not have access to the code. I so want to tweek the code. My relevant expertise is machine coding for device control and data conditioning for further analysis. This issue will (may?) be addressed in one of my upcoming segments in this series.
(For the non-nerdy, I play with the 1s, 0s and other device specifics to optimize performance, eh you need to do something to deserve that PhD.)