Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
It is not odd to offer only 15 miles of EV range. Why spend more money on having a larger battery that rarely gets 100% used when you can spend much less money on a smaller battery that often gets 100% usage on every trip?
Since the Prius already has a very efficient gasoline motor, it makes sense to use a small battery. If I wanted a car that would cover 100% of my commute and around town errands on electricity alone, I would purchase an EV.
The PiP was never going to have a 30 EV mile range. It goes against the design principle I mentioned above. Ford hit the EV range sweet-spot in my opinion. 20 miles range gets close to covering most trips while minimizing the expense and weight of a larger battery that would not be utilized in most cases.
AWD does seem unecessary, but I'm curious to see how the drive train is different than the previous design. Obviously it is efficient since Toyota shoots for a 10% mpg improvement for each new generation.
Strange to see that Toyota is going with NiMH again when they were considering phasing it out with the 3rd generation Prius.
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I think it is fine to haul around a bigger battery, and the problem is having to haul around big ICE and gas tank. 20 miles of EV range doesn't even do my relatively short commute. I think 30 miles is barely enough, and the new Volt at 50 miles even is not enough EV range.