Converted PHEV Priuses Get Disappointing 51 MPG in Real Life
The idea of plug-in hybrid cars doesn’t seem to be working out as hoped – or rather hyped. AutoblogGreen summarizes the Seattle Times’s story:
Nearly a year ago the city of Seattle started a field test of 14 Toyota Priuses converted to plug-in hybrid capability. At the time, the expectation was that the cars would top 100 mpg overall and 150 mpg in urban driving. The problem is that these PHEVs, like all other hybrids, are particularly sensitive to driving style. If you try to accelerate at any rate above the bare minimum the system won’t stay in EV mode and the mileage improvement is slashed. After 17,636 miles, the 14 cars in the city motor pool are averaging only 51 mpg. That is certainly excellent mileage by any standard, but not that much better than a regular Prius.
For all practical purposes, existing hybrid vehicles can’t reasonably be driven as electric vehicles except at excruciatingly slow rates of acceleration. Given the cost differential, it seems like PHEV conversions may be an economic dead end.
And don’t even think of ever recouping the cost of the extra battery.
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April 8th, 2009 at 12:01 am
I convert hybrids with the Hymotion A123 Systems technology and found it to be great. We have traveled 2433 miles and achieved 85 mpg on average. The key is plugging in whenever possible and drive like a sane person. If you drive with a heavy foot on any vehicle the gas mileage will decrease.
I think the Seattle Fleet needs to report the track record of how often are they plugged in and what were the conditions of driving. The plug-in hybrid will perform great for many applications and poor for other applications – let’s not throw the whole concept out the window.