Hybrids vs Plug-in Hybrids: The Future of Toyota Prius

I have owned a Prius Plug in Hybrid for four years and it is a fine solution. For most local driving it is an electric car and for the occasional road trip, the gasoline engine works fine and is not noticeable. I put more gasoline in my lawnmower than I put in my Plug in Prius. When gasoline is very expensive or is replaced by an expensive alternative, this kind of car will still work.

Plug in cars with more electric range do no use the gasoline engine enough to keep it properly lubricated and the gasoline in the tank spoils because it gets too old.

Carrying around heavy and expensive (and depleted) batteries is not economical and it is not yet practical.

Unless you get ur electricity from solar/wind, your electricity is NOT pollution-free - not even close. Pollution and global warming. Even if you dont believe in GW, pollution also causes a LOT of health problems - just ask the millions who have asthma or other breathing problems. Is there less pollution with electric powered car miles than with gas-powered car miles? UCS study says it depends on what part of country u live in. But, overall, electricity from fossil fuels (not wind/solar) is still a big problem. Tesla pollution per mile is much greater than for a Prius Plug-in or a Leaf because Tesla is heavier. Get the smallest, most efficient car you can live with, regardless of whether it's all gas, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or EV. Better yet, start walking and biking whenever you can. Or, do what people did for centuries before 1910....live near where you work, or live near a transit route (which means you gotta push your politicians to bring back transit), or car/van-pool. There is no free lunch when you live a car-centered life.

Purchased a used Volt to commute to work. The dealer filled the tank when I purchased it. That was four months ago. I've not put a drop of gasoline in it. It appears it will be next year sometime before the oil needs to be changed. It was a little pricey compared to a regular gasoline powered car, but I'm really happy with it.

Just bought a prius four five mo ago and it gets nearly 60 mpg our next car will be all electric I'm sure.

I am still driving my 2009 Prius Hybrid with 150,000 miles on it and when driving at a normally fast pace am still seeing 50 mpg. When driving more conservatively, I can still get the 70 mpg advertised new. I could not see myself driving a plug-in model with such limited range as it would not be a viable option for any travelling unless it was a second vehicle. As far s the battery replacement, even with this mileage and age of the battery, I am still seeing the advertised fuel consumption. No, the battery will not last as long on solely electric power, it is rarely used as its primary mode of power. The Prius Hybrid's strength is keeping the engine in it's economic range, and it works all day every day.

Buying an EV's is a senseless decision. An EV needs 30 kwh /100 miles. if annual EV's sales would surpass 300k sales of prius every year, it would have been translated into 300k x 15kwh EV charging per day = 4.5Gwh per day x 365 days/year = US would have needed to add about 1.5 Twh EVERY YEAR to satisfy only the EV car needs, when the annual US grid electricity consumption today is about 4 Twh! That would have put an unprecedented load on electricity production and distribution system, save for the negative ecology impact.

Those who claim that prius hybrids are useless because they have a range of EV about 1 mile either have an IQ below zero, or they serve the anti-toyota dark interests. A 1.8L Toyota gas engine (in a corolla having similar performance with prius) gets around 30 mpg. Prius gets 50 mpg. That's 20 free EV miles per gallon of gasoline. On a 10 gallon fuel tank this translates to 200 free EV miles (using only the same amount of energy an ordinary corolla needs).

Plug-ins just as EV's have a huge battery x times bigger than prius nimh battery and therefore those batteries are more expensive and have a far worse environmental footprint. For the last 20 years we have been hearing about the toxic nature of NiMH batteries, due to nickel that is used widely in many products (stainless steel for example), but they avoid to mention 1) that lithium batteries are equally toxic too, 2) lithium mines must be constructed to cover the new car EV market.

EV's/plug-ins will never make sense for mass-production. They are a gimmick just like clean diesel was a gimmick 20 years ago. Since as of today the diesel scam revealed, EV's/plug-ins will take that role, in order to cut the prius success.

From Mark Walker: "Then in 5-10 years have to spend a lot of money for a new battery" and "never felt safe in it (a Prius)."

My 2007 Prius is more than ten years old and the original hybrid battery pack is still going strong. I feel quite safe in my Prius, much more so than on my motorbike. What does Walker drive, a tank?

No kidding, but let's compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. The safety of a motorbike will never be as good as a car, but I would think the safety "feeling" of a Prius is more like being in a Fiat, Mini Cooper, etc. (comparable size, weight, amount of plastic, etc.). Your comparison of the safety of a Prius to a motorbike is not much different than saying I feel safer on a motorbike than walking in the middle of a freeway, gee, no kidding.