Plug In Prius | Fully Charged

[@TheBabiesGaming]

Look how far your show has come. Really amazing what you've accomplished! Cheers!

[@coniow]

In the version that followed this you can select EV mode (while there is enough charge in the 'motive' battery Vs the usual 'hybrid' battery) as you require. We have been running one for 5 years now, summer driving can get 16 miles on EV, winter (Freezing) gets about 10. (Cold condition charging restricts the range, to avoid stressing the batteries, keeping them in good condition for longer). On my 2 distance runs, the car got 70 mpg, and that was with 'normal' driving. Most of the time it is used for short shopping runs, periodically for work. The shopping runs are on EV, my run to work HAS done the 15 to 16 mile round-trip on EV when the temperature is around 20 degrees +, but usually runs out with that last mile to go. If I did not live on top of a hill :-(, the range would be better. Pity I can not charge it at work. A full charge takes about 1 hr 40 mins, uses 3 Kilowatt hours of electricity, and costs about 36 pence. It charges from a 3 pin mains plug, the highest rate of charge being 3k or 12 amps, (the same as a fire or kettle), so you do not need to have a special charging point, (although Toyota suggest you get British Gas to fit one). There is a 'Smart' box on the charging cable that acts as a safety cut out, as well as 'talking' to the car and power source to decide on the rate of charge: A dedicated 'fast charger' would shorten the charge time, but would also stress the batteries to a greater extent. Pros: Great to drive, teaches you to use a very light foot and drive smoothly. VERY, VERY quiet. Hard to feel the engine cut in. Cons: The 'motive' battery lives in the spare wheel well, not so great if you get a puncture, (yes, I got one in the first few months. Luckily, right by a garage!). The Air-con may be good, but it weighs a ton, and switches on the engine to run it :-(. Wish Toyota would ditch it, and put in a sun roof instead! The huge area of very 'flat' glass may be aero-dynamic but it is dire for condensation. (A window-vac is my best friend in the winter). I hope the above expands a bit on Robert's early video.

[@The8BitGuy]

@crowdedcranium - yes, Toyota has committed to selling the plug-in version for the 2012 model year.

[@fullychargedshow]

@DonkeyHellfire I hope you noticed that at the start of this show I said I failed my Maths GCSE (an exam kids take at 16) but I am going to print out your numbers in big type and really really try to understand them

[@fullychargedshow]

@deejaydoubleyoo I have more than one plug socket in my garage, so I plugged the Prius in another one. In an all electric car, the heater runs off the main battery and it seems generally accepted that this reduces the range by about 2%.

[@fullychargedshow]

@JohnCBriggs I live in the UK, the car is in the UK, the steering wheel is on the right, I am driving on the left, I buy petrol in the UK, so yes, it's the bigger, imperial gallons. :-)

[@fullychargedshow]

@rickrolled09 I didn't 'have to' charge it 5 times. That's just what I managed to do. It would still work fine if I never charged them, however clearly charging them increases the overall mpg very significantly. Therefore if you had one of these cars and could re-charge it every night, drove around 50 miles a day, you'd average around 100 mpg, from my rubbish calculations.

[@f0t0b0y]

Love your channel man! Watching the classics now. :)

[@fullychargedshow]

@SirKnobofCheese Two reasons. Obvious one is emissions, a modern petrol engine can be tuned to release very low levels, unfortunately a diesel engine also produces SOX and NOX emissions, nothing to do with climate change or CO2, but a lot to do with us poor humans. Secondly, would it be possible to electronically control the compression on a diesel engine? When the Prius ICE starts up, all the valves are open, hence the smooth start, no judder. Not sure that's possible with diesel?

[@fullychargedshow]

@marktime10 Thank you for this too, very good clear explanation, next time I'll try and explain it better

[@fullychargedshow]

@Cyber0Bill I take your point, but that's not exactly true. Over a journey of around 40 to 50 miles, if the batteries are fully charged when you start, you will achieve over 100 MPG. The batteries don't drive you the 1st 14 miles and then the petrol engine kicks in. They work together all the time. No matter how you cut it, the car is using very little petrol. Over a total of 300 miles the mpg, and petrol purchase gave me a reading of about 86 mpg. Total electricity cost, about £1.50

[@philiplmoore7219]

Just got into electric in the last year, bought an 08 Prius and love it, but would love to get better range from just the battery, is there a way of getting better range on battery only? The missus drives 15 miles each way from Littlehampton to Horsham five days a week, the car, then sits on the roadside during office hours, what I want to know is could I fit a solar panel on a roof rack and have it charge the battery whilst she's working if I can improve the range.

[@stedavid13]

As someone who bought a used 2008 Prius and then a year later a 2016 Kia Soul EV - try not to focus so much on EV only driving with your Prius but instead aim for the best fuel economy you can. I know it's addicting, but the battery in the Prius is designed as a buffer rather than the sole power source for motive means, so when you try and trick or cheat the computer into driving more EV than it should/would you're actually doing a disservice to the battery pack's health. However, if that answer doesn't give you satisfaction: look into cleaning or replacing the bus bar and nuts on/in the battery pack as they corrode over time causing resistance which causes a loss of energy. This also lets you inspect your cells to ensure they're not swollen or leaking, and if you really know what you're doing you can recondition the cells to gain back some capacity. Other than that, just drive slower :P hope this helps :)

[@MrChrisRab]

Thanks again for the show. As usual it's great and you're always testing new and efficient cars! Keep up the good work!

[@fullychargedshow]

@DANATRINGWOOD A recent report by the Royal Institute of Engineers in the UK has worked out that we could have up to 20 million electric cars in this country without needing to build 1 more power station. I always charge my car at night (it's on a timer) when the demand is at its lowest. This actually helps the generating industry by leveling out the demand over a 24 hour period. Plus this stored power could be used in emergencies. Electric cars do work very well.

[@londospark7813]

Your comment about 14 miles on pure electric power being very low seems odd to me. Thinking about my journeys and a lot of the time going to my destination and back is around 10 miles, 14 would let me run in pure electric mode most of the time!

[@fullychargedshow]

@marktime10 That's very interesting and does make some sense. You don't think it's to do with the compression then? As in the difficulty of starting the engine and stopping it seamlessly, as in the current petrol Prius. I'm only guessing at this. I would also think that the main aim Toyota had when developing the car was to reduce the emissions as much as possible, particularly for the Californian market. Very few diesel cars in California

[@fullychargedshow]

@polpotsdog You are talking inductive charging, this is clearly the next step. Plugging in with wire is fine, takes a few seconds, but when you just park the car over an inductive plate and it charges (they already have this system working in Korea) then no one will say 'how far does it go on a charge?' any more, fingers crossed

[@rogerhudson9732]

Fullycharged has come a long way, so has the Prius plug-in ; how about review of a new one ?

[@fernsemer]

You make some interesting points. I've come to the conclusion that the 20Kwh battery is the benchmark for what a PHEV should be. Most are not. If they were you'd have about a 70 mile electric range for all of your local driving needs. Even after 10 years if they degrade to 80% of their original capacity,, They'd still be above that 40 mile statistical range people drive every day. I think the auto companies could sell many more autos if they could embrace that.

[@waelali3519]

in 2021 this vehicle is still amazing. Im currently using one from 2013 and I drive it for days without any fuel. working from home and only send and fetch kids from school or go shopping. a full tank lasts forever and i dont even remember the last time i refuelled!! of course it uses fuel if i drive out of the ordinary like out of town or somewhere further than my daily routin. but its still a blessing and still the cheapest and best choice!

[@tomascermak9205]

The same here. Model 2012.

[@mohammedamer7896]

السلام عليكم can you charge in a petrol station, how long does it take to charge and is it free

[@mohammedamer7896]

i live in uk. I taech arabic and Quran for free , if you are interested

[@mohammedamer7896]

@@tomascermak9205 can you charge in a petrol station, how long does it take to charge and is it free in uk

[@fullychargedshow]

@daquifsta I think the idea as I understand it is the trailer would carry a small petrol generator, obviously if you used the trailer as a regen unit from the turning wheels it would be utterly self defeating. I'm talking about a tiny petrol engine, driving a generator, that you hire for long trips. The trailer would be very small, lawn mower size.

[@fullychargedshow]

@DonkeyHellfire Thanks for all your brilliant answers. Top notch stuff.

[@fullychargedshow]

@drtyrell969 The only way they could steal it in a public charge station is to cut through the wire. The plug is locked in place, only the keyfob opens it. So they could cut it, but they would risk a 240 volt, 13 amp jolt which might put a crimp on their day :-)

[@Octamed]

@rickrolled09 you charge it so you don't have to use petrol to generate it. When it runs out it generates from the brakes and engine to give the battery enough charge to handle city/stopping driving.

[@SirKnobofCheese]

@fullychargedshow Thanks for replying Robert.I've always wondered why there were no diesel hybrids.

[@fullychargedshow]

@jricardos Will soon by trying electric motorcycles, scooters and electrically assisted pedal bikes

[@eliasshedd]

It's fun to see this video again after all these years. I'm glad to see this seems old and it shows how far we've come.

[@Joeteck]

What would you get? Standard Prius or the plug-in Prius? Can you justify the cost difference?

[@God-of-our-own-understanding]

Love the fist-pump at the end!

[@_Piers_]

I think these plug-in hybreds are a really good stepping stone, they offer a little of the benefit of an all EV car but with a much reduced purchase cost. At the very least if these sell well it will give more people a good impression of EV cars hopefully resulting in their greater acceptance.

[@Aerostealth]

Llewellyn top off then drive. refill then take the total gallons and divide it into the the miles. This gives you your mpg. However you have to add the electrical consumption in also. Take the kwh multiplied by 1.23 to account for charging loses then divide by 32.777 which is the amount of energy in a gallon of gas. Add this to your gallons of gasoline. The resulting mileage figure is your mpg e which includes electricity. This figure should be lower than what the car computer reports.

[@tonysmith2360]

In this Li-ion or Ni-MH like their previous models. The Japanese models have a B mode on the gearshift that switches to battery only mode.

[@Planet_Brent]

@Octamed The guys at AC Propulsion did this back in the 1990s, I believe. It worked, even though the engine wasn't optimized for charging. I suppose the commercial viability depends on the usual stuff: cost, demand, etc.

[@TheGramophoneGirl]

Wonder what happened to that car? It was MOTd once in 2013 and then 'disappeared'. Has it been crashed or exported?

[@andrewsanders2167]

Its a perfect vehicle for people with short commutes that you make every day. Work grocery store, other errands.

[@dervheid]

intrigued by the induction plate charging mentioned below. How is the EM field generated restricted to a 'safe' distance, and would this system have any implications for anyone fitted with a pacemaker, for example?

[@Octamed]

Serious question Bobby. Why don't pure electric cars with 100+ miles range have an optional, cool looking generator trailer you can hook up when you know you're going long distance? You could hire them or buy them. For me that would completely solve range anxiety as I only go over 100 miles when skiing or traveling interstate maybe 3 times a year. Or even hire a trailer with a big battery pack for a full day travel, instead of battery swap programs (which I don't see having a huge future TBH)

[@ianabruce]

Well-to-wheel fuel efficiency of the grid vs. onboard electrical generation is about 3x. As we add more renewable sources (solar, wind, hydro), this figure can improve dramatically. The PIP is one of the very few vehicles who's carbon-footprint actually improves over time. Brilliant.

[@BxKRs]

@fullychargedshow when you did your top gear impression you forgot to say some superlative followed by "...in the world"

[@XitUp]

@TheBobbyuy Would that be the USA where the Chevy Volt is from? And the Tesla roadster? And where the GM EV-1 is from?

[@Octamed]

@fullychargedshow My first disciple :) Manufacturers would need to agree on some things a) an additional charge port at the rear like a caravan lights port. Which can be safely hooked up during travel b) If the SAE standard allows extra data (which I think it does) then they'd have to agree on the generator/external battery commands. I think SAE might already have an 'I need charge' signal in the protocol which would be ideal c) Cross compatibility! For hire friendliness = Problem solved!

[@Zenpalmelao]

Great video! What is the difference between EV Mode and EV City? Thanks

[@TheKnightsShield]

14 miles might not seem like much, but part of the principle behind hybrid vehicles is that while you're driving in fossil fuel mode, the onboard generator is pumping power back into the batteries. Now, I have no idea how much power is pumped into the batteries over a 5 mile fossil fuel sprint, but at the end of the day, it all adds up. So really, 14 miles isn't the maximum you can drive on battery power alone. Rob, do you have any figures for the onboard generators recharge efficiency?

[@fullychargedshow]

@Octamed I think the trailer generator is a very, very, very good idea. I'm going to become a trailer generator evangelist.

[@XitUp]

ey up Bob, just wondering if the mpg figure you gave is from calculations you did from filling up or from the onboard computer? The computer ones are never very accurate.

[@jm11740]

Hi....what year is the Prius your driving?

[@medman36]

Impressive 87 mpg for the plug-in Prius real time test. The data in Holland is 57 mpg for the toyota Prius. Apparantly the car does make sense. How is the funding going?

[@batlin]

@whole27 Probably because the Volt is packed full of battery cells... with no room for passengers/shopping/etc?

[@fix-and-drive-diy-repairs]

i didn't know there is a 2010 plug-in prius,

[@jeffjeffrey4956]

You learn a lot once you see what the rest of the world is up to. We tend to live in our corner of the globe and not realize the many advances being made in other countries...Americans in the south are probably really guilty of this. I joined the US Navy at 19 so I learned about all the different vehicles being driven around the world and came home to..."this needs to change!" In the words of the late great Jacque Fresco, creator of TVP..."This shit's gotta go."

[@ian9outof10]

Actually, for a lot of journeys, 14 miles is more than enough. I'd love this for scooting around town, and taking my daughter to and from nursery.

[@TelmoMartinho]

Again, very good show. I actually think that 14miles on battery is very OK. If you do 28miles per day you are saving 50% :) I know you still have to pay for the electricity, but anyway I think people just have to stop and give electric cars a chance, the faster the consumers change their mind about electric vehicles the sooner electrics will get better and better... :)

[@deejaydoubleyoo]

A couple of questions for you Mr Llewellyn. It looks as if the recharge point in your garage is in a different location than it was for your Imiev. Did you have to install a new charge point and are all car manufacturers charges different? And I've always wondered where the heat is created on an electric vehicle given there is no engine to aid the heater. Thanks and keep them coming.

[@collywobbly]

hello thee so would you recomend a plug in prius or is the normal one good enough i was thinking of getting a prius but like the idea of pluging leccy in hehe cheers

[@MatthewSchoepf]

phillip elliott My father had a Prius and it was certainly great. Until it got crashed and written off. You have so much fun just trying to get the best fuel economy. If you have the money, get the plugin, but if not, it still is really great to have a regular Prius. We had the base model, yet it’s still great.

[@rickrolled09]

Robert, doesn't the car have a generator from the petrol engine to recharge the electricity cells? I was just wondering why you had to charge it 5 times.

[@16vastraturbo]

why havnt they done a plug in hybrid auris?

[@_Piers_]

@mjkobb Other than the additional battery pack this is the same as a standard Prius, they do according to Wiki 72 mpg (US Gallons). Getting the first 13miles of the 300mile trip "for free" would result in it doing 75mpg.

[@rlaxton666]

One little error, it turns out that the GM Volt is not a series hybrid after all, despite all GM's claims that it would be. It is actually pretty similar to the Prius planetary gear system. Still has a pretty big battery and gets good mileage but not what it was promoted as. Better off with a true EV :-)

[@JohnCBriggs]

When you say 87 MPG, Is that UK gallons or American gallons?

[@lawnmowerdude]

Amazing show man, love watching it.

[@AGeekDad]

Wonder how quickly the battery degrades over time. I imagine this works like any other battery where they eventually lose their ability to charge as well. If this is something that would need to be replaced at 5 years of normal or use...or 10 years of normal use, how much would it cost to replace? Can't wait to see pickup trucks become more efficient like this the Prius.

[@teslawizardvvv3]

check this months issues of Wired magazine and E magazine they have 2 big articles on electric cars.

[@Octamed]

@ttrager1 that looks really cool. Many people must have had the same idea but noone seems to mention them when talking about modern evs?

[@szaki]

You get the best gas millage by walking or bicycling! (o:

[@greyareaRK1]

Excellent show! Good luck with the funding. Hire a cameraman who can convert MPG to KPL. ;-) As other comments have mentioned, I would love to see this program expand to include other types of vehicles, and I'm also curious about what you think of the Chevy Volt (or whatever it's called in Europe, - gas generator/electric drive system. You've been inside Stephen Fry...?

[@nerp27]

regardless of what the car reads as you drive. i'd like to know what your cars final milage is after a tank has run out. if you could drive the car until it's low on petrel and then divide the amount of miles driven by the amount of petrel it used, then that's the number i'd car more about. i say this because my father drive a dodge caravan and when the car coasted down hills the onboard computer would read 100 mph and it would then up the cars overall average falsely.

[@MikeKobb]

One thing I'm not totally clear about: you averaged 80-some MPG over 300 miles, but that included plugging the car in multiple times to recharge the plug-in battery? I'd be interested to know how the car does over 300 miles if you start out fully charged (heh) and then don't plug it in at all for those 300 miles. I must say that the Volt with its 40-mile ZEV range makes more sense to me. Most days in a Volt, I'd use no gas at all. Of course, in my RAV4-EV, I use no gas at all every day. ;-)

[@aminorjourney]

So Robert, How does the car compare to my converted Prius that you had a ride in? ;)

[@citruskushxD]

When you plug your car in, the power plant doesn't use any extra coal because it produces more energy than is already being used. The electricity that is not being used is then wasted. So it is better than using gasoline.

[@Octamed]

@drtyrell969 Most charging stations unlock when you swip your card and lock over your cable when you plug it in. So the worst they could usually do is unplug your car. 'Chargepoint' stations will also sms you if someone unplugs it :)

[@iainmillar1532]

Ok it’s over a decade now, how have the Lithium Ion batteries lasted compared to the standard Prius battery?

[@Travlinmo]

Highly annoyed that you had pluggin Prius in 2010 versus the U.S. waiting for Prius prime. Especially since we bought a used 2010 that ‘only’ gets 52mpg. We were robbed (I presume by our lack of regulatory structure to drive this).great shows even years later. Thanks!

[@Landrew0]

At 1:55 you say you "firmly believe this is the next step." I actually agree, but that's not what happened. I have owned a 2012 Prius Plug-in since it was new, and it has served me remarkably well. But the market has spoken differently. These cars are extremely rare in my area, and the one I purchased had remained at the dealership for over a year before it was sold. They were discontinued after this model.

[@lukenfoci]

Not exactly - there is Prius Prime still being sold in the UK...

[@stedavid13]

Here we are in 2020 and there's tons of PHEVs on the market, or soon to be on the market - including the Prius Prime and the RAV4 Prime. So that is what happened..

[@eldictator1]

EDF energy need to pull their finger out and provide charging points.. Great video as usual bobby llew, not too keen on the prius though p.s I failed at GCSE maths too, but got an A in physics??

[@_Piers_]

@fullychargedshow I went shopping in Manchester yesterday and was most supprised to see quite a few diesel/electric hybred buses. I Googled when I got back, sadly there is no mention of them using bio-diesel. Which seems like a massive failure as we already have bio-diesel powered buses.

[@fernsemer]

What you say is true. But having been an on call courier for 8 years I've seen all kinds of driving needs. Both local and the distance. I keep coming back to the size of the battery and the Kwhr. Electricity for local driving and gas for the extended range. For the PHEV to work well I think you need at least a 20Kwh battery. Most don't have that! If they did they could sell a lot more cars.

[@SirKnobofCheese]

Are there any diesel hybrids? Because wouldn't they be even more economical?

[@JCJourney]

I like the Volt 38 miles, but only 4 seats

[@UNITYN]

@abyssunderground Diesel engines would make more sense in a serial hybrid where the engine can be kept running at its most efficient RPM. @fullychargedshow another masterful episode Robert, what was the total cost for your 300 miles? ie 5 charges @? + petrol. Thanks Neil

[@jamesonobrien1496]

So, we’re all going to act like you didn’t say “ inside Stephen Fry” and not “ inside the mind, of Stephen Fry?” Fair enough. Lol Love your videos!

[@thermalCat]

@DonkeyHellfire Correct but somewhat convoluted. @fullychargedshow Following other peoples maths is always more difficult than doing it yourself, even if they tell you what they are trying to calculate and can decide which units of measurement to use. You seem to get a fair number of technical comments & questions about EV's here on KZbin. Perhaps a fully charged forum would be a good idea?

[@daquifsta]

@fullychargedshow @octamed Don't think this will work. A generator connected to the trailer wheels would make the trailer harder to tow, because the energy to turn the generator has to come from somewhere. Therefore, your towing vehicle uses more energy. You could probably do regenerative braking on the trailer, in the same way as on a car, and recover energy from there. However, this would only give an advantage over an identical vehicle- trailer combo that didn't have regenerative braking.

[@abyssunderground]

@fullychargedshow Yes it's possible. Look at the old thumper engines =) Hand started you'd never get it over compression without the valves open. It does make me wonder if they ever will use diesel.

[@TheBobbyuy]

Amazing , love your series!! too bad i live in the back-ass-wards U.S and most of this is pretty much sci-fi for us!!

[@daquifsta]

For me, a 14 mile battery range would be prefect - I could get to work and back on that comfortably every day of the week. Petrol would become like bacon - something you have at weekends. Or, to misquote the illustrius Cookie Monster, Petrol would become a sometime food for me :-)

[@8peterp]

watching your show 10 years ,but still can't even afford this Prius

[@kyrkbymannen]

The point is to go to and from work very cheap, and having the power to still go to long journeys without stopping

[@johngallenstein1467]

great vid. ty.

[@davidmaxwaterman]

why are all the non-ev engines running in a traffic jam? in my car, the engine stops when I stop...was this function not available in 2010?

[@TheSeanUhTron]

He was referring to non-hybrids.

[@davidmaxwaterman]

So was I. Mine is a diesel car and its engine stops when the car stops, and the same is true of a lot of petrol cars too.

[@TheSeanUhTron]

Start-Stop engines are becoming more common in Europe these days, but not back in 2010. At least not from what I read.

[@davidmaxwaterman]

+Sean Place yeah, that's what had me confused...he's been doing these videos for quite a while and it was the only reason I could think of for such a comment.

[@jeffjeffrey4956]

I've heard full gas cars that use that tech aren't as sophisticated and problematic by a mechanic. He says the engines wear out faster incl the starter. Would like to know if anyone with high mileage experienced that issue?

[@jricardos]

I like the series very much, but electric vehicles are not only cars. I would like to see in Fully Charged some motorcycles to. Good work

[@jgobin]

Wow Robert ... Your videos are much more professional now .... better cameras and sound etc..

[@n2n8sda]

Good stuff I love the Top Gear Reference... 99.9mpg :D

[@emgee44]

Wow! Well the show has come along way since then, you can afford a proper camera person now or just better at it. Maybe do a look back show and see what predictions have come to fruition?

[@dg115]

Amazing how fast technology is moving.

[@Octamed]

@fullychargedshow yeah, a small petrol generator is the idea. Plus as a bonus it could have extra stowage space which perfectly coincides with long trips. Driving a generator from the wheels would require violating a pesky thing called the Second law of thermodynamics :)

[@captlarry-3525]

well the production standard of your later videos was certainly better than this !

[@zapfanzapfan]

It's only when you look back that you fully realize the progress we have made in just 7 years :-)

[@zapfanzapfan]

And a rewatch another 5 years later 🙂

[@zapfanzapfan]

14 years ago, good effort to get the world to go EV Bobby!

[@808duguid808]

simply question how much electric does it use compared to a tv on stand by

[@at90percent]

So, if you put small wind turnbines on the Prius to capture the wind. Would it cause more drag on the car than it would produce in electricity? lol

[@eliasshedd]

wow 8 years ago. 8 YEARS!

[@nobodyyouknow222]

"He has a top of his head - it's been established" - Marilyn Monroe