I am thinking about a PIP. Just wanted to know if any of you have experiences taking long trips. What kind of fuel economy do you get?
IT would depend on how often you charged I guess, more charging more MPG overall. I did a trip to VA Beach from NYC last summer and never charged except leaving my house initially. In the end, after about 1000 miles I netted 55 MPG and 60 miles EV driving through EV range stacking. I should add going down and coming home say 6 hours I was doing 75 to 80 about 1/3 the trip.
Last summer went about 485 miles two day trip left with full charge, charged two times at destination. 60 mpg going to destination and 65 mpg on return. mostly freeway 65-70 mph.
My results were similar. Seems like the PiP gets better mileage than a standard Prius on long distances; certainly not worse. Your driving techniques and average speed and terrain will affect your mileage considerably. In my opinion, if you're going to do mostly long-distance driving, like 200 milers, it's probably better to get a standard Prius, which will let you get some better features for the long driving, like the Softex seats.
We drove from Eastern Washington to Miami, Fl and back last summer. A total of 7200 miles and each night (except one) on the trip there I was able to plug in. Return trip we weren't able to plug in for 3 of the nights. Car had two people and enough crap for the two week drive and different clothing for a 2 week cruise. I kept meticulous records of mileage and gallons used. Worked out to 58.52 mpg overall.
We just returned from an 1800 mile round trip to Sedona Arizona. We set the cruise control to 77 mph in Az ( speed limit is 75 ). In California we drove mostly 70+. The entire trip cost just $ 133.00 in fuel and our average was 55.5 mpg. We could have slowed to gain mpg but I was really surprised how well it performed.
Here's a 228 mile Sierra mountains trip. Mostly EV for the first leg, good recharging down from Pollock Pines to the American River, Echo Summit to Tahoe and Donner Pass to the Sacramento valley. 63 mpg overall. This is about 10 mpg better than I got on the same trip with a 2012 non-plug-in in similar weather earlier this year. I expect with flat freeway driving there would be little advantage for the PIP. I don't use EV for any uphill except perhaps a short overpass. That is why there is good mileage from South Lake Tahoe to Tahoe City, same elevation but lots of ups and downs with EV in the flat areas.
Good to know. I have a trip planned this summer. WI to Oregon to So. Cal to WI. Be interesting to see how PIPAT performs. Lots of AC for sure.
