New '24 prime solar

Discussion in 'Gen 5 Prius Fuel Economy & Prime EV Range' started by billvon, Apr 27, 2025 at 3:58 PM.

  1. billvon

    billvon Junior Member

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    A few weeks ago I exchanged my 2017 Prime for a 2024 Prime. After looking for about a month, I finally found a Prime (in Nebraska no less) that had the solar roof. I wanted that for a few reasons, one of which is that it makes it a lot easier to hack the battery. (The solar gives you an always-live connection to it.)

    So far it's been great. Max solar charge rate has been 220 watts during a cloud-lensing event; average in normal sun is closer to 180. EV range started out at 30 miles and is now at 41 as 1) the algorithm learns how I drive and 2) the tires wear in. I was not expecting the adaptive cruise control to be so much like Autopilot; it's a fairly competent Level 2 automation feature. Acceleration is considerably better in both HEV and EV modes.

    Minor nits are that:
    - It takes a lot of screen presses to do common tasks (like switching audio source) and you lose the map when you do that, unlike the 2017
    - Only two digits on the range estimate means I have to "save" an extra mile to avoid unwanted engine starts
    - All black interior is hot (2017 had the white interior; made a big difference)
    - Somewhat smaller back space (dog now barely fits even with seats folded down)
    - The large number of warnings means that it's hard to pick out the useful ones (like RTCA) from all the others (like the "you're not paying enough attention" warning when adaptive cruise is on, or "you can't change lanes like that" warning from the same)
     
    Trollbait and bisco like this.
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Plug-in Base
    congrats, all the best!