Keep in mind the source of power for each charging station can make a difference. If it's all coal, your PiP will be polluting just as much as a car burning gasoline at 36 MPG (assuming 12 miles in EV).
Electric motor (MG2) is used to multiply torque from ICE through the generator (MG1). It is part of the transmission eCVT. The way PSD splits power, 72% of the torque from already weak Atkinson cycle ICE reaches the wheels.
That's something to worry about outside of California. My mix is only 7.3% coal and 1.4% oil. The rest is mostly natural gas at 53%, nuclear 14.9%, hydro 12.7% and non-hydro renewables 10.1%.
I'm working on getting a solar system, but all the commercial installers want to charge about 300% over material cost. That's too much markup for me. I can source the panels and inverter for a 4kW system for $7,000. I'm looking at putting it together myself and hiring an electrician only for the parts required to get a permit. The side benefit is that I can construct the system such that I can adjust the tilt each month to be optimal for the Sun's apparent altitude.
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In the meantime, if you have a credit/debit card that supports RFID and has the wave symbol on it, you can use that too. At the free chargers, it will put a $1 hold on the card which will be released a few days later.
I'm not worried about this at all for a one -time charge. For all PIP owners, collectively, charging can be categorized as: - night...using whatever fuel is increasing efficiency of any plant, probably - daytime peak in summer--sends signal to install new capacity that probably won't be coal - non-peak day...same as one one of the above Mike
Oddly enough today I went up a mile long hill and it was marked as a 6% grade. I was doing 62mph, cruise set, and to maintain speed I was halfway in the PWR area of the HSI. This was in HV mode.
Picture should be okay. It shows up in two posting above for me. As for the 6% grade, she goes up strongly at 40 mph in EV however 1 mile cost 3.5 EV miles. What I'm now doing (as suggested elsewhere) is to pop it into HV for any uphills. That seems to work nicely in saving the EV miles for where they are more efficient and using ICE where it is more efficient. I do love the EV power as compared with EV in the standard Prius, however, going easy on it seems to be the best plan.