... 9 miles....

What happened to 60? (That I thought I had read in an earlier announcement.) 9 miles is useless, my interest is gone now.

 

Not to get too off topic but I also take exception to the impication that any non-white neighborhood is a high crime area. I'm the white guy on my street (I think there is one other) and my neighborhood is poor, but I've never had a problem with crime or violence.

However, I would imagine that for city-dwellers who have to park on the street (really common in Boston and NYC, I'd imagine also common in Baltimore and other older US cities) the plug-in would be sorta useless. Even if you could manage a spot right in front of your apartment, you're not going to run an extension cord across the sidewalk, up the wall, and into your window. It'd be a safety hazard if nothing else. And I agree, some bored kid is probably going to mess with it at some point.

However, for those of us who live in the ghetto but have off-street parking (my garage doesn't lock, but it does have an electrical outlet in there) it would be easier.

I'd love to see the plug-in system be an option, with far more powerful batteries that have a range of 40-50 miles in EV mode at lower (say under 35 mph) speeds.

 

Should be about 4 miles per kWh - so 3 cents per mile EV at 12 cents per kWh.

The battery in the '04 Prius is 1.3 kWh, but it only lets you have a fraction of that for EV mode (max 500 Wh, but typically only about 300 Wh).

The 9 miles range would require 2.25 kWh, about $900 worth of lithium-ion.

 

clett, thanks for the 4m/kwhr. I think I pay about 12 cents/ now, but it varies with the price of natural gas(despite the fact that we have a nuclear plant just 20 miles upriver-apparently most of the nuke power goes to industry under long term contract) I really can't complain about 12 cent electricity.

So the" new" lithium batteries can be repeatedly drained deeply-to maybe 20%?

Thanks,Charlie