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We picked up the Prius Prime SE in Montrose, Colorado, 250 miles from home. Our local (Santa Fe) dealer told us that Toyota is not shipping this model to New Mexico, and connected us to the nearest dealer with the same model and color on order, but not yet sold.
The drive to Montrose and back was beautiful. It was interesting driving back in a new car, with capabilities we never dreamt of.
We drove nearly a month more, mostly on battery, before we had to purchase gasoline! 98 miles to the gallon (plus, of course, electricity -- which I did not measure).
This model looks sporty and drives sporty. (We have a neighbor who just got the exact same model and color!) It is a bit hard to get into and out of, and the view is not great. I am still getting used to the location of the front wheels, and the rear window is useless for backing up -- but it does have a rear view camera.
The Owner Manual is 680 pages, and does not pass my test for ease of use. Of course, Toyota has an online copy of the Owner Manual, but it is an exact copy -- they don't take advantage of electron ic documents (search, for example). And that is only one of the books we got with this car. There are two other books. Fortunately Toyota offers telephone support, which is an experience in itself.
Like most new cars, this one locks you in as soon the driver takes the car out of Park. My niece, an emergency room nurse, recommends to disable this feature. It took the phone support person 27 minutes to admit that she could not determine how to disable this -- while I was on telephone Hold. Meanwhile I figured it out -- but not from the documentation. The car has two electronic displays, one for 'entertainment' and navigation, the other for auto operation (such as speed, odometer, battery, and range). Both are distracting to the driver and neither is particularly easy to navigate.
There is a mysterious icon on the dashboard (lower right, above the range "167" in this photo, one not documented.
That icon (fan) indicates that the heat pump (and AC) compressor is operating. No separate control or indicator for the fan, which -- it seems -- only operates when the compressor is working.
Charger
Charger
The charger has a US plug and is rated for 120 Volts. But it seems reasonable that it be built with a universal power supply (90-250 VAC) because they are sold world-wide. I checked the Prius Chat forum and it seems to agree. So I built an adapter and tried it today.
Not only does it work fine (does not overheat, did not explode), but my house power monitor indicates that it is drawing twice the power. I have no way to measure the current, but it is likely to be the same as it is at 120 Volts -- 11.5 Amps.
At 240 Volts the charger draws 2.8 kW, which nearly matches the 3 kW that my solar panels produce mid-day.
Toyota car Charger
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