The Prius Plug-In Hybrid’s MPG Explained

Bear with me, this post has a lot of numbers! I did some serious math to figure out what the real benefits of owning a Prius Plug-In Hybrid versus owning a regular sedan (the numbers I used for comparison are from a Passat). Two reasons are behind this information; 1. I wanted to know, which means you may have as well. 2. This weekend is celebrating National Plug-In Day at 802 Toyota so what better time to get into the nitty gritty of the Prius Plug-In than right before Plug-In Day?

The Prius Plug-In takes three hours to fully charge (only 1.5 hours if you have a 240-volt Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment outlet). People say it adds roughly $3 to their utility bill to charge, and there are free charging stations in Montpelier, so if you work in the area you have that convenience. If you don’t, no problem. The Prius shifts seamlessly into Hybrid mode either when you’ve run out of electric charge or you manually switch to that mode. Meaning, if I commute from Burlington, Vt. to Berlin, Vt. daily, I can use my electric charge while in the city, switch to Hybrid on I-89, then switch back to Electric once I’m off the highway. The MPGe (electric) on the Prius is 95 MPGe, and Hybrid mode gets 50 MPG.

If I travel from exit 14W to exit 7 and back again on I-89, I spend 76 miles on the highway and 12 miles in the “city”. The 12 miles of stop-and-go traffic where I would typically use more gasoline, I’ll put myself in Electric mode. Once I get onto the highway where I would get better gas mileage, I switch to Hybrid mode, still earning 50 MPG. So if gas is $3.93 per gallon (Shell’s price today in Barre), I’m spending $6.50 for my entire commute, whereas if I were in an average, 35 MPG-achieving sedan I would spend $9.88. Now if I had a more typical commute of 12 miles (there and back), I would spend $.50 a day, as opposed to $2.91 in an average sedan.

The numbers don’t seem hugely differentiated, until you go by savings per week, month or year. For a person with a 12-mile commute to work, driving a Prius Plug-In will save them $12.05 per week, $52.22 per month and $626.60 per year (granted, they’ll have to tack on the $3 to their utility bill so keep in mind that adds back on $36 per year… doesn’t seem too shabby though, eh?)

For the person with the 88-mile round-trip commute, the person driving the Plug-In will save $17 per week, $73.23 per month and $879 per year.

So what I’m saying is that if I bought the Plug-In when it came out I could have more than $400 in my pocket already! Want to start the savings (of your money and environment)? View our 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid inventory here. Or stop by 802 Toyota tomorrow for more information on the Plug-In and to take a test drive!