. . . When I picked up the Prius, it had a full tank of gas but no charge left on its battery. I was only able to fully charge it once, but I put about 120 miles on in three days of varied driving.
Perhaps most importantly, all of my driving was done with little regard for maximizing fuel economy. I drove the Prius Prime like I would any other car, merely keeping up with traffic. I zipped along the President George Bush Turnpike at a clip just north of the 70 mph speed limit. I moseyed along surface streets in dense East Dallas, avoiding cyclists and dump trucks. And I tapped my thumbs for what seemed like an eternity spent on Central Expressway during rush hour.
It was warm and rainy for all three of my Dallas days, so the air conditioner and wipers were near-constant companions. I tried neither the heated seats, with their awkwardly placed switches, nor the fancy heater pump. It may only have been a 120-mile jaunt, but it was representative of every kind of daily driving one is likely to encounter.
It took just shy of 6 hours to charge the Prius Prime's 8.8-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery back on a regular household outlet. That's just fine if you're charging overnight in your garage or all day at work. That gave me an indicated 26 miles on a full charge, which was shockingly accurate. I drove 13 miles at about 70 mph and the computer showed 11 to go. Gentle suburban driving saw the battery give out at 25.3 miles and the gas engine near silently click on.
To a former Nissan Leaf owner who trembled at the thought of driving faster than 50 mph because of rapid battery depletion, the Prius Prime is a revelation. Overall, the Prius Prime's trip computer showed a 66.7 mpg average over 120 miles, 96 of which were with the gas engine running. I used just under two gallons of gas; the Prius Prime is rated at 55 mpg city, 53 mpg highway, and 54 mpg combined, so my result was about 10 percent under.
That's exactly what my colleague John Voelcker encountered under different circumstances in chilly New York and what he saw in a more controlled environment in California. . . .