Life with a plug-in hybrid

Just when I thought I wouldn't have to or want to care about cars anymore and would consider my vehicle simply a convenience and utility, not a status symbol or toy, I was forced to focus on the vehicle once again and had to realize how much a car still intertwines with modern daily life.

The car I had driven for seven years had over 110,000 miles with the first set of brakes, was manually shifted and the radio turned on and off with a button one could find without looking. Because it was a diesel, it didn't need spark plugs, a distributor or a timing belt and got up to 54mpg on the interstate, allowing trips of up to 700 mile without refueling. All the while the thing was peppy and allowed quick merges or rapid acceleration from 50mph to 70mph as one needs it sometimes in tricky freeway situations. The trunk was cavernous and held my bike without dismantling any more than the seat. It also held a full size spare to replace a flat in a pinch and continue travel at regular speeds. I could change a wheel in 15 minutes flat.

Simple, reliable and frugal but deceptive: The VW Diesel

In short, all seemed just fine until it turned out that this very vehicle that I had bought for its combination of utility and frugal environmental qualities was a fraud. Not that it didn't have all of the above advantages, but it did it by lying about its noxious NOX emissions. It really didn't comply with the California emission standards or, for that matter, with any standards for Nitrate Oxide and obtained its US licenses by cheating. Which, exactly, was the matter of the VW Diesel scandal which forced the world's largest automaker to buy my car back in the world's most expensive comsumer compensation case which includes penalties to the US government and the pain and suffering payouts to owners who are aggrieved by the deceit.

But what to buy next? What vehicle sold in the US was simple, spacious and had great gas mileage (45mpg or better but while adhering to the law) and would get you at least 600 miles without seeing a gas station? The answer: No such vehicle exists here. Only two vehicles comes close.

Nursing an electric car in a parking garage

What I finally bought is EPA rated at 54mpg and goes 600 miles between gas stops, but it isn't simple. In fact, it is one of the most complicated cars on the market: It has an electric motor and a battery pack that lets the car go around 27 miles in full electric mode (enough for an average daily commute) and it also has a gas motor for any trips that are longer. The arrangement has the advantage to completely take away the "range anxiety" that invariably befalls the full electric driver when the estimated amount of miles left falls precipitously because of a steep mountain, high speed or cold temps while the next charging station is still far away.

The radios today have no buttons, the trunk is mostly taken up by batteries (no bike will fit), the back seat is only for two and there is no spare tire at all. The car starts without any noise through a push button that illuminates a vertical screen as big as a laptop and displays a little musical animation as a signal that it is ready to drive. A dizzying array of options is on display. Some information pops up on a display above the dashboard. When everything is on, one gets the feeling to sit in the cockpit of a passenger plane. The car has radar and cameras and keeps the speed, the distance to the car in front and the lane all by itself, and it also gives grades to the driver after the off button gets pushed. ("Excellent acceleration, good climate control setting" etc.). It also turns lights on and off, dims high beams and detects pedestrians. All this babying the operator takes a lot of getting used to, especially for a guy who doesn't like to ask for directions.

But the car also needs constant nursing. Take a few short trips and it needs a couple of hours charging time on a regular 110V household receptacle to be electrically "topped off" again. Deplete the charge entirely and the charging takes a full six hours. I was afraid I would forget about the umbilical cord and just drive off, but the car wouldn't allow that. "Charge lid open" it explains helpfully on the dashboard and refuses to budge. It doesn't budge either if one of doors isn't properly closed.

or via extension cord in the woods

The car made me look up what electricity really costs. I remembered the 9 cents or so per kilowatt hour which the various electric companies advertise, but that is before all the taxes and fees. Everything included, the rate is more like 14 cents. Still, with about 6-8 kwh per full charge, one gets at least 25 miles for about  a buck, not possible with gas, not even when the gas is cheap and the car gets 50mpg. Besides, driving in all electric mode is truly addictive. Instead of the vroom-vroom of the combustion engine which gives the standard male an extra push of testosterone, the electric motor responds quick and direct but with hardly a whizzing noise it exudes all the excitement of a sewing machine. So guys, no testosterone. Instead stress free gliding through rush hour traffic nourished by the ambition for a good better eco score at the end. Gentle is the maxime, not brawn, and I tell you, it does change a man. In short, the result is just what one wants to see more often in a city in which pedestrians, bus riders and bicyclists desperately need better air to breathe, a bit more space and more respect.

To make up for emasculating the driver, the car looks aggressive from the front (think sting ray). From  the side and back one would describe it more aptly as goofy.   But after a week or so even a utility oriented owner begins to like the goofy thing for all its thoughtfulness. I drove it twice a 300 miles to Virginia and back and for several weeks on my daily commutes and errands and must say, the overall experience is really nice. I felt less tired after the 5 hrs trips and the combined gas mileage including the electric bits at the beginning and end was 57mpg on the long  freeway journey, better than my diesel and without cheating. Of course, the price is that the car is somewhat sluggish uphill and the engine sometimes sounds as it is complaining, but only if one tries ambitious things. On the 2000 miles to date I drove about 44% of the time in electric mode and achieved an overall (gas) fuel consumption rate of 78.6 mpg. For one thing, I would never have thought that the ratio of short trips under 25 miles which I could do electric would amount to almost half of all the miles. The readout taken from the car display also proves that I drove too much and spent way too much time in the car in spite of my efforts to use the bus at times, walk a lot and do all errands around my workplace by bike.

Aggressive look for a softy car

There is an app to find (ChargePoint) charging stations that deliver 240V and charge the car in 2 hrs. Many of those do the first 6kwh for free. The car also comes with a $100 credit for use at Chargepoint stations. I used one in a public garage in College Park which made me park about half a mile from where I wanted to go but alloed a nice stroll along Baltimore Avenue where I could admire all the new stuff going on there. There is also one charging station in Baltimore's Lexington Market garage and several other City garages. (Good for Baltimore's Parking Authority!). One station is easily taken up by an all day parker, though, so time limits need to be established. There is no charging at Morgan University, which is a shame for a school that teaches urban planning and lots of engineering.

I bought a Christmas tree which I strapped on the roof and did some shopping on a snowy Saturday without having to worry about those short trips that normally spew pollutants and wreck an engine because it never properly warms up before it is shut off again, all things that don't apply to an electric motor. A heat pump churns out some some warmth and can be started while the car still sits on the charger, warming it up without depleting the battery. Neat.

Lots of data stored and on display: Fuel consumption

The car is a Prius Prime (Premium). Hyundai will soon offer a very similar model called Ionic. GM also has a plug in vehicle with gas engine called Volt but it costs more, has a much lower mpg when running on gas and only half the range.

Still, I really didn't want to give my car all that attention. Hopefully charging, thinking about when and where to use the battery and remember to switch propulsion methods at the correct places will become one day second nature. I know, though, I will hate it when I get my first flat and will have to try a fix with the glue that gets inserted with a toy like electric pump.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA