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davepamn

M¢25 Funded By Mahalo ? | June 12, 2009 01:55 PM

Which is cheaper: buying a new Prius plugin in 2012 or converting an existing Prius into a Hybrid plugin?

Which approach is cheaper?
Do you know anyone with a plugin Prius?

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andyroo

June 12, 2009 03:04 PM

Seems like the cheapest conversion with lead-acid batteries is $6,000 without labor. Unless you can get a cheap used Prius and cheap/free labor for the conversion I'd say buying the new plugin Prius would be better.

http://www.calcars.org/howtoget.html

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Tags: car, phev, prius

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metalsand

June 12, 2009 02:09 PM

Well, for starters, the E85 fuel is actually more expensive in the long-run. Though it usually is 20 cents cheaper, it doesn't have as much power, resulting in more of it being pumped in to make up for that, so you may be saving 20 cents on E85, but you're wasting 100 cents because of the lack of power.

I would say stick with the Prius that's already there.
Source(s):
My environmental science teacher.

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andyroo

June 12, 2009 02:59 PM

The conversion he's asking about doesn't involve ethanol fuel. A plugin hybrid means the car primarily runs on an electric motor for ~80miles until the batteries are dead. Then a gas engine will serve as a backup for longer range drives.

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metalsand

June 13, 2009 10:13 PM

Really? They started to release the battery-powered cars? Well, my bad for answering it incorrectly, but that's awesome! I didn't think they'd have it that available for a year or two!

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