Help - Prius Prime vs. Clarity PHEV

In terms of price, keep in mind that there is a $3k difference in federal tax credit with the Clarity getting the maximum of $7,500. If you register the car under your business, I don't know whether you get the credit or not. I think Honda sized the battery to get the maximum tax credit. Sneaky and smart. Below is the federal tax credit calculation. Dealers are selling the Clarity around $4k under MSRP. As other people indicated, the Prius is a 4 seater and the Clarity is a five seater although the middle seat is not that comfortable.

For vehicles acquired after December 31, 2009, the credit is equal to $2,500 plus, for a vehicle which draws propulsion energy from a battery with at least 5 kilowatt hours of capacity, $417, plus an additional $417 for each kilowatt hour of battery capacity in excess of 5 kilowatt hours. The total amount of the credit allowed for a vehicle is limited to $7,500.

 

I was considering the Chevy Volt, Prius Prime Advanced and the Honda Clarity Touring.
I have owned 2 Prius' and a Highlander Hybrid AWD (same Prius Synergy drive).
Toyota is finally getting the Apple car Play and android Drive (maybe next year for the Prius?) Volt and Clarity already have it.
There is no rear seat room except for chipmunks on the Prius and Volt.
I love my Clarity, it is so so so very very quiet and comfortable (power memory seats).
~50 mile electric range, ~300 mile gas range, total over ~350 miles.
The Prius has a donut spare, the prius and clarity do not (although each can use a donut from a similar model.
I have an accord 17" donut spare kit.

 

Do you have a way to secure the donut spare inside your trunk?

It's nice that the new Insight has space to mount an optional donut spare beneath the floor of the trunk, but the Clarity's big battery precluded that option. I don't mind gambling I won't have a flat tire because I'd hate to sacrifice EV range to make room for a spare.

Look how puny the Insight's battery looks as it's being installed under the rear seat:

 

I'd try one of the TOU plans - solar in Net Metering 2.0 means having to adopt a TOU plan anyway. Might as well get used to it now. The EV plans and the Solar plan are pretty much the same (summer solar TOU currently is $.228/$.286/$.537 and the EV plans are a few hundredths of a cent more or less for each rate). Instead of throwing your bill into tier 2 or 3 with the extra kW, you'll always charge at the lowest rate. The higher "on-peak" charge ($.537) may be a concern if you use most of your electricity between 4PM and 9PM as many people do - especially if they're working during the day. Weekends and holidays get Super Off-peak rates ($.023), though, so some of the use might be shifted to the weekends.

Eventually, solar is going to help with the summer 4-9PM rates, especially if you get a battery along with the solar install. Even with solar, you'll be paying for the system that's giving you the "free" electricity. There's no free lunch… but making one's own lunch is often less expensive, for sure. With your work situation, that might just be where you do most of your charging. $.15/kWh is pretty close to free (comparatively).

 

Yup bulk of our current consumption in between 4-9pm, minor amount like can be adjusted, but biggest items like AC can’t be moved away from peak. Not sure if TOU will save money.

If work options for charging continues to be reliable that will be nice (but it may not), else just use gas. Although 10k from tax credits can pay half cost of solar before federal credit. So yeah no free lunch, but would like to pay the least.

 

Sorry: typo: The Prius has a donut spare, the Volt and Clarity do not (although the Volt and Clarity can use a donut from a similar model (Malibu? and Accord)).

 

The Prius Prime does not, but most regular Prius models do have a spare.

 

Just curious where you are that rates are so high. We are in NC and our rates just went up to 10.369 kWh.

 

I think not including a spare tire is the trend especially cars of luxury brands, so you can expect more and more cars will not come with one. They're trying to save every weight to get better MPG, so the spare tire that usually not to be used for years probably the first thing to go. My Miata or my wife's Beetle (traded in for Clarity) do not have one, the only time in 10 years I got flat tires was the Miata went thru a pothole at night that blew both right tires. A spare didn't help anyway.

And I think that make sense as tire is more durable this day, you also have choice of run flat tires and roadside service is much more common and convenient when in city. I have AAA+ 100 miles towing as peace of mind, and I will simply call them if I need to change a spare in city. (Not that I can't change it, but don't feel comfortable on the road side. I do change my Wrangler's tires at home when going offroading)

Speaking of run flats, I can only find one on tirerack for Clarity's size.

 

I know that this thread has meandered off the original intent but Car and Driver's full review of the Clarity compared some of its tests with Volt and Prius Prime. For their high mileage loop at 75 mph (HV mode), Clarity measured 46 mpg and the Prius Prime did 49 mpg (premium trim) and 47 mpg (Advanced and Plus trims). For EV range at 75 mph, Clarity went 41 miles and PP went 20 miles (Volt only went 37 miles!). So despite the Clarity being a much larger, heavier (therefore safer) car than the PP, your real world HV gas mileage is close to the mileage champ Prius. The question is whether that 1 mpg is worth losing half your EV range and giving up the everyday comfort and roominess of the Clarity.

 

When I had the Volt, I found that the EV mileage fell off quite a bit at higher speeds, so only 37 miles at 75mph is not surprising to me. Using the Clarity HV mode with the Atkinson cycle engine seems to be more efficient than EV at those speeds. Here where the electricity price averages about 10 cents per kwh, it may be a wash considering costs, unless there is lots of uphill to use up more electrons.

 

Pretty much any area in California covered by the "big 3" has the upper hand with regard to rate structure. And it's ridiculous how much solar energy that's exported during the day because of supply/demand on the grid. Where things are headed (likely for everyone in California - and eventually all over the country) is to a demand system where the price you pay for electricity is determined by demand rather than time of day, tiered rates or some general rate. The technology exists now, but there are still many people with older equipment that would have to be upgraded - at a substantial cost. So for now, the best the PoCos can do here is to Time of Use as many as possible and Tier the rest of them to financial death while they await the tip point for modern meters.

 

I am in San Diego, CA and we are stuck with these insane rates, they plan to raise these further by 10-20% over next five years. No other competition here, our only option is to go solar.