Ordinary consumers will see it that way too. Isn't the point of have such a large battery to avoid having to plug in while you're out and about?

Encouraging Articles.  It's nice reading articles with points like this: "Yes, the Volt has much more electric range, but you'll pay for it.  The Volt's entry point is $33,220, while the Prime starts at $27,100."  Glossing over detail in the past was a big problem.  Of course, some still don't mention that the 5th seat is legless, only for a small child or an adult willing to straddle the middle and share space with the 2 other passengers in back.  New highlights are getting attention too: "And on MPGe, how far an electrified vehicle can go using the same amount of energy in a gallon of gasoline, the Prime bests the $42,400 all-electric BMW i3, with a 133 MPGe rating vs. the i3's 124 MPGe."  The efficiency of EV was completely disregarded until recently.  That's unheard of for gas-engine comparisons.  Why was electric-motor consumption just blown off as unimportant?  My guess is nothing to compare with.  Offerings were so scarce, the assumption was just that a bigger battery was better.  The new MPGe rating reveals that's not the case.  This makes reading the comments on such encouraging articles very interesting.  Those who understand are really making an effort to make sure others do too.

Long story short, the new vapor-injected heat-pump has much to offer.

Blog Changes.  Notice how my blogs continue to evolve?  They've become longer and delve into new topics with lots of detail, despite not having real-world data available yet.  That comes from the posts online.  The comments in reviews and on forums are advancing into the world of electrification well.  Topics of discussion nearly impossible with gen-1 offerings are now surprisingly easy with the gen-2 arrivals.  Speculation has given way to specifications.  That's huge.  The improvement is quite significant.  Rather than having to deal with rhetoric, we are seeing some thought given to operational detail.  True, there's still the mindless "more is better" mentality.  But that will be easy to squash when Prius Prime owners begin posting their experiences.  The MPG results will finally shift the conversations over to KWH and GALLONS instead.  That's long overdue.  The senseless greenwashing of the past from Volt enthusiasts was so harmful.  They'll held back progress just for the sake of pride.  Thank goodness the kick in the butt from other automakers brought that to an end.  Tesla, Toyota, and BMW sure brought about a big dose of reality.  Now we have VW scrambling to overcome their diesel disaster by turning to battery technology.  It's about dang time... and I'm quite pleased to be able to document this history as it changes.

Watch for reports from new owners about how well Toyota targeted Prime.  And of course, keep asking questions.  There's nothing dumb when it comes to entering an entirely new market.  People have to start the discovery process somehow.

Way Back.  I got a kick out of reading this: "Deja vu.  Remember this thread?  Prius PHV: Optimization strategy with lessons learned from the prototypes."  He was looking back through his own posts many years ago, when Prius PHV was being rolled out.  We were discussing operational approach.  People discussed the pro & cons of wanting a charge button.  The prototypes were configured for data collection.  Toyota wanted a massive amount of real-world experience documented.  Turns out, that was so effective, they continued doing that following the initial rollout.  Since it was mid-cycle anyway, what was the rush?  Why not restrict availability to a limited market for the sake of advancing market research?  You learn far more from sticking with a controlled scope than to just open up to a wider new audience.  Those better informed niches can reveal what's difficult to gain from the uninformed.  In fact, that's why I pushed so hard with the enthusiasts.  The knowledge gained from their resistance was priceless.  Anywho, this is how I replied:  I have no doubt that high priority of best use for the gas engine continued.  Prius isn't going to sacrifice overall efficiency simply for the sake of offering more EV... unlike what others have done.  The approach is to seek out a balance, despite the wide variety of uses it must fulfill.  The expectation is that we'll see outstanding performance from charge-mode in some cases (like highway cruising), where we'll promote the use.  In others, we'll discourage.  But even when it's not as good of a return, it will still be clearly better than what a traditional vehicle offers.  It is interesting reading those old posts.  That serves as a great remember of what market expectations were and how they've changed since.

Tax-Credit Timing.  Questions are emerging.  Many are random.  Those asking don't have idea what to look for.  It's an entirely new topic for most.  You'll hear different responses for different supporters too... since there's some conflict of interest involved.  GM's predicament is the big one.  Pushing Bolt means sacrificing Volt.  It's a simple reality of only having a limited number available.  And once the tax-credits run out, that automaker is sunk.  So, the inevitable expiration is a really big deal.  That's what contributed to Toyota holding off on Prius PHV and Nissan being ok with reduced sales until gen-2 rolls out.  Think about purpose.  The subsidy is intended to help the automaker achieve high-volume production quickly, so cost will be reduced to a competitive & profitable level.  Sooner is definitely better.  Toyota is well aware of that too.  They could seriously ramp up production of Prime in a year or two, taking advantage of timing once the quantity limited approaches.  Nearing that means speed to market become vital.  The trigger switches the money payout from a count to a timer.  In other words, once the 200,000 limit is reached, the automaker will have 1 year of reduced tax-credits to take advantage of.  Being well positioned to deliver a large quantity at that point rewards both business & consumer.  I summarized that in this response:  Toyota has around 155,000 credits left, before the phaseout is triggered.  Then it's a 50% reduction for 2 quarters.  Then again (down to 25%) for another 2.  So, sometime within this generation, the credits will be used up.  GM, Nissan, and Tesla's will all be gone around then too.  In other words, within the next few years the entire market will shift somehow.

Diesel's Demise.  What a mess.  The expectation at this point is for close to 100% buyback.  There's simply no way to deliver a fix.  Anything you do to cleanse emission will impair performance.  It's that simple.  Nothing can be done to save diesel.  Why bother anyway?  It makes no sense pushing a 40 MPG technology when plug-in hybrids that easily deliver twice that are rolling out.  The clatter of diesel for supposedly cleaner driving is now a memory of the past.  VW is forced to all but entirely abandon efforts.  With BMW pushing the plug, the rest of the industry doesn't even matter.  That domestic competitor (in Germany) is really ramping up efforts and government incentives to do so are growing.  Heck, even the certification process for sales here is much more complicated.  Loss standards & testing of the past are long gone.  Diesel for passenger cars is basically dead as a result.  It's simple not worth it.

Starting Over.  We're seeing more than just a generational hand-over this time.  With the emergence of Prime has come far more than just questions of how the hybrid system has been improved.  Operational differences from the introduction of a clutch complicates matters greatly.  There's simply no way to realistically anticipate behavior.  Heck, even knowledge of the previous plug-in model (Prius PHV) doesn't directly apply.  We're trying to figure out a paradigm-shift without having any way to research or even any data available.  All we know is that Toyota studied the market intensely and strived to deliver the best balance of price & performance.  That's obviously making discussions extremely difficult.  We can't just tell people to be patient either.  The level of excitement is quite intense.  Some are seeing the perfect fit.  Some see an epic failure.  It's quite bizarre starting over like this.  I can't wait to contribute real-world data.  That certainly will help discussions take on a constructive tone.  Right now, we're all over the place attempting to help those curious to learn more about what the technology has to offer.