Running/ownership costs

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Running/ownership costs - EV vs Hybrid

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#3499906 3-Jun-2026 14:34

BlakJak: I have a 2015 Prius Alpha (Prius V, the station wagon version of the Prius) which quotes me about 14.5km/L on the dashboard.

I have the same vehicle. The dash currently reads 20.1km/L approx 5L per 100km. Your bad mileage in the same vehicle really surprises me.

It could be that your Wellington hills suburban routes are just the worst combination possible but I kind of doubt it.

I did see mileage like yours when mine was fresh of the boat second hand from Japan. Presumably the battery took a while to wake up and the fuel system took a while to adjust to our 91. It was normal after a month or two.

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#3499913 3-Jun-2026 14:58

gzt:
BlakJak: I have a 2015 Prius Alpha (Prius V, the station wagon version of the Prius) which quotes me about 14.5km/L on the dashboard.

I have the same vehicle. The dash currently reads 20.1km/L approx 5L per 100km. Your bad mileage in the same vehicle really surprises me.

It could be that your Wellington hills suburban routes are just the worst combination possible but I kind of doubt it.

I did see mileage like yours when mine was fresh of the boat second hand from Japan. Presumably the battery took a while to wake up and the fuel system took a while to adjust to our 91. It was normal after a month or two.

For what it's worth, I have a Yaris and I live in Whakatane, up a hill. Given the compactness of the town, I'd say that 20-30% of a typical drive home would be uphill. Despite that, mine sits at around 23.5 km/L.

mudguard

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#3499917 3-Jun-2026 15:11

gzt:
BlakJak: I have a 2015 Prius Alpha (Prius V, the station wagon version of the Prius) which quotes me about 14.5km/L on the dashboard.

I have the same vehicle. The dash currently reads 20.1km/L approx 5L per 100km. Your bad mileage in the same vehicle really surprises me.

It could be that your Wellington hills suburban routes are just the worst combination possible but I kind of doubt it.

I did see mileage like yours when mine was fresh of the boat second hand from Japan. Presumably the battery took a while to wake up and the fuel system took a while to adjust to our 91. It was normal after a month or two.

Yeah that seems a bit off. I have a 2.0L plain Jane petrol Corolla that's done 5.8L/100km over it's lifetime. (Or 17.2km per litre).

MikeAqua

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#3499922 3-Jun-2026 15:28

BlakJak:

These numbers have to be a little bit biased against optimal hybrid conditions.

I've gotten similar numbers in rented hybrid Camries as well.

Mike

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#3499932 3-Jun-2026 15:51

gzt:
BlakJak: I have a 2015 Prius Alpha (Prius V, the station wagon version of the Prius) which quotes me about 14.5km/L on the dashboard.

I have the same vehicle. The dash currently reads 20.1km/L approx 5L per 100km. Your bad mileage in the same vehicle really surprises me.

It could be that your Wellington hills suburban routes are just the worst combination possible but I kind of doubt it.

I did see mileage like yours when mine was fresh of the boat second hand from Japan. Presumably the battery took a while to wake up and the fuel system took a while to adjust to our 91. It was normal after a month or two.

Maybe I do have a leaden foot? :D

I just rechecked a photo I took of my dashboard when I got back from Auckland in January. 630.7km and refill was 38.87L. Dashboard claims 16.8km/L. My math is that was 16.2km/L based on the odo and refuel amount.
That was a full car with three adults and one teenager for the full trip.

In the last couple of weeks i've towed a trailer (still in the process of moving house, from a place up the hill, to a place further down) and done some real oddball errands but when I looked this morning the dash was reading more like 13.8km/L or about a full km/L less than usual.
I usually see high 14's.

One sidepoint - I had the clean out the battery compartment intake filter for the first time ever the other week, in response to a dash error that i'd never seen before. Yet to see if having done so drives any improved efficiency around the battery.
Not sure I truly believe that. Also never had my battery state assessed, i'm not convinced it's the best (I see some really odd capacity percentages when I turn the car off, sometimes).

More generally I drive the Ngauranga Gorge frequently and until recently have been living at the top of some real steep hills. And Wellington's suburbia is narrow, twisty and requires patience.
My driving is usually in/out of the CBD a couple of times a week, across the CBD a couple of times a week, and from Johnsonville to Kilbirnie, Porirua or Lower Hutt a couple of times a week.

The disparity in what you and others are reporting is interesting.

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atsan

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#3499945 3-Jun-2026 17:04

I am driving Prius Alpha 7 Seater (2013), which has Li-Ion battery, for last 3+ years and always gets around 5l/100km on average in my mixed motorway & suburban driving in Auckland. Only in couple of long trips, I noticed that it was around 6l/100km (more than 95% motorway and 6 passengers and heavy luggages).

Before that I did drive Corolla Axio Hybrid and Aqua and both of them were doing around 4l/100km on average.

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#3499951 3-Jun-2026 17:17

BlakJak:

In the last couple of weeks i've towed a trailer (still in the process of moving house, from a place up the hill, to a place further down) and done some real oddball errands but when I looked this morning the dash was reading more like 13.8km/L or about a full km/L less than usual.
I usually see high 14's.

Wow, only a little* bit better than my 20 year old 2.4 CRV which self-reports 10.6 km/l if you are gentle on the money pedal.

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Eva888

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#3499958 3-Jun-2026 18:13

I’d like to understand the discrepancy showing in klm per litre in the Aqua. Since leaving the display on fuel, have been noticing it reaching 37klm per litre and next day down to 27, then 22 and often when starting up it’s down to 10.

Why such a disparity in the numbers. Is this normal or a sign of something that needs attention. Could it be to do with the quality of 'wartime' petrol?

The Lexus sits at 19.1km per litre no matter what.

gzt

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#3499965 3-Jun-2026 19:10

Eva888: I’d like to understand the discrepancy showing in klm per litre in the Aqua. Since leaving the display on fuel, have been noticing it reaching 37klm per litre and next day down to 27, then 22 and often when starting up it’s down to 10

I'm not familiar with the Aqua but I believe you have a trip mode or instantaneous mode selected. The DISP button on the steering wheel should take you to a screen where it shows the odometer and lifetime fuel economy since the last reset.

gzt

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#3499971 3-Jun-2026 19:23

One sidepoint - I had the clean out the battery compartment intake filter for the first time ever the other week, in response to a dash error that i'd never seen before. Yet to see if having done so drives any improved efficiency around the battery. Not sure I truly believe that.

That will be interesting to find out. Toyota are pretty smart with battery management so I'd guess it's possible the theoretically higher temps may have limited something.

tweake

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#3499985 3-Jun-2026 20:31

a couple of generic points,

i would not touch Chinese brand engines. they all seam to be 20 years behind the times.

one factor with hybrids/phevs is they are hard on the engines. this does vary a HUGE amount as it depends on the specs, battery size, range its driven and how its driven. the simple problem is running engines cold. great if you can do your short trips on battery alone. terrible if you can almost do it and run the engine a tiny amount. this is where BEV will shine. where hybrids work better is longer range where the motor can be used under decent load to put a good amount of heat into it for long enough.

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Jase2985

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#3499989 3-Jun-2026 20:51

tweake:

i would not touch Chinese brand engines. They all seam to be 20 years behind the times.

From what actual experience are you speaking?

tweake

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#3500013 3-Jun-2026 21:32

Jase2985:

tweake:

i would not touch Chinese brand engines. They all seam to be 20 years behind the times.

From what actual experience are you speaking?

mates had an MG, they traded that in pretty quickly due to gas guzzling.

my interest is normally utes (cause i'm rural) and all Chinese etc all seam to be low powered. which typically means they can't meet the emissions standards at the power that everyone else has. there was one announced last week or so, 125kw diesel. my own 10 year old diesel is 120kw low powered version and it was one of the few that had a low powered option, which they stopped doing. you have to go back 15-20 years for a similar spec engine to be mainstream.

i have experience in Chinese commercial vehicles. a real mixed bag there. engine pretty good but its a 25 year copy/made under licence nissan carby! engine, but everything else sucks. dam thing nearly caught on fire due to bad electrics and it had no fuse links.

BlakJak

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#3500026 3-Jun-2026 21:41

gzt:
One sidepoint - I had the clean out the battery compartment intake filter for the first time ever the other week, in response to a dash error that i'd never seen before. Yet to see if having done so drives any improved efficiency around the battery. Not sure I truly believe that.

That will be interesting to find out. Toyota are pretty smart with battery management so I'd guess it's possible the theoretically higher temps may have limited something.

Switched to odo whilst sitting in the drive-through tonight to get the lifetime spec.

I bought it at 98,000 a bit less than three years ago.

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gzt

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#3500047 3-Jun-2026 22:40

Give it some chance to improve after your vent clean anyway. It's probably worth taking to a Wellington specialist for a proper diagnostic and an opinion. They'll know more or less what those cars should be achieving in Wellington.

You can potentially investigate yourself to some extent with Dr Prius and an OBD dongle. It is kind of time consuming to go that way and you'll end up asking a specialist at the end of it anyway.

Imo worth doing because the vehicle probably has another easy 100,000km in it + gas price.

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