I have 300 miles now on the PIP, and I am real pleased with what I am seeing so far. I can easily get to my crane yard without any engine help, just on the traction battery. Except for a brief startup that I believe is so that IF needed the ICE is warm and ready to go. I'm driving 45 to 50 mph on the 2 lane 45 mph road, which parallels the Interstate. So, 13 miles, with a 1200' downhill stretch, pure EV, is no sweat. Speaking of sweat, one day was a bit warm, so for the first time I used the AC while in EV, it worked fine and I still got to the bottom of the mountain before the ICE fired up. BTW, that transition of ICE on or off, is seamless, you cannot feel or really hear any difference, the TOY engineers did a great job! One day I went quite a bit further, past the crane yard and across town to a window tinting shop a friend owns. The next day I picked it back up (after riding across town on my folding Montague e bike and putting it in the hatch) and drove back to the crane yard, all on EV power except for the brief ICE startup. About 20 or more miles.
Pulling up to a red light at the biggest intersection in town, a guy in a older Chevy pickup pulled up along side, and it for the first time occurred to me that the whole engine idling thing is so outdated. I'm sitting there in total silence and burning zero gas, what's not to like? Plug in BS aside, I'm liking a lot, the auto engine off feature, it really changes your attitude when the light turns yellow and you make that snap decision to either come to a full stop or maybe run it a bit. Now, it's more "oh good, a little re gen and then I'll just sit there engine off."
On a different note, I was negligent a bit while merging onto the Interstate the other day, and when I started paying full attention I realized I was going to merge with a semi's under carriage (he couldn't move over due to traffic on his left, and he was right at the bottom of a big hill so wanting to keep what speed he had maintained, I pull the same bitch of hill in the crane so I can relate), so it was my choice to either slow my merge and get behind him or romp on it. I for the first time "romped" it, hitting the "performance" button (conveniently placed, right handy) and also flooring it. I think the trucker got a surprise, ("oh great, a slow as hell Prius driver trying to max out his MPG"), I sure did, the thing hauls ass when needed! More then adequate, and a feature I may use more often if I sense someone is profiling me (ha!) as a prissy Prius owner driving like an old women (nothing against old woman), but I am on a mission to change the gen public's attitude a bit maybe about the Prius. Anyone who knows me knows that this thing will be WORKED, and worked hard, it has to earn it's keep. As an example, here's a pic of 4 280 watt solar panels I needed to deliver to a customer about 40 one way miles away. These big suckers are 65" by 39", and they slid into the back like they were made for it. This was great news as this size of PV module is one I deal with quite a bit, and I can't think of a more cost effective way to deliver them. I got a round trip total of 58 mpg on this 72 MPH with AC on highway run.