Prius Taxi Economics





A recent Prius taxi ride offered a bit of data on fuel efficiency, durability and cost of ownership.

The kind driver mentioned that the Prius had 277,000 miles on it. “We replace the battery pack at 150,000 miles. They are expensive, about $5,000.00. “We average at least 41mpg and drive them hard. One Prius in our fleet has 350,000 miles on it. They cost about $28,000 new.”

It occurs to me that a diesel Golf, Jetta or Passat might be a better deal economically. I wonder if someone has done the math?

The Prius is certainly an interesting car and marketing initiative, but I do find them somewhat less “solid” than others.

A recent Asymcar podcast questioned why fleet owners have been slow to adopt non-traditional power systems.

Finally, I am constantly amazed at the places I find iPad apps used for line of business functions. The iOS wave continues to grow.