In addition to being the first ever hybrid minivan, the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid also packs a charge port—as well as a battery pack large enough to be expected to qualify for the federal government’s full $7500 federal Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit (a tax credit). Furthermore, the Pacifica hybrid can travel an EPA-rated 33 miles on battery power alone, according to Chrysler—results not yet posted or detailed yet by the EPA, by the way. That’s farther, for instance, than the 25 all-electric miles Toyota’s Prius Prime can cover.
Drivers, however, may have a hard time testing that claim. While some other plug-in-hybrid models—especially those that will go this far on a charge, like the Prius Prime or the Chevrolet Volt—have a way to lock out the gasoline engine as long as there’s significant charge in the battery pack, the Pacifica hybrid doesn’t. Its single mode runs as a hybrid—a hybrid that, provided you don’t take off too quickly, drive too fast, or head up a hill that’s too steep, keeps the gasoline V-6 off and uses the battery’s charge instead.
It’s about the simplest interface possible for a plug-in hybrid—so simple that greenies looking to gamify the driving experience might feel a bit disappointed (although they do get some great trip-computer screens). You charge the battery, which takes just two hours with a 240-volt charger. The system runs exclusively on electricity, provided you don’t dip too deeply into the accelerator pedal. Then, when the portion of battery capacity that’s reserved for EV operation is exhausted, the vehicle turns into a hybrid. There are no special selections you can make for locking in electric operation or for saving battery charge for later. The odd irony is that if you want to save your all-electric operation for later, the way to do it is to drive more aggressively.
Chrysler also boasts that the Pacifica is the most fuel-efficient minivan ever, with a fuel-economy rating of 84 MPGe, yet that’s another figure that isn’t at all straightforward and warrants some explanation. Not to be confused with miles per gallon (mpg), MPGe is, as the EPA puts it, a metric based on energy content that can be used to compare across different vehicle technologies and fuels. To get to MPGe, the EPA uses a conversion factor: a gallon of pump gasoline has 115,000 BTUs of energy (or 33.7 kWh, in plug-in terms). The E10 fuel (10 percent ethanol) that’s most widely offered in the United States is lower in energy content, as 100 percent ethanol has just 76,000 BTU, or 22.3 kWh.
The Pacifica hybrid probably has the right idea for busy minivan-driving parents: Plug in as often as you can, and the system will do the rest, helping to make your gas-station visits far less frequent.
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