Commissioner Brady Votes Electric
Phil Brady can’t help but smile every time he slides behind the wheel of his 2024 Honda Prologue all-electric SUV. “I feel as excited about the car as when I picked it up,” he says. One year into ownership, the odometer already boasts 23,000 miles—a testament to his love for the open road and the electric crossover that has quickly become his daily driver.
A resident of The Dalles and a member of the Wasco County Board of Commissioners, Phil regularly takes 250-mile round trips to remote destinations with hardly a thought about charging. Half a dozen journeys up and down I-5 have proven the reliability of roadside charging stations, and he has actually come to appreciate the rhythm of those stops, which are ideally spaced for bathroom and coffee breaks.
Phil marvels at the economics of driving his Prologue. His electric bill reveals only a $25 bump compared to the same month the previous year—an impressive feat he credits to North Wasco County PUD’s wallet-friendly rates. Charging at DC fast chargers on the road is significantly pricier than plugging in overnight in his garage, but even then the cost per mile hovers just above what he used to spend driving his plug-in hybrid Prius Prime, one of the most fuel-efficient gas cars on the market. To Phil, that makes his 5,000 pound all-electric Prologue a technological marvel.
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing with the car, though. Early on, a warning light signaled a problem which was tricky to fix because the Prologue was an entirely new model. Luckily, the service department at the local dealership took on the problem as a learning experience, the repair was 100% covered by Honda’s warranty, and the car has run perfectly ever since. Says Phil, “I give a lot of credit to the mechanics who were happy to dig into entirely new technology.”
Winter is when the Prologue really surprised Phil. He still grins when he recalls a January trip to Billy Bob Sno Park, where his SUV powered through four inches of fresh powder like it was nothing. He has since driven to Mt. Hood Meadows a dozen times, always encountering a mix of icy patches and snow-dusted roads, and not once did the Prologue falter. Its low center of gravity and sure-footed grip left Phil genuinely impressed.
Phil has heard the chatter about electric vehicles losing range in the cold—how the batteries don’t hold a charge and a lot of the energy goes to keeping the cabin toasty. The Prologue’s vehicle status system laid it all bare, breaking down power usage between driving and climate control. On a climb from Hood River to Mt. Hood, heating the interior ate up about 5% of the total power, but the return trip downhill was a completely different story. With regenerative braking replenishing the battery on the descent, the system reported that 100% of the car’s battery power was going to climate control. In other words, the battery was only running the heater, and the motor was essentially running on gravity power recovered from the downhill slope!
To Phil, the Prologue’s greatest appeal is its driving dynamics. Phil travels regularly from The Dalles to Portland, Salem, and Eugene, and rather than charging on the road, he recharges at home and while working at his destination, so he’s almost always able to get home without stopping to charge. The longest trip he has taken in a day was from Tacoma to Ashland, a journey that required two stops to recharge, use the bathroom, and either get a coffee or a bite to eat. The charging apps on his phone tell him in advance whether there is room at a charging station to plug in, so he can decide whether to stop or continue on to the next station. “Unless you are a vagabond, almost all of your trips are repeat trips anyway,” he says, “so charging stations quickly become just like other landmarks.”
Phil’s wife, Mary Jo Commerford, raised an eyebrow when he first floated the idea of going all-electric, but now she’s the one nudging him to take the Prologue on all of their long road trips. She absolutely loves its whisper-quiet ride and smooth handling. Phil isn’t shy about singing his Prologue’s praises. “I love this car,” he tells friends, “It does everything I need with comfort and economy while also being kind to the environment!”