Let's talk about EV mode...

EV mode sucks...i don't use any mode and i manage to drive more pure elictrical in that way as in EV mode...

 

I hope that someone with a few tricks on using EV mode would chime in.

 

This is the main purpose. The first priority of the Prius design is low emissions. Good fuel mileage is a happy byproduct of that. Low emissions require a warm engine and hot catalytic converter, so when you power up your Prius it almost immediately starts burning fuel to make heat.

This is a real waste if you are only backing out of the garage, or moving to another parking spot across the lot. The EV button lets you tell the car "Hey, wait a minute. It's not worth starting up the ICE." The car has no way of knowing how far you intend to drive, but you do. The EV button is your chance to tell it.

The EV button can't change the size of the HV battery, or alter the laws of physics, so you won't gain much range using the EV button, nor will you improve you mileage with reckless use.

Tom

 

I think the other posters have done a good job of stating whats it's good for. Also if your a teenager/unfaithfull person it would be good to use to sneak in and out of the driveway.

 

As I recall the manual says that the car is really not meant to be used in EV mode -- that is, EV mode is not as efficient as ECO mode. I'm a new owner so take my opinion for what it is worth but I only use EV when I want to impress someone with how the Prius can run only on electricity.

 

If you have seen the show, "The Office", Dwight uses EV mode to sneak up on Andy to run him over...

so there is a use to it...

 

I once used it to sneak up on my son and 2 of his mates while they were walking home from school, got close enough to scare the crap out of them with the stock horn, that's close.

Otherwise I use it to sneak quietly out the driveway at 6am to head to work, and to quietly move around shopping centre car parks.

 

What everybody else said. After driving the car for about three months, I've decided that the EV button is a gimmick, mostly. Like Paradox, I find that if the battery is charged and car is warm, I can achieve the same effect with a light foot. And if the battery charge is low or the weather is cold, it won't go into EV mode anyway. So it's all the same.

 

I have a friend named Andy...

and he would expect nothing less of me. :heh:

ound:

 

EV mode works for some (like me). It's kinda a hassle, and has a few (what I would call)) software bugs/glitches, but can help a bit.

Moving from a stop, it gets you to 25MPH - you can run the "bar" display to the edge of red. That *does* save. For me, I can also drive up a decent hill, and go around .75 miles at the end of my trip - again, a savings. Overall, it likely adds at least .2MPG. But it is a hassle to use, and located in a poor spot.

 

I only use it moving from the car wash stall to the car drying area. About 20 feet

 

I don't agree with DaveShepard, sorry.
qbee42 gave instead a good description of what EV mode is for. I mainly use it to move the car for very short ranges (parking lot or between parking spots or when looking for a spot in the street where I live).
Essentially EV mode tells the ICE to turn on as late as possible. Granted you can drive electric also in other occasions, and when the car is warm, it will run electric when doing the things mentioned above.
But if you need to move the car for a small distance with a cold engine, and the battery can deliver energy (not too cold or not too hot), it will let you without any unnecessary pollution or using a single drop of gas.
We have bough after all an hybrid car, not an electric car. An no hybrid that I know of out there can let you drive fully electric, for even a small distance. Toyota says clearly in the user's manual that driving in EV mode is inefficient and it is not intended to be used regularly as part of a trip. It is simply an additional "goodie" that the electric motor with the battery it has, gives you for "free".
BTW: you *can* turn on EV mode, as soon as you have turned on the Prius, *before* the ICE kicks in. To move a car out of the garage without gas, noise, stinky smells - this is what the EV mode is all about.
Surely Toyota's marketing are "selling" EV mode for something it is only partially capable, but in the end they clearly say for how long/distance and at what speed can the car drive only electrically and in which conditions (and not just in the user's manual) - so there is not much to blame them.
The perfect use for me is when I drive in the company's lot, after work, to go to the company's gym. The car's engine is cold and I need to move the car over a short, but long "on foot" distance - about 1km. After the gym I am driving home, so I need to move the car. Before I had to turn on a diesel engine for 3 mins, run it in a very polluting and inefficient way. With the Prius now, I have most times (ie. when the battery hold enough charge) the chance to drive efficiently, no gas, no pollution a part or the whole trip from the lot to the gym. And that for me is pure bliss!

 

There is another occasion where EV mode is useful: When you're stuck in a traffic jam, moving VERY short distances at a time. i.e. if you need to move upwards of maybe 50 feet (slowly), then EV is more efficient than using the ICE. More than that though, using the ICE is better.

 

I wanted to tell you that it's going to hurt You will se a slight increase at the time you do use it. but next time you go somewhere you will have to burn gas to get the battery level back up. So if your going to go almost a mile i would bet that you will get better overall mpg if you didn't deplet the battery like that. I'm just trying to help. I get 53 driving normal and 50 if i deplete the battery like you are, cause the gain is lost next time i drive.

 

This would be great if mine worked this way, but it does not. Many times I need to move my Prius in order to use my other car. I am only moving it a few yards. However, the EV mode will not activate. The ICE starts up instead after I get the error message.

 

I am not comparing using the EV button with using the ICE. I am saying that you can basically drive in EV mode by using a light touch on the accelerator pedal, just as easily as you can by pressing that button.

When the traction battery needs more charge, the hybrid system is going to force the ICE on, whether you have the EV button activated or not. (Others are saying that as well, both in this thread and elsewhere.)

I have tried using the EV button many times, but in conditions in which the ICE would kick in anyway, the system does not go into EV mode, no matter whether you're doing it with your foot on the pedal or your finger on the button.

I'm eager to be corrected if I'm wrong, but my experience tells me this is the case.

 

If you have a charged enough battery (at least 3 bars, I believe) and it is not too cold, you should be able to. I manage - but again, you need to meet the condition, at least, of a "full enough" battery and that depends on the temperature.