How far can I go on the battery?

If I happen to catch the lights right, near the end of a 30 mile 'commute' I sometimes do 1.5 miles at 37 MPH with cruise. (I find it much more likely for the computers on my 2009 to decide to use the motor on cruise than using the throttle pedal)

When 'cold' I can almost never get the computers to choose the motors over the ICE, I would expect to need at least a 10 mile warmup at 55 before getting enough heat and charge to get maximum electric range. (I am not sure how little range I need, as very little is only 10 miles away, I usually drive at least 30 miles to arrive anywhere)

 

+1 on Jimbo's post.

The energy in the battery is roughly equivalent to three tablespoons
of gas!

The Prius is not an EV. Ultimately, all the motion of he car comes
from burning gas. The electricity in the HV battery came by way of
diminishing returns through energy conversions from burning gas.

Read more.

Hope this helps.

 

Yes, I forgot to say that, another reason the computer is in the mood to cruise electrically at the end of a commute is that by slowing from 55 MPH to 35 MPH speed limits (61 to 37 actual) the HV battery has a large charge it wishes to get rid of. (all the bars are lit and green, it prefers to be about 2 bars under max, and blue) I am not accelerating to 37, but braking/coasting down from 61. I never try to trick it into EV mode, but sometimes it is in the mood on it's own. (heavy braking to dissipate)

 

there is a difference between how far you can go on a full charge and what the car is designed to do. if you simply want to know the physics, they involve many parameters such as speed, grade, weather, acceleration, etc.

if you are hoping that you can drive certain routes on battery only, as many do before understanding the car, forget it. it is not an electric car. you will drive like we all do, learning the methods for best mpg if that is your interest and the car will do the rest. sometimes electric, sometimes gasoline, sometimes both, sometimes neither. depending on all these factors, you will probably get between 40 and 60 mpg.

if you want an electric vehicle, put your name in for a nissan leaf tomorrow. whatever you choose, all the best!

 

You said you were going to get a GII Prius.
So no, if you don't have an "EV" switch (and no GII Prius sold in the US has it stock) the engine will start about 15 sec. after you put the car in "ready" (turn it on). It will then run for about 20 sec until the cat is warm. After that all bets are off.

If the battery had a lot of charge in it when you last shut it off you -might- go a mile.
If the battery was in a "normal" state of charge then perhaps half a mile. Either way, slowly, taking perhaps 20 sec to get to 20 MPH and not trying to go much over that.

Once the car is fully warmed up (a more technical term is the car gets to stage 4 - fully warmed and primed) the engine (the gas motor is called an engine) will shut off whenever it is not needed and the battery has a certain level of charge (the system doesn't think it needs charging). If you are traveling faster than 42 MPH the engine will spin with no fuel being consumed.
I have traveled for up to 3 km at just under 42 MPH (actually about 65 km/hr) with the engine off. ANY uphill section will probably cause the system to start the engine.
I have also traveled for several km at 100 km/hr with the engine spinning with no fuel being consumed. But that was downhill.
If you can coast the engine will stop using fuel, whether spinning or not. There is a short delay before the car goes to that state, perhaps 5 sec.
The battery can "hold you over" in the non-fuel burning state for a short period, as long as you don't try to draw too much power from it. That means lower speeds and very low throttle openings (a poor term as your accelerator pedal isn't actually opening the throttle, it's requesting power from the system).

So if you are driving in the city or on a rural road at say 40 MPH, the engine can turn on and off as required.

Note that using the battery only for propulsion is rather inefficient. It's thought that the whole cycle of producing electricity, storing it, then using it to power the car with the electric motor(s) is about 50% efficient. This is after the losses in the gas engine from converting the gasoline to torque at the crankshaft. It is close to 100% efficient to directly use the engine torque to power the wheels (in both cases ignoring the losses in the system through the "transmission" to the road).
The most efficient use of the HSD (the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive) is to use low throttle operation of the gas engine, with coasting whenever possible, not using electric power only.

The electric portion of the HSD is there to allow very efficient operation of the gas engine. THAT is where Prius gets most of its' mileage. The rest comes from energy recovery (regen) and the engine design, which was possible because of the electric portion "helping" the engine when it would otherwise not be able to propel the car (due to the engine design - the "Atkinson cycle").

 

Once the engine was at S4 I used to go @35 mph on the battery for about 2 miles on a lightly downhill road at the no arrows condition. Long are the times I managed 61 mpg on that route

 

Hi PizzaDaddy,
You do sound like you would like a PHEV. I would not expect 20-30 miles of EV from a PHEV unless you pay $15,000 or more for that upgrade. But I am running a $3500 PHEV that gives me 5 miles or so.

Thanks,
Dan

 

One other thing ~ there's no such thing as a free lunch. The energy you deplete from the traction pack has to be paid back. That energy payback comes from the ICE ... thus, from the fuel tank. Your mpg's will pay for it in the long run, if/when you deplete the traction pack down into the pink zone. Pulse and glide DOES give higher mpg's. Running on EV will not. You have to pay the piper.

.

 

that's what p/c is all about, people helping people!:cheer2:

 

My experience is that on a full battery, on level ground with stops at intersections, I can go about 1 1/2 miles before the engine kicks in. Without stops, I'll guess two miles or a bit more. That's just to answer the question about battery capacity.

As others have mentioned, this is an extremely inefficient way to run the car, since the engine must recharge the battery later, unless you helicopter the car to the top of a tall hill and coast down using regen braking to recharge.

There are, of course, PHEV kits, and those who have them seem to like them. I mostly drive an EV. I bought it because the experience of driving electric for those very brief bits in the Prius were so much fun.

If you need a gasoline car, get the Prius, but drive it just as you'd drive a normal car. It will give you much better gas mileage. But if a 100-mile range is adequate for you, join the insane free-for-all as we all try to get on the list for a Nissan Leaf. Or buy my Zap Xebra from me after I get my Leaf.

 

1/2 mile. Keep in mind that to maximize fuel economy you must *minimize* use of the battery. Charging and discharging any battery inherently wastes some energy.