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Questions to the PHV demonstrators

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by giora, Sep 5, 2010.

  1. giora

    giora Senior Member

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    First, I want to thank the demonstrators for their in-depth reports, I was delighted to read them.


    I do have some questions though:
    1. The battery icon on the Prius HEV is displaying SOC of the traction battery, what this icon is displaying on the PHV:
      a. In EV mode? If it is the EV battry then is it the SOC of the connected one or the two combined?
      b. In HV mode?
    2. In HV mode, after the EV batteries are depleted, did you experience (or felt) any fuel economy improvement as compared to your experience with the HEV in similar driving conditions?
      The PHV is heavier, on the other hand it has 32% larger energy capacity HV battery (can capture more and larger regen oportunities as they come) and operates at 71% higher voltage (which means 42% less current for the same load).
    3. Repeating question by ken1784:
      On long descent, the Prius HEV traction battery is recharged quite quickly to its "full" and from that moment downhill braking is pure friction (what a waste).
      Did you experience any improvement here with the PHV:
      a. In EV mode.
      b. In HV mode.
    Thanks again for the detaied reports.

    Giora.
     
    #1 giora, Sep 5, 2010
  2. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Prius demonstrators:

    The car is a riot ;-)
     
    #2 SageBrush, Sep 5, 2010
  3. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    The battery display is always relative of full charge. The MOST I see in HV is 3 bars, but when EV mode depletes, we see two bars, which is representative of a partially discharged HV pack (remember, they are used in tandem). The least I saw was 1 bar (sitting a bit w/ A/C running in HV mode programming the ScanGauge before moving), but it didn't stay there very long. The ICE did come on at 1 bar to recharge.

    When in EV mode, think of the first 3 bars as SUB1 and the second 3 bars as SUB2. While in reality that's not quite true, it's a pretty good indication of how your range is going to go.

    When nearly depleted (probably running almost from HV pack), you'll still be in EV mdoe with 2 bars.

    Sadly, it's not linear.


    Yes. On a fully warmed engine, I achieved 65.8mpg per display where my car would have been low-mid 50's. Easily 10-15mpg improvement. On return trips from work (no plug-in), my per-leg MPG was still higher.

    I didn't have a chance to test this, but it did "feel" like in normal driving that there was indeed more HV capacity, but this feeling comes from more perceived stealth EV range in HV mode and less "impact" from HVAC (despite consuming 400 watts more at a lower compressor RPM based on sound).

    This is one area that I did wish I could test. I simply didn't have the time, but I strongly suspect it'd take a bit longer to recharge, SOC window enforcement would probably behave the same way though, preserving the upper 80% cap (or whatever Toyota has chosen for Li-Ion chemistry).
     
    #3 HTMLSpinnr, Sep 5, 2010
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