Forum members: Thank you for all the great info on previous posts/questions. You have helped me a great deal in terms of understanding this car in terms of deciding to purchased. It's hard to get reliable info from sales people. I'm wondering...if you are unfortunate enough to run out of gas on the highway...will the Prius keep going on electricity? Estimated range in average temp conditions...Assuming from hwy driving that battery is reasonably charged. Any guesses? 5mi? 10?....Will the car give an indication of how much electric charge is remaining? Mark C
To run out of gas, you'd have to ignore the "low fuel" warnings for quite some distance. It's a similar risk as traditional vehicle too, where you could damage the fuel system from letting it dry out. As for continuing to drive after having run out of gas, rather than just pulling over for safety, the deep-charging of the battery will shorten it's life. .
you can only drive up to like speeds of 31-34 mph from what i have read and it can only take you up to mile. Like stated before, Avoid it and make sure you fill up when needed
Mark, there is a long thread on this http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-main-forum/64211-warning-running-out-gas-gen-iii.html where one of our resident experts bwilson4web did extensive testing by actually running his Prius out of gas and what indications/warnings he saw as it was happening. I think you'd find it interesting to read.
You would have to ignore the warning chime/light for the better part of 100 miles to run out of fuel. Kinda hard to do unless you're one of those people who are trying to set a new personal best for tank range. However (comma) it is possible I guess.
Hey, I took precautions and carried extra fuel on the attempt and did it on rural roads in the wee hours away from traffic.
I tried to make my post as non-pejorative as possible, since I know that there are some hypermilers out there that are not idiots. Sounds like you're one of them. I've tried to make it to 700 miles on a tank before, but I run out of testicular fortitude long before I get to the 11 gallon mark. How'd you carry the extra fuel?
Mark, Thank you for that link. Very enlightening. A bit of a surprise for this car. But I understand forced conservation of the battery. Approx 2 gal left at first blink. Est. current mpg and leave whatever cushion you feel comfortable with. Do not run out of gas in Gen lll. No wingman as w/ Gen 1 and 2 Thank you very much. Mark
I couldn't resist the reply. If you go back and look up the thread where I did the 805 miles, I was sweating bullets towards the end. I had an approved safety gas can tied down in the back with 2 gallons in it. It was also sitting in a large plastic like tub just in case. I was on rural section line roads with just farm type traffic and 40 - 50 mph speed limits in the wee hours of each morning during the attempt. Here's the thread http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-fuel-economy/82746-800-miles-one-tank.html
