EV Mode

You were accelerating too fast. Steady pressure on the gas pedal will get you to higher speed in EV mode.

 

Also note there are restrictions on EV mode when you first start the car. I just read about a 10 MPH vs the 25 MPH limit for EV mode yesterday. It has to do with the different stages the Prius goes through when you first start it up. Please see link below which describes the stages and note that in stage "S2" the limit of EV is 10 mph while in stage "s3" the MPH limit of EV mode is 25 MPH.


http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-discussion/76501-gen3-warming-up-stages.html

 

When the engine is warming up you will be kicked out of ev when your speed exceeds 10 mph.

 

I rarely use it. If you just accelerate slowly to begin with, it will stay in EV mode anyway. The EV button seems sort of like wasted real estate to me.

 

It can keep the ICE from starting if you're just starting the car to move it a matter of yards. That's all I ever use it for.

 

That's pretty much all I've ever used it for. If I accelerate or go any faster than driveway speed, the ICE kicks in. But, it's another button to push...I like pushing buttons. Only, I wish they would've made it red. That would've made it seem a whole lot more important.

 

The point of the EV button is to allow you to accelerate harder.

Without it, you are limited to the GREEN zone on the Eco-Meter.

With it, both the WHITE & RED zones become available for engine-off driving too.
.

 

That is for you folks living closer to the tropics. For those of us living closer to the arctic, it won't even go into EV mode before the morning warmup except after the half dozen warmest nights of the year.

An engine coolant temperature of 68F (20C) at startup is the breakpoint between no-EV and <10-mph-EV.

 

I've found that if I get into EV at 0 mph I can get up to 10 before it boots me but if I am granted--because that's all it is, you must be granted by kingly edict--the right to enter EV while I'm already at speed, then it will let me hit 25. Maybe it is just that when I hit EV from 0 mph it's before it's warmed up and that is the limiting factor, though.

The EV deactivation message is not helpful at all. No idea why they cannot make it more descriptive.

 

I may have to experiment with this more then. Anytime I've ever used it, I feel like I have to accelerate like I have an egg under my foot...otherwise, the ICE kicks in...and it's always way before I ever reach the center line on the readout.