Will EV mode allow the gen III car to be moved out of or into the garage without starting the gas engine? In any weather? Biggest peave about my 2002 Prius is the idiotic software that starts the engine for no reason whatsoever every time I turn the key! (not to mention the idiotic thing always starts the engine when I put the tranny in PARK! WHY???)
Short answer is no. If it is cold out it will still start the ICE if it is not warmed up already. If it is over 70 or so out my car will almost always allow me to use the ev mode. But not when it's cooler than that.
Mine pulls out of the garage (in reverse) about 20 feet before ICE kicks in regardless of temp. Total time from Start to ICE is about 10 seconds.
The answer to why is because being clean is a higher priority than being efficient. The engine on response is to purge & prepare. Since that design all those years ago, Toyota has found better ways of dealing with emissions... eliminating the need to startup like that. You now get a brief buffer for pulling out of the garage and it won't startup when you shift to park. By the way, they eliminated the key itself too. .
Good thing they eliminated the key. That Echo based Prius has a flaw; put the tranny in 'N' and it allows you to switch off the key partially, enough to shut off the ICE but not enough to shut down the computer and pretty soon you have a dead 12v battery!
Prius came first. Echo was an un-engineering solution to generate profit by reusing some of the same platform. The engine was detuned for more power and a traditional transmission was swapped in. People tend to forget about the 3 years Prius was available prior to rollout here. Anywho, that "flaw" still exists. Neutral disconnects from the system. It's an intentional override. You want to remain parked in the vehicle with the power on for the radio or whatever, leave it in 'P' and the 12v battery will automatically be maintained. Shift into 'N', you're telling it to disregard the system upkeep. .
The temperature threshold on mine is an engine coolant temperature of 68F / 20C, as displayed on ScanGauge.
John, does that mean I can enter the car, press the Power button, then press Park for radio tuning, etc., and then just shift into Drive and be on my way?
Anytime you press park with the system ready to drive, the 12v is automatically maintained. Shifting into nuetral or starting just accessory mode is what gets people into trouble after extended sitting. .
I don't understand why Toyota would tolerate this vulnerability to accidental battery discharge? Isn't it better to make things "idiot proof"? (of course there's always a better idiot) I discovered this in my 2002 Prius when my wife got stranded at a tire dealer when those idiots left it in neutral and the 12v battery went dead. They managed to jump start it but then the computer was all messed up so that the charging system was not working and nearly completely discharged the hybrid battery! Could have been a VERY expensive tire rotation! (never taken it anywhere but the Toyota dealer since!) Fortunately all it took was for me to drop everything at work and rush down to the tire dealer and turn off the car and restart - reboot- the car. After a few reboots the hybrid battery finally got charged up.
I just went out to my 2011 that had been sitting in the driveway for the last several hours. I pressed start as normal and then immediately pressed the EV mode switch. I then proceeded to back up about 10 feet and the move forward about 50 feet into the garage. I needed to back up first because the car was not positioned properly to pull straight in. The ICE stayed off the whole time. I then sat in the garage with the car in park and the EV mode still engaged for about another 40 seconds. The ICE remained off. Total time about 1 minute. The car had not been driven for at least 4 hours. Outside temperature was 60 F. Based on this I would conclude that some slow speed EV operation is available even if the ICE is cold. I'll try it again in the morning when everything is at ambient and the outside temperature will be around 50 F and let you know what I observe. I think the key is to select EV mode immediately after READY is observed and before the ICE turns on and this also assumes that your battery SOC is high enough to support EV mode. I know that there are two speeds where EV mode will automatically cut off. The first is 25 mph with a good SOC in the traction battery and a fully warmed up ICE. The other is 10 mph that seems to come into effect when the ICE is not full warmed up.
It is the coolant temperature ('fWT' on ScanGauge) that matters, not the outside temperature. With an ambient temperature of 60F in a ventilated but windless underground garage, the coolant in my Prius takes 8 - 10 hours to fall below the EV threshold of 68F. Last year I recorded over 100 tests of this EV threshold temperature, and have watched a similar number since, and have witnessed no exceptions.
Thanks for the correction. So the coolant temp is the key, and 68 F is the threshold. Good info to know.
I was trying to get into EV mode today (just for fun), and apparently, I can only be in EV up to 10 miles per hour. Beyond that I get the "Excessive Speed Error" Is this the expected behavior, or is there something weird here? I'm no speed demon, but 10mph isn't what I consider excessive. Seriously, though, I just saw a promo video for the Gen3 Prius (it was metric/european) and it said EV mode would get you up to 50kmph (which should be, what, at least 25mph, right?). THe promo said EV mode allowed emissions free urban driving, and showed a pristine white prius smoothly accelerating away from a stop sign. So something's not adding up.
Top speed is 25 mph in straight EV mode. You get the excessive speed error typically when the car is not warmed up, or fully charged. iPad ?
^^^ I believe the NA versions have a lower limit on the max EV speed than EU versions. There are also different thresholds depending on whether the ICE is warmed up . See http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ectric-vehicle-mode-useless-3.html#post919124.
If I've just come off the highway with an almost full battery I'm pretty sure I can get up to about 50 km/h in EV mode. Sucks the battery right down in no time though. Going above the mid-point on the display where the engine would normally kick in is pointless IMO. Edit: Just read the EV Mode useless thread linked above and one of ken's posts has the limits.
So, I still can't get into EV mode > 10 mph. Is it possible that with ambient temp of 34 degrees, I am not reaching coolant temp of 68 degrees?? After 15 minutes of highway driving, ICE usage? Seems unlikely, but I can't figure why else I can't get EV mode to stick.
