http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV9zAyqEE50 After 20-30 minutes of operation, -8c outside temperature, and ~19 km of travel, the engine should be warmed up, no? I can't figure this out but as you can see in this video, I'm staying well below the centre bar of the HSI, but the engine fires up with the slightest depression of the accelerator. The environmental controls are set to "Off" (so I know the heater isn't demanding the engine be on) and it's set to ECO. Normally in the summer, the engine only comes on when the HSI is pushed beyond the centre line. What gives? -Iain
Did you check to see if you had heat?? I wonder if you have a thermostat problem and the engine never reached above 158 F. From the video it appears your SOC was not the issue.
There are other reasons that it might choose to use the engine; For example, if the battery is too hot (and one might guess too cold as well), that's one time that the engine will hardly stop running. I'd guess the car is warmed up, but without real data, it's hard to say for sure. It also depends if you turned the vehicle off during the 19 km, as it then runs the engine more often for a little while, even if the temperature is well over the "warm" temperature. I'd say give it a few days, see if it still behaves the same, and then bring it in to the dealer and ask them why it's acting differently than other times you've driven in cold weather.
Do you have a ScanGauge? Grill block? Based on what I see on my ScanGauge, with a grill block in a warmer climate, I refuse to answer your 'warmed up' question.
Hmm, hard to say without more data but in -10°C with a 9km commute and in ECO mode, I have seen the engine shut off while coasting. Did you try pressing the EV Drive Mode button? It's a quick and dirty way of checking if your engine is warm. If it is, you should be able to engage the 2nd stage of EV (the 40km/h limit one), otherwise, you'll be in the 16km/h limit (or not at all).
I should also have mentioned that in winter city traffic in hilly terrain, it is possible to the Prius engine to change states between 'warm' and 'not warm' multiple times during a single trip. An engine monitor displaying temperature can be quite revealing.
Sometimes the engine has to run to keep the catalytic converters warm, could that be it? Occasionally mine does things that I can't figure out, I have learned to ignore it.
So with -30°C temps (though the car was parked underground) and a 20-30 minute drive (Had to detour), I was able to drive in EV mode up to the halfway mark on the HSI like I normally do. My lower grille is blocked, however and I even had the heater running. How often has this been happening? I noticed it does happen more often in the Gen 2 but not as often in the Gen 3 since it has better means to warm itself up.
