Ev / HV Question

It happens all the time, you can't do anything about it. The main thing is that in order charge EV some more some quantity of of EV must be saved. How much? I have gone done to .2 miles, and it still charged up in HV fine.

 

I learned that the hard way as well (wanted to do the same thing for the same reasons). I'm no expert, but this is what I have learned in the last week or so:

From what I can tell, you have to look at it this way: EV mode allows you to drive at higher speeds as long as the traction battery can support it, and won't use the gasoline engine unless you accelerate/drive fast, while HV mode will use the traction battery as much as possible to improve mileage, instead of letting the battery just sit there fully charged (plus HV will also turn off the gasoline engine if you are cruising at lower speeds, at least in ECO mode, and I'm guessing it will cruise a lot longer on battery due to the added battery capacity).

As far as I can tell, there is no way of stopping this behavior.

 

because there's only one battery for both EV and HV, so when you go into HV mode some of the EV is allotted to HV, that's my guess

 

This is a very good question. It really shouldn’t happen. It deserves an answer from Toyota! It might be a computer glitch like when the blower comes on it lowers the EV mileage by the same amount as if you were running full AC!

 

Maybe this is over-simplifying, but if you think of the PiP in HV mode as working the same as a regular Prius, you will realize that some juice is being drained from the battery as long as there is some available, depending on the need to supplement the ICE. If you drive long enough in HV mode, the battery will gain some charge from normal regeneration.

 

Rogerv is right. Keep in mind that no matter what, EV is used when ICE is started for the first time, as it warms up.

 

OP, what was your ambient temperature this morning?

 

Only Toyota knows the whys and wherefores, and sometimes, even they may not be so sure!

 

First, I think your problem may be user error: Every time you start the car, it engages EV mode, if there is sufficient charge. So if you turn EV mode off and shut the car off, it will start in EV.

I drive about two miles before getting on 40 miles of freeway. I sometimes switch to HV mode on the freeway. The EV range remains until I restart the car or switch to EV.

 

Let add an observation here: you may agree or not
When you completely deplete your EV battery, PiP will no longer go into EV mode even if you press EV button.
If you continue to drive in HV mode, regenerative braking add charge to battery, indicator shows battery is full(all bars ), but an equivalent EV miles will not be displayed.

My understanding is, HV mode uses EV battery without permission, and EV battery will continue to show correct EV miles until it reaches 0.0 miles. After that regenerative braking in HV mode for some reason does not feed the number back even though the battery indicator show a full level of charge.

Yes , it should be clarified from Toyota, why this incomplete one-way battery charge indicator ?,

 

^ If you go down a long decline the EV miles DO come back, but only on a long regen.

As stated in above posts...when put into HV starting off the bat with full charge, the car will use some EV range/battery. Its been my experience that it will use a certain amount then EV range will remain at a certain point. I dont think it will continue to use EV range/battery if you drove far enough in HV. And I have seen EV miles come back up when driven in HV long enough at higher speeds.

Dan

 

I think it is probably best to consider 2 of the EV miles as also being the HV buffer, about 500 watts.

 

another thing I noticed a few times...

when in HV mode and EV range is down near .1 , The battery does not deplete as it does when EV range is full on takeoff in HV. And i have seen EV range add back on when this low.

Dan

 

Good to know its not a bug.
Thanks for explaining this.

 

Interesting, I was going to ask about this, too.

 

What is fun to do on a long trip, ( anything exceeding your EV range ) look for a flat or decline, put the car in HV, then after the engine is off, keep the car in HV to increase the stored EV charge. Climb hills in EV = 100+ mpg then drive in HV again on downhill and flats. During this portion one can attain 100 mpg or certainly 50-100 mpg on the instantaneous mpg readout. When finally getting home or chargepoint try to use all EV again ( equals 100 mpg plus )