confused about when ICE should run?

I am confused about this one, my ICE and heater would not turn on in EV mode. Sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, part way home after a full charge, I was trying to get the haze off the front of my windshield but no matter how I set the defroster or fan and A/C I couldn't get warm air, and the ICE wouldn't turn on. I was in eco mode. This isn't right is it? I am thinking it will be a freak occurrence that was fixed when I restarted the car. I don't have to be in HV to get heat do I?

Oh yea, and the Toyota windshield wipers are about as good as the homeless guy who rubs down your windshield with his dirty rag. Any suggestions for an upgrade?

 

Any cabin-temperature setting other than LO will force heat to be provided. Until coolant-temperature drops below 114°F in ECO mode, the engine will remain off.

You want hot, crank it up to HI and switch off ECO mode.

 

nope, tried ECO mode once and found it insanely difficult to stay out of the PWR range on the MID, so I'm driving in normal mode all of the time. Twice i had it happen where I was careful and thought I managed to avoid the PWR region (in normal mode), then looked away from the MID, and when I looked back noticed that the EV car was no longer lit (and plenty of charge remaining).
Seriously, we need that EV-CITY mod here stat.

 

I have observed in my PIP that the "LO" heat setting still turns on the ICE if it's cold outside. Several times now. Perhaps there's some other heater control that is forcing an ICE start? Maybe the front defroster? I was hoping to be able to blow air on the front window without starting the ICE but the LO setting has not kept the engine off.

 

yes, this has been discussed in another thread. pushing the front defroster button immediately engages ICE. if you want to keep ICE off, then set temperature to LO, choose the "feet+windshield" vent option, and turn on the fan. do not use the defrost button.

 

Make sure AUTO is off. Mine is and I still haven't ever had the engine fire up in EV when keeping within the ECO range (no red POWER zone).

The defroster is A/C, which is all electric. You'd have to request heat (65 to 85) to get the engine involved. Pressing the defrost button may do that. I haven't tried yet. Cracking the front passenger and rear driver windows has been plenty to defog without a need for the heater, so far. The real cold is coming though...

 

That clarifies it much better John, TY. I had the same problem with the Gen 2 except the problem was to get working and what I wanted.I wonder if thier home HVACs are that confusing.

 

On my usual 2 miles round trip this morning, I started the gas engine (by requesting 72 deg F heat) to check how much gas was consumed. I got 88 MPG at the end of 2.0 miles trip so, 0.023 gallons was used.

The coolant temp raised from 37 deg F to 13o deg F and I also gained some EV miles. I was moving so if I have to guess it was about 0.3 miles gained. With a gallon of gas, I could do this 44 times.