How to drive a Prius Plug in

A PiP expert will chime in shortly but you should describe your regular commute pattern for them. How many miles from the garage to the hwy, hwy miles/speeds, offramp to office, etc... Also if you can charge at both ends of your commute, ie. will you have some EV mode for the return drive.

Generally, use the EV mode for lower speeds and short trips that you can get by without the engine firing up, and use HV for faster speeds and longer trips.

 

I like the disclaimer in your Fuelly stats

 

Everyone's trips are different, so some experimenting between EV and HV will be needed. Just try different modes, use what works for you! Enjoy.

 

By no means expert advice, but here is what I do-
Charge every night using the "finish" timer.
Drive in "Eco" mode. (Have never tried "power" mode in over 10K miles)
If heading for the freeway, which is 2 miles from home, I manually select HV during the first mile and leave it there.
On long downgrades, manually switch back to EV to take advantage of regen, then back to HV. Use up the EV available for the last few miles of freeway as I head home.
Otherwise, I just let the computer decide.
I'm retired, so don't have a daily commute, other than to meet my friends for morning coffee 1.7 miles away. I'm able to accomplish most errands around town on EV. Still, I do enough freeway driving that my EV/HV ratio is 27/73, overall 81 mpg so far.
I agree with retired4999, do some experimenting, and enjoy your PiP!

 

welcome to p/c and congrats on your new pip! there is no 'best way' and you'll probably get a lot of opinions. that's why they give you the options. i drive in eco mode almost exclusively and you can see my (along with others) stats on the sticky spreadsheet. all the best!

 

I agree, but I would add that do not select HV until you have no stops (possibly waiting at red light, etc) before you get on the freeway. The point being you want to do all your ICE warmup while moving, not sitting.

I don't know that this makes any difference. You will always get the regen. But doing this will make your estimated EV miles "score" get higher...while not actually changing how far you can go on EV on flat ground any differeent.

Definitely use up all EV before you return to your next charging location.

Other tips:
Use the seat heaters and not the fan/heater wehn trying to stay in EV.
If you want/need the engine heat and/or defrost then the ICE will come on so do this early in a trip and then shut off the heat, if possible for later EV driving.

Do all short trips on EV only.

Inflate tires to at least 40 front, 38 rear.

Mike

 

RogerV,
Some say that the Stop Timer will start the charge too early and that the battery is charged way before the Stop Time.
Have you checked if your PIP is still charging 1/2 hour, 45 minutes or 1 hour before the Stop Time?

 

I just want to add that this is excellent advice.
To OP: if you're always doing long trips, I'd recommend just charging to full and driving the car as is. Don't bother switching modes.

 

Slowly, info about the plug-in model is being added to the User-Guide

The basics are covered in the current edition. I'm hoping for more, but the learning process is slow and we're just getting into the depths of winter now. Photos with good examples take awhile to gather as well.

For the most part, driving outside of EV mode is just the regular Prius. When to warm-up the engine seems to be the biggest uncertainty. Pushing the HV/EV button to start the engine for prior to high power demand, like merging onto the highway. You can use it to warm coolant for the heater when it's more efficient to run the engine too.

 

The first half mile is downhill, so I'm in EV. The second half is flat, then the second mile is uphill to the freeway, with a signal just before the onramp. So I switch to HV on the flat section. If I waited until there were no more signals........
Like I said, I'm no expert. But I usually get just about the estimated EV range in EV miles traveled, and mine is always up for a couple of days after some freeway driving as I described in my earlier post. I don't have a Scanguage, etc., so I can't offer anything beyond my admittedly anecdotal evidence. What I didn't mention is that I use cruise control a lot on the freeway, and have a long grade going out of and coming back into the valley where I live. So the regen shows more on the downhill in EV mode if I drop out of CC, and I extend the number of actual EV miles I travel.
I've got enough gray hair already; I just try to drive sensibly and enjoy the car.

 

Everyone's commute is a little different so there is no best way that applies to everyone. There are a few universal settings to set up your car that will get maximum fuel economy in all situations.

1. Use ECO mode
2. Turn off all AC/fan settings
3. Do not use seat heaters.

That's pretty much it. Unfortunately, safety and comfort will trump these basic settings. We can give you detailed advice for your commute if given your exact situation.

For example, I gotta have some heat in the morning. I don't want to use my seat heaters because they still affect my EV range a small amount. So I make sure the vents are open and temperature is set to high before I turn off the fan. This allows passive warm heat from a warmed up ICE to enter the cabin without turning on the HVAC.

This works against me if I need the defroster because the ICE will engage if i turn it on with temperature set to high. Luckily, I have a garage and live in a sunny climate. I only need the defroster on warmer rainy days. On those days I can manage without heat and set the fan temp on LO instead so I have use of the defroster without engaging the ICE.

See how much detail I've already divulged on my commute?

 

Right, the timer finishes roughly 40 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. Doesn't seem to make any difference, and I don't know that anything can be done about it. My guess is that it comes on three hours or so prior to the finish time, maybe to allow for different temps and SOC? Some days I leave more EV range than others, so I would imagine it might finish even earlier, but I'm not gonna' worry about it.

 

I just want to point out that this statement shouldn't be a surprise. It is like saying that the average test score for a class is usually just about the average.

If you are driving in the same way on the same route with about the same weather and traffic the car calculates this and (somehow) averages it with a moving average. So its prediction for you should be about right.

Mike

 

I was responding to this statement you made earlier: "I don't know that this makes any difference. You will always get the regen. But doing this will make your estimated EV miles "score" get higher...while not actually changing how far you can go on EV on flat ground any differeent."
So it appears to me that your statements are conflicting.



Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/how-to-drive-a-prius-plug-in.120593/#ixzz2HcRsMy50

 

The point mike was making was that regen on the freeway happens regardless of which mode you're in. However, if driving below 62 mph, switching into EV mode will allow the engine to turn off at a higher speed (vs. 42 mph in HV mode), and so could potentially improve mpgs.
However, I personally never drive below 74 mph if traffic conditions permit, so for me it's a bit of a moot point.

 

Lensovet, thanks for the explanation. The only time I drive 70 is if I am in the HOV lane. Most of the time I go with the flow of traffic in one of the right lanes. If I encounter really heavy traffic I move into the HOV lane, but if I can do 55-60 in the regular lanes, I prefer that. So at my speeds, I am managing to run in EV for several miles after coasting down a long hill, thereby improving my overall mpg.

 

Sorry but as with john1701a, its in the depths of winter here and I may be one of the few who need my heat to keep the windshield clear, so I will just add four rules for winter driving:
1. If I need to use the heater I'll hit the Auto button then turn off the A/C to turn the ICE on (car temp is set at 76 so the ICE comes on automatically) and make sure the car is in ECO mode. If the car isn't in ECO mode the heater fan runs a bit more aggressively with a likewise hit on the EV range.
2. I also leave it in EV mode because the motor assists the ICE all the time and when it gets warm enough it will turn the ICE on and off as it needs to for warmth. This seems to extend the EV mode by a few miles because of the ICE assist.
3. When I get to work I park facing south and turn everything off. If I leave during the day for lunch/appointments, etc., the Sun has helped with interior heat and I don't need to turn the heat on. And I can keep it in EV mode to run around in.
So far I've filled up 5 times with 103 mpg average through the end of the year since I picked it up April 11th.
Yes I have snow tires on (from my Gen II Prius) and no they don't have the TPS in them. I just ignore the flat tire light when it comes on. And yes I use the heated seats a lot.

 

The comment about setting HV when going up hills, and go downhill in EV mode (so you can go over 42mph and not start the ICE), and then use EV in the flat, is that this will inflate the reported EV miles, but not actually change the amount of gasoline used or the total number of miles you get from the charge you put in from the electric grid. What happens is that as you climb the hill in HV, the ICE will be used to preserve the charge in the battery. When you go downhill, you will recover with regeneration energy from the climb. On the flat, you will will get lots of EV miles from the regenerated energy. But it is an "accounting trick"; the energy from those EV miles is from burning gasoline on the climb, and you have "tricked" the PiP into using the ICE to recharge the battery, which it normally doesn't want to do.

 

OK, but if I did nothing, I would by the time I hit the grade (approx 10 miles from home) be out of EV and running like a conventional hybrid. So are you saying that by messing around with it I'm not actually improving my overall mpg? Why then is it suggested that you "save" the EV for surface streets and run in HV on the freeway?