How to drive a Prius Plug in

My opinion: Because EV is really efficient on surface streets. And HV is its most efficient when you actually run the ICE to power the wheels. Running HV to charge the battery a bit, then driving a bit, then stopping at a light (engine off), the driving isn't the maximum use of HV.

Mike

 

It's the lesser of two evils. You should save EV for surface streets. You should not warm up the ICE while idle. You should use HV to climb grades. Unfortunately, your drive up to the freeway exit requires you to ignore one of those statements. You're ignoring don't warm up ICE at idle by engaging HV 1 mile before entering the freeway. Others are saying, you should drive EV up the grade to the light. Who's right? Only you can find out by doing the test.

For example, I often drive my remaining EV on the freeway instead of saving up for the last 0.9 mile to my home on surface streets. I drive golf cart mode from the exit to my home and end up with 3-5 bars of HV battery left. So I ignore the drive fast with HV. I also ignore don't drive exclusively in golf cart mode.

 

funny story…yesterday was coming back home and "saved" my EV for surface streets before coming off the freeway. end result? pulled into the garage with 1.8 miles remaining in the battery…BAD BAD BAD.

 

This method works best for me I start with EV driving until battery is depleted then normal HV driving to destination then plug in. I get the best mpg's this way. Mostly driving 95% streets 5% highways. Avoid all uphills if possible if not HV for steep up hills then back to EV for down hills. Of course, as a courtesy I am actively adjusting my position to allow all traffic to flow pass me freely. This reverse matador technique results in happy drivers. ...good luck!

 

What is your percentage screen showing for EV/HV, and what is your overall mpg reading?

 

Don't be afraid to use the seat heaters. They only draw about 100W total for both on high. Or 0.5 amps as measured by my ScanGauge II. Keep in mind that you'll easily pull 30 or 40 amps just driving down the street at a moderate pace. The miniscule amount of power you'll save by not running the seat heaters is less than 1%.

 

Reading EV/HV ratio @ 61/39 = 355kwh 16G

 

I've tried a lot of strategies on my commute with respect to when and where I use EV and HV, but it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference. It seems that EV is pretty close to a constant gasoline replacement whether you're going uphill, downhill, flat, or whatever.

 

You are able to run a lot on EV, which is great. My EV/HV ratio is 28/72 after more than 10k miles, with an overall 82 mpg for those same miles. Still, that's more than a quarter of my driving on just plugging in at home, at roughly 12 cents per kwh, instead of sending that money to the OPEC.

 

To prolong the battery life, let it have an easy life. Don't discharge it at max (~200 amp) rating. You can do it but don't do it often. Just a tip to improve upon a "typical" battery life.

 

I didn't see that this video was posted anywhere in this thread so here you go. I found the covered topics informative since I was performing the braking technique in the video on my original 2005 Prius and drove over 60,000 miles on the original factory installed breaks. Now I know how.

GT-P6210 ? HD

 

I dont understand this, I would think the car takes care of that. I have no evidence of that.

 

well, the manual does actually state this (only instead of amps they say not to drive at the max end of the EV only speed range, i.e. 62 mph for a long amount of time). but i also think it was written by lawyers, not engineers.

 

it's like any car, the more you baby it, the longer it will last. the car can't stop you from causing premature wear in all instances.

 

except that in the case of the battery it can. the battery can just not supply the current you demand from it and be done with it.

 

PiP battery was designed to last at least 10 years / 150k miles (per warranty). Battery life is influenced by (not the only thing) how fast you discharge it so there are things you can do to extend the battery life. The slower you charge/discharge it, the easier it is on the battery.

Since regen brakes charge the battery, we don't want to limit how fast it can charge because we want to maximize the amount recaptured. We can do something about discharging speed by avoiding climbing hills with the battery alone by using gas.

If there is a choice and both have no clear benefit to EV mile or MPG, choose the one that is easier on the battery.

 

That's true. The battery was designed to last warranty period with the way it was programmed (discharge up to 40 kW).

What I was saying was, there are things you can do to further extend the life.

 

We may need to change the habit of cruise control when driving PIP. With regular cars, cruise control should not be used on hilly roads to save gas. With PIP, cruise control can max the regeneration power. We may need to use cruise control more often.

 

The car regenerates differently depending on whether it's in HV or EV mode? I didn't know that.