An idea for the Prius

I think you're talking about reprogramming a computer, or more than one.

 

First one sounds like the EV mode, doesn't the V have that?

 

Yes, but of course it only works if the ICE is warm and only to 25mph. 9mph if the ICE is less than warm.

Also true that regen braking is always "maximum" with reasonably careful pedal control.

 

As long as we are 'wishing' I wish the CC accelerate was the max you could do and still stay in the min g/kWh and the CC Decelerate was a perfect glide.

 

i think the o/p has several good ideas, and i hope the prius team is paying attention!

 

Selected EV works from cold up to 20mph (indicated) and works up to 30mph (indicated) when ICE is up to temperature on mine.
EV wont work whilst the initial 30 second warm up is in progress, unless you select it before it starts, i.e. within seconds of initialising the ready mode.
Selected EV mode allows electric acceleration past the halfway mark on the HSD.

 

Strangely my 2010 when I select EV it only goes up to 10mph before cancelling out. I've never been able to keep it in EV mode beyond 10mph

 

It is not clear that anyone on the the Prius team speaks English, let alone reads PriusChat.

 

did you ever look back on a post and wonder, "what the heck was i thinking"?

 

Almost all of mine, that is why I never read my own posts.

It is way easier on my ego to laugh at the other guy.

 

I'd like to see a glide button. I have a hard time keeping on the gas just right to glide.

 

I think it would be easier/safer for them to just do away with the regen when you let off the gas and have it coast/glide instead. My Escape Hybrid worked that way. It also had an L gear that worked like B. I personally don't like the fake "engine braking" when you let off the gas in D, that's what the brake pedal and other gears are for.

 

how did you regen?

 

Brake pedal. L was pretty similar to the Prius' D, except that it'll engine brake as well if you start getting on the brakes (so kind of like D and B combined), so I would use that occasionally if I needed to bleed off a little speed and no one was behind me.

 

These are great ideas. However, I think the hybrid team over at Toyota have developed the balance just right. Yes we sometimes want full EV at times. However, i think they limited the EV speed to i guess 40 for the v because it's a heavier car and would require more energy drawn from an otherwise small pack compared to a PiP which can go full EV. Battery life would suffer as a consequence.

The same goes for a "max regen button." Toyota has already provided us with a well-designed perfectly functioning regen system at our disposal. I really don't see the need for it because you'll get maximum regen for every situation depending on how you step on the brake pedal or on how you demand it with your braking foot.

For example, if you go down a big hill, you have two choices (actually 3).
1. use B mode
2. use D mode (maximum regen available combined with normal brakes at times)
3. use N (not recommended, obviously)

It would be more difficult to control your speed both on level ground and on every type of descent (slight to steep) with an instant max regen button because it will slow you down rather quickly on level ground (without even lighting up the brake lights). And on descents, depending on the steepness, it will either slow you down abuptly like being on level ground, or slow the car a bit, but you won't be able to regulate it to the speed you want at first. So your instinct will still be to use the brake pedal to control your speed. Either way, the HSD system esp the batteries won't like the energy spike coming in and out every time you push those two buttons.

That's what i think...

The foot-off-the-gas-glide is a brilliant idea as well. Great for hypermilers, but not so great for normal drivers or new prius drivers as they might be think it's another runaway/stuck-accelerator car especially when they don't notice it's a slight downhill but they think it's level and the car accelerates slowly when they think it shouldn't.