I got caught in a minor snow accumulation, but roads were awfully slick, so I was crawling and then realized that my battery level was about 1/2 status! I got nervous. Thankfully, I was able to get back onto a clear road and actually drive and recharge the battery. What will happen if I have to drive for an hour, creeping and crawling in snow covered roads? It's in my garage today, since snow/ice warnings are in my area for the next few days : (
it will go down to two purple bars and the ice will come on every few minutes to bring it up a bar. completely normal, "just drive it!"
30 minutes to get the battery down to 1/2 means that you weren't doing very much EV-only crawling. In stop-and-crawl traffic, without doing a pulse & glide pattern, I can get it down to 2 bars (1/4 status) in a few minutes. As bisco said, no worries. The car's computers will take care of the battery, firing up the engine as needed (i.e. when the battery indicator drops to 2 bars) for a recharge (likely just to 3 bars). No need to get nervous -- unless you have run out of gas.
One of the great features of the Prius is not burning fuel when idling during a freeway stoppage / crawl. When the battery gets low enough, the ICE fires up to charge it and turns off. It removes a lot of fuel anxiety when stuck in a backup.
In the cold, the engine is just as likely to fire up to keep the coolant warm enough but why is less important than the degree that even in the cold, the Prius is the fuel economy champ. Bob Wilson
^ I like to see the battery status: if it's near full I'll EV mode as much as possible, letting the assist bar climb near the mid-point, if it wants. But once charge falls to near half full I'll change to more pulse-and-glide, or EV mode but with just a touch of assist. And rarely a day goes by that I don't run it right down, to two bars. Typically when I'm tooling around a parking lot at low speed. It bounces back quickly.
Try not having it. My Escape hybrid didn't, so you have no idea when you should or shouldn't try to maximize EV. Fortunately I could display SOC on my Scangauge, though.
Just curious, when should and shouldn't you maximize EV? On your prius, what is your typical commute like? If you don't mind me asking?
I'll try to use EV a little more when I'm almost home/to my destination because the battery will get charged a bit during warmup the next trip anyway. I also try to use it a bit more if I know I'll be going down a big hill soon that will charge it. I mainly try to stay out of EV if I know the battery is low. Probably doesn't matter much, would probably only add a couple MPG even in the best case scenario. The Insight is my commuter now, my wife is the main driver of the Prius now. My commute is about 5 miles, 25-35MPH, a few stop signs and a few lights (some are easier to time than others). Pretty much the optimum driving for the Prius, besides the short distance. Winter took my mileage from ~60 to ~50, and it only gets into the 30s at night here.
