Miles to empty?

i thought mte did include ev charge. pretty sure someone covered this a few years ago. are you sure you checked the display after charging, maybe turn off/on to recalculate, etc.?

 

Yes, miles/distance to empty includes the EV range.

 

MTE is useless. On Monday, my 12 PiPA said I had 6 miles to empty when the fuel gauge started flashing. 15 miles later, I still had 1 mile to empty. 36 miles later, I was at 0 miles to empty, but then I charged 7 miles worth of EV, and had 7 miles to empty...

 

I wouldn't call it useless. You just have to know how to use it.

 

When the gauge starts flashing, I look at my average MPG for the tank and multiply by 2 to find out the actual MTE.

 

"I wouldn't call it useless. You just have to know how to use it." ​

maybe Ken really meant flawed - I'd second that
We all have experienced that panic of the flashing PiP, filled up and then found we had over 100 miles to go.

Related and odd - couple days ago I had a read of just 4 bars to go. Odd in that I was also getting a read of just 4 gallons used and definitely had completely filled the tank awhile back. Now I'm reading 5 bars to go !

and no downhill / uphill / upside down readings - it was like that for a couple days

 

while I don't have a PiP I have a 2010 iv
In any vehicle, I'd much rather have a pessimistic gauge as opposed to one that is overly optimistic...

I have been filling up at one flashing pip and I have been able to barely squeeze 10 gallons in which means I still have 2 gallons ( or about 80-100 miles) until bone dry...

I guess the choice is would you rather be filling up with 80 miles of fuel/charge sitting in the tank, or walking 5 miles...

 

"while I don't have a PiP I have a 2010 iv
In any vehicle, I'd much rather have a pessimistic gauge as opposed to one that is overly optimistic...
I have been filling up at one flashing pip and I have been able to barely squeeze 10 gallons in which means I still have 2 gallons ( or about 80-100 miles) until bone dry...
I guess the choice is would you rather be filling up with 80 miles of fuel/charge sitting in the tank, or walking 5 miles..."

IF the choice was walking 5 miles vs filling up early then yep, I'd take the filling up early !
but
as I see it - this is an amazing vehicle with amazing technology - does it really have to be 20% off ? Does that have to be the choice ? I'll take the choice of a more accurate reading !

 

Forty...

I feel your pain. I don't think I've ever had a 4 wheeled vehicle that has had an accurate fuel gauge... Now I had a motorcycle with a fuel gauge, and no reserve switch. it was very accurate... but it only held 4 gallons of gas.. I learned of its accuracy twice.. I have never had to walk as a result of being empty in a car..

If you had a tall skinny ten gallon tank, think two five gallon buckets on top of one another you be able to get a better or more accurate reading of the fuel gauge, since you have about 2' of fuel gauge travel to better dial in the accuracy but a low wide flat fuel tank leads to the potential for more inaccuracy as the fuel sloshes around more, and the the level of the fuel gauge might only have 6" of travel from full to empty to measure 10 gallons.

that being said... I would think that the computer knows how much fuel is being injected with each pulse of the injector. it knows how much gas is being used... how exact it is anybodys guess. but even then the car has no idea of how much gas you put in it...

remember GIGO garbage in = garbage out.

if you don't have good data going in... then your data coming out is flawed...

 

The cars know almost exactly how much fuel is getting used. Remember, it tells you your instant and average MPG. And we know that is off (most likely on purpose) about 4-5%.

 

Almost exactly how much fuel is getting used are the key words... couple that with any mileage error as a result of over or under inflated tires, worn tires, tires with slightly different sizes (ever try on a pair of shoes of the same size from two different makers that were really the same size). I know I haven't. Tire sizes are just like that, the numbers on the sidewall might be the same... but they are not the same size. All of this can create the inaccuracies in the MPG...

but it still doesn't address the fuel gauge... the computer can tell us, how much fuel it has used... so, in theory, when you fill up your tank, until it clicks. then when the fuel gauge reads full, the computer could reset a counter such that it will show you how much fuel it has pumped. again..how accurate would it be? if its off by 5% would we be happy? I doubt it... It seems that the Prius crowd can be pretty tough...

Can someone write a script for Torque, does OBDII log this data or report it...???

I just had one bar show up on my fuel guage and a DTE of 40 miles. I'm sure if I filled up now it would only be 9 gallons. which means I have nearly 150 miles until I run dry...

 

I'm not expecting perfect, or even close to perfect, accuracy. I just expect it to be closer than 20% pessimistic. Most cars I've owned turned on the low fuel light when you had roughly 10% of a tank left. My suggestion for fixing this is similar to my suggestion for the EV miles guess-o-meter: Allow the driver to toggle between the guessed miles and an actual percentage remaining. If I've gone 600 miles this tank and it tells me there is 20% fuel left to empty, I know I need to fill up within 120 miles. People with poor math skills can continue using the guess-o-meter and everyone will be happy.

 

The gas gauge is inaccurate because it is cheap an almost zero thought goes into it. Add a little software to the existing electrical and mechanical parts and it would be much better.
First we know the car keeps track of how much fuel is consumed, within 5%...probably better than that.
We know that however the tank level is measured is not precise due to sloshing, going uphill, then downhill etc.
The simple solution is to take many measurements and average them over time, adding back in the amount consumed in-between readings in order to come up with a benchmarked full level when each fillup was done.
The feedback loop of accumulating consumption vs the average of many readings of the tank level should self correct to an much more accurate reading. Now it is just a matter of setting the possible error on the conservative side for when the DTE reads zero.

Mike

 

Just filled up DTE read 14 miles to go,gas jockey pulled out pump handle after first shut off, 8.05 Gallons!

 

When I want to be super accurate, I look at my ratio screen for that tank. That tells me how many gallons I've used. I usually try to let it get to 9. When I want a very quick estimate, I look at DTE, and just add 50 miles. Pretty simple.

 

OK so this is a new low for the PiP gas reading. Its like the gauges use the info differently.
Got the flashing pip yesterday - yeah knowing full well that I have plenty left. The gas used reading says 7 gallons !
Subtracting out my EV miles left the car is saying I have just 5 gas miles left

and ok it could be 7.99 gallons used but still - spare me the alarm!

so Question - has anyone gone past the positive number of gas miles left ? I'm assuming it stays at zero ?

 

I go way past every single tank.

The other day upon filling up (and pulling out after the first click) I pumped in 9.879 gallons.

 

dang ! you drive around with a gas container ?
I'm actually tempted - wanted to beat my 4600 mile tank and I'm a few weeks away...

 

I'm sure that MTE is based on a book-average. Mine is always the same when I fill up, but it does change based on how much charge is in the battery. That's why it can fluctuate around.