Just bought a 2014 Prius and I've noticed that when I get in the car to start it everything turns on, but before I back out it goes in gas mode and stays there until I stop again about a minute later when I turn onto a main street. I thought the car always started using the electric motor until you reached the speed where the gas kicks in. Still trying to figure this thing out! Great car, by the way.
The gas engine has to reach operating temp before the car will run in EV mode so the engine will run a bit till it warms up and then you can drive in EV mode.... and of course the battery has to have enough charge.
To avoid confusion I'd hesitate to refer to the gas engine running as a "Mode". There's "Regular" ECO, POWER and EV...those are Prius driving modes. The gas engine running upon starting, as stated above, is an action of the vehicle getting itself up to temperature. People tend to forget that The Prius Hybrid system is designed to keep exhaust emissions low as well as provide great gas mileage. The engine needs to be up to temp, for this to happen. What "Mode" does it start in? If no button is pressed....regular. If ECO is pressed ECO. Power and EV are on demand choices. EV needs certain parameters met, including the engine being warmed up. Your Prius is acting normal.
Just out of curiosity...does the PiP not also aggressively try to warm up the engine? As Toyota's recent advertising was headlining....it's STILL a Hybrid. My "regular" Prius behavior is that it will initially start up in electric, but if the engine is cold, as soon as I put any real demand for torque or speed on the vehicle, the engine will fire up. I've never considered this flawed behavior.
pip has 14 reasons for starting the engine, but none of them occur regularly. it always starts in ev and stays there unless you switch to hv mode, unless one of the other triggers (which you can find in pip faq sticky) occurs. for me, it's usually the 'every 124 miles to keep gas fresh' trigger.
The Prius is flawed because it forces the ICE to turn on after a few seconds in S1a instead of waiting until the ICE is needed to supply power/torque and then using the ICE to propel the car without S1a.
Prius' original priority was low emissions. It warms up the ICE and the catalytic converter for low emissions.
I am wondering how you get through warm-up stage S1a without warming the engine up? It is pretty clear that Toyota has engineered the warm-up to fit the Synergy system. All hybrids have a similar procedure. Running on the battery won't warm up the engine.
I still don't consider it a flaw. I mean we all "like" gas savings and electric driving....but like I said, The Prius is also designed to provide low exhaust emissions. Original design kept in mind using The Prius extensively in crowded "Smog Filled" large cities. My experience is my Gen 3 Prius with heat reclamation system, warms up pretty quickly. Quicker in Summer, Slower in Winter. But the engine warming itself up? I've never considered a flaw. Again, I'm NOT driving a PiP...but I try not to get stressed if My Prius starts the engine. I look at the big picture efficiency. As long as I'm getting that 50 mpg range? Then The Prius can do whatever it wants... Turn the ICE on....Turn it off...make me listen to AM talk radio....
Wait. If you press EV just after you power on, and there is enough battery power, the car does not have to be "warmed up" and it will stay in EV and not turn on the ICE. Now when you drive you have to stay below 10 mph or else this will trigger the ICE to come on. Mike
Wow, thanks for the responses here. Got a real education on the workings of this car. Most appreciated!
There's no reason to. It's a tradeoff. Engineering is filled with them. Placing a high priority on clean emissions makes it even more so. The plug-in model has more battery-power available. So even without changing the design, it is able to wait. When you request power beyond the 38 kW draw limit, it fires up the engine but continues the taking advantage of that electricity. The result is a warm-up process that's both more efficient and more effective.
I have not ever pushed any of my ''mode'' buttons, assumed that ''eco'' is the default setting as it lights up ''eco'' after a short bit.. Do I need to push the ''eco'' button after starting off EACH time,, or does it do this by default???
