Moving on to a Volt

i think starship enterprise is talking about the new option on prime to recharge the hybrid battery at any time directly from the engine, not just when the engine is making excess energy.

 

OK that makes sense...what does that Prime capability do for us in a Prius scenario?

 

it was discussed in an old thread. if you run out of ev miles, you can use the engine to recharge the battery to run ev again. i thought it was just a waste of gas, but there was a reason i can't remember. not sure if it was a god one or not. they call it 'charge sustain mode' or something.

 

Yes, if the ICE running and regen build up any excess, the system will shut the ICE off and use the excess. When I'm on a long highway run and put the battery on hold, any build-up will show up on the battery display as green pips.

 

Yes. Depending on the size of the battery and the length of the descent, folks have reported recharging a depleted pack thru regeneration back to 100%. The Volt also has a "mountain mode" that will run the ICE at a hi and add a charge buffer back in to the battery.

 

What is the benefit of the charge back via running engine though ("mountain mode")? It gives you back EV miles but at the expense of running the engine. If that's what @Starship sees as important deciding factor, then Volt is only choice (and the new Prime)?

 

Will the PIP return to EV mode if (when) regeneration from braking or ICE sufficiently recharges the HV battery?

I guess what I'm really asking is - to get back into EV do I have to plug in and recharge the battery? I'd like to know for both PIP and Volt.

 

There's no economy benefit but he asked if it could. MM is used as a buffer for extended climbs at highway speeds so the car isn't relying just on ICE power and loss of speed towards the top of the mountain.

 

Not that sure about the Volt, but with the PiP it is possible to use to use regen and a method called "stacking" to put more energy back enough to start EV mode again. I've regenerated as much as 2 miles going down a couple of long hills locally. Then employ stacking to put even more back.

 

As others have said, both generations of Volts have Mountain Mode which builds the battery buffer with a design purpose to allow for the 80ish HP gas generator to be able to sustain extended climbs.

The Gen 1 Volt charges to or maintains a 40 percent battery buffer. The Gen 2 Volt's buffer is much smaller as a percentage basis, but still adequate for the design purpose.

Some owners will use this mode to intentionally run the generator on an extended trip so that they can switch to Normal EV mode around town in their destination.

 

OK this allows relatively small gaso engine in a Volt to save some EV power to get up the hill. So it is not a big fundamental negative that PiP1 cannot do this, as long the engine itself can get up the hill.

 

Volt Mountain Mode

 

Gen-1 used direct-drive, not as much as Prius, but nonetheless did not operate in a serial manner like that.

Gen-2 takes on even more parallel operation. That how the higher MPG following depletion is achieved.

For a great example of a true ICE generator use, look to the BMW i3.

 

Huh? The HV/EV button does exactly that... except with greater flexibility. Any point below 72.5%, the use of EV capacity can be held.

 

pip becomes a lift back when no ev charge is left, so it will go up a hill like any prius.
prime adds the feature of recharging the battery while driving for extra ev driving. not really sure of the purpose, but like the ev button in the past, it's wasteful. might be a 'me too' feature to appease focus groups.

 

If you go back a few posts @Starship_Enterprius was trying to understand this mountain mode and if it was an issue for PiP not having it, I think was the implication. What I think I am hearing it's not an issue, except of course everyone is entitled to value certain features how they see fit.

 

Exactly. And I'm sure this is one of the reasons the buffer shrank on the Gen 2 Volt, since it has a bigger ICE providing more sustained power.

From an absolute comparison standpoint, 40% of the usable Volt battery is 16 miles range more or less on the older model.

As for John's comment on EV/HV mode button being more flexible, the 2013+ Volt allows Hold mode preserving battery at any charge level, so I'm not sure about being MORE flexible. Both cars deal with the issue the way they need to.

 

Oh! I forgot the threshold changing from a fixed point to whenever you choose. Mid-cycle upgrades sure are nice.

Interesting history note is the original Volt supporters were dead set against Hold mode... since they felt forcing HV would make it too much like a Prius. Things have certainly changed.