When does the car cruise on electric only?

1. if you are just moving the car in a parking lot, EV can stop the warm up cycle from starting. If you are trying to slowly sneak in late without waking the spouse, it is worth a try.

2.Once fully warm and charged, say 20 miles into your drive, if you cruise on city streets (25 to 35) with no stops, you should be able to go over 1/2 mile. Steady cruising under 40 MPH, when fully warmed up, and with at least 5 bars in the battery gauge.

 

I have owned a gen 2 and a v, both will if I come down from highway speeds to city streets without stopping.

 

it should go into ev mode quite often. not familiar with c, but you should have a screen with a hybrid system indicator (hsi) which has a needle or digital display showing whether you are in regen, eco, normal or power mode as you press and release the go pedal. eco is usually ev only. also, you should have an ev light, for when you're running ev, and also an mpg indicator that when in ev will show full mpg's. (99.9 or something)

once your engine has warmed up, it will stop running when you come to a full stop. then, if you proceed slowly on a back road, as you accelerate, you will eventually hear/feel the engine kick on.

 

My understanding is that EV mode is equivalent to telling your Prius you'd REALLY, REALLY like to be in EV mode.
That is after pressing it, it will adapt parameters to try to allow you to be in EV mode as much as possible.
However, it's not an override and you'll notice that many times when you press it, you'll get the "EV Mode Not Available" message.

When you choose to use it, is entirely up to you. Again, The Prius still has to meet certain operational criteria to allow you to be in EV regardless, so the EV button is NOT a guarantee you'll be able to be in EV mode. At slower speeds, when the HV battery is showing a good charge, and when the engine is warmed up? EV will probably work.

With experience driving The Prius, I find I hardly ever use EV mode. The reason being is that I can coax the vehicle "naturally" into EV mode in most situations now, and the times it's NOT in EV mode, and I'd like it to be, are now pretty rare.

Maybe the most beneficial use of EV mode to me, is if you've arrived at a very crowded parking lot, and are hunting around at low speed looking for a spot.

I've also found that the HSD system itself is pretty efficient-left alone. And, there are no free lunches. If I use EV mode for an extended period of time, I will eventually have to make up any severe HV Battery charge I use up, which means the engine running overtime to make up the charge. Which usually I think burns as much gas, as I've just "saved" maybe more. Therefore.....parking lots and maybe when I want to "show off" EV driving to friends that have never ridden in a Prius, are just about the only 2 rare times I use EV. It is also good if you need to move your car a very short distance.

Otherwise, I find EV to really be a pretty limited option.

As far as when will your Prius run "naturally" in EV mode?
Well with time and experience you'll just kind of notice and pick up when it is doing so, so it kind of teaches you when it will and can.
In general with my Standard Gen 3 Prius, I have found that I need the engine warmed up, The HV battery closer to a charged state, than a lower charged state, and I need a lower speed scenario, usually under 45 miles per hour.
As I said, when those parameter are met, I've gotten pretty good at being able to coax the Prius into EV simply through accelerator pedal manipulation. But also, The Prius is designed to be efficient. I also simply do not worry about it much. It knows when it can be in EV, and it put's itself into EV automatically. I don't really obsess about it either being in EV or not. I judge how well I'm doing as a driver and how The Prius is operating as a Hybrid, by my full tank to full tank MPG. If those are good? I'm good.

So those are my impressions and opinions about EV mode usage.
Boils down to...Yeah you can use it, but as a new Prius driver? I wouldn't obsess about when or how much the vehicle is in EV mode. You're not doing something wrong if you are NOT using it, and the system really knows how to maximize it's usage naturally. Getting GREAT gas mileage, and most often keeping the HV battery on the fuller side of being charged, I think results in the better overall results. My advice, for the most part....just drive it.

 

Yes it will. If you keep the information display set to show the throttle graph (the green bar that moves as you press the gas pedal) you'll see a little green icon in the shape of a car with the letters "EV" light up whenever the gas engine turns off. You should find that this happens almost every time you stop unless the battery is depleted or it's cold out and you've got the cabin heat at a moderate to high level (because that heat comes from the gas engine). It'll also happen other times, depending on circumstances. Given enough battery charge it will generally come on while you're cruising on level ground at speeds below around 50-60 km/h (30-35MPH). It'll turn off any time you apply more throttle than the midpoint of the "eco" range of the graph on the information display (the point at which you can see a tiny break in the white lines that outline the graph).

 

When the engine is sufficiently warmed up and the battery is sufficiently charged, then as long as you're driving under 42-45mph and keeping the throttle graph under its midpoint, then the ICE will not be activated.

If you press the accelerator too hard, if you go too fast, if you drain the battery too much, or if the engine is not warmed up, then the ICE will be activated.

 

If you have a lot or all of the following conditions, the car will shut the engine down, run off the battery only:

1. Engine decently warmed up.
2. Near level roads.
3. Slower speeds.
4. Easy touch on the gas pedal.

You don't need all of the above. For example, we often drive downtown, then park in this parking garage, up on the fourth level, since it's convenient to a walkway. Due to low speed and being warmed up, the car will willingly climb up the spiral ramp in electric only, even though it's quite steep. To the point that it'll run the battery right down to two bars, and fire up the engine.

I wouldn't too aggressively seek out EV, especially once the battery charge has dropped some, say to half. At that point I'd try to use pulse-and-glide more.

 

Half (20 miles) of my daily commute is on roads where my speed ranges from 25-50 mph. This is really the sweet spot for getting into EV mode naturally, which I don't think is possible at speeds above 44.. (The EV button is pretty much useless). This 20 miles is mostly level roads, but there are a few hills, one steep, but most rather mild, 4 stop lights, and two left turns (one at a stop sign). I average 70 mpg on that stretch, except during the cold weather months, and spend a good portion of it in EV mode.

The normal 1 to 1 1/2 miles that you can run on battery only (EV), is greatly extended by the coasting and breaking that occur naturally during that 20 miles, which recharges the battery a little here and a little there. As someone else said, watch the ECO Score gauge in the multi display unit and you'll see how every movement of your foot effects your entering and leaving EV mode, battery charging, and thus your mileage.

 

1. The EV button: how does it work, and more importantly, when does one use it?

If you just want to move the car around in a lot, then as soon as you start up the car you also press/hold the ev button (also go very very easy on the gas) and car should be in EV mode OR when you're coming into a lot and cruising in low low speed, then hit the EV button and car should go into EV mode; however, your best bet is to pretty much just let the car go into ev on it's own, since the EV button is sort of a gimmick anyway and will not work a lot of the times.

2. In non-EV mode, when and in what situations, does the car automatically run on the electric motor only?

Cruising under 45mph when engine is fully warmed up. If you want the car to go to ev mode, just let off on the gas until the eco bar hits that plane between regen braking and moving forward.

 

I've found the EV mode to be fairly pointless given that the ECO score display has the EV indicator. So long as the car is in a proper setting (not needing to warm the engine up to get heat for the heater, not having just started, battery charged sufficiently, etc), a Prius C can run on full electric power at a maximum speed of 42mph on level terrain and closer to 45mph on declines. Beyond that, full electric power is not possible.
My assumption of the purpose of the EV mode button is two fold:

1. Self satisfaction with having a dedicated EV mode
2. EV mode speeds of 25mph are terrain and condition neutral. That is to say that the EV mode restrictions allow the car to run in full electric mode in any temperature or terrain which might limit the ability to run in full electric mode.