Drive Modes

The confusion is understandable. Toyota has my order, so I don't feel too bad in getting ahead of myself a bit.

 

That will vary by SOC and your route and driving behavior. I'd like to hear specifics too.

E.g., in a regular Prius the amount of battery contribution was highly influenced by SOC with the car trying to keep SOC in ~ 60% range. I don't know if Toyota changed the control parameters for HV mode in the Prime but their past announcements that Prime will preferentially use the battery during low power situations makes me think there are programming changes. It would make sense since the car may have ~ 10x the battery to use.

 

I can tell you about the PiP (I think the Prime will be principally the same).
When I select HV while there are still EV miles available, this SOC (EV miles) are registered as the target to keep for later EV use.

 

Let's just say the Prime uses 15% to 85% of the battery. I suspect it's a little bit less, but let's just suppose.

The Ev range would be something like the 25% to 85% range, and the 15% to 25% range would be the Hv range.

Note that I'm not claiming those numbers are accurate, just the concept.

 

You are probably not far off with the numbers too. With the PiP it was found (by external equipment) that the EV portion is 85% to 23-24% SOC and the HV from there to 17-18%.

 

That suggest 5.4 kWh useable in EV mode(s), and 216 Wh/mile for a 25 mile range. If my arithmetic is correct it matches the 133 MPGe rating although I am not sure if the MPGe is a combined city/highway number

 

I estimated 5.7 kWh useable for EV in another thread, it depends on charging losses (I estimated 10%).
Someone reported lately (cannot find it) 6.3 kWh from wall for empty to full with L2, this confirms the 5.7?
EDIT Found it:
Vegas Trip in the Prime | PriusChat

 

It is how the EV mode on the PiP and Energi's work. The difference is in what acceleration rate and speed threshold triggers ICE use between the models. The Prime's EV mode is still a blended EV one, but the thresholds are high enough that most people won't trigger them in regular use.

The Prius ICE warms pretty quickly, and it will go through the warm up cycle upon first firing so that it and the emission system will be warmed up for the next use.

 

Ford's had EV Auto in the Energi since 2013.

 

Prime's EV mode is EV all he way! what you are describing here is EV auto.

 

I had the engine start in Ev mode during a test drive. High throttle position and a small amount of remaining Ev range did it.

 

Yes, I should have said: all the way provided certain basic conditions are met. I assume it may also start when battery temp is extremely high and full throttle.
Protecting the battery is the highest priority.

 

Is there any difference to the liftbacks ev capability when driving the Prime in hybrid-mode ?

 

Liftbacks (with EV button) have two kinds of EV drive:
1. without selecting EV, only at very low speeds and throttle displacements. Some call it 'golf cart mode'.
2. with EV selecting, a bit higher speeds and throttle displacements.

PiP (and I assume also Prime) does not have option 2. You cannot switch to EV drive from HV unless the battery SOC is raised into its EV portion (like regeneration in long downhill and of course while charging from external source).

 

How much more ICE use does it have compared to the EV mode?

The Prime has a top speed of 84mph in EV mode. Presumably, the car can go faster with the ICE. This and the use of the ICE at times of low charge and high battery temps mean that EV mode really isn't EV all the way.

 

Just depends on how much throttle one uses. I don't use Ford's Auto mode much (almost never) because when driven efficiently (like I do) it will use up the batt completely before engaging the ICE even up to highway speeds. So I typically stick with EV Now till about 45mph and switch to EV Later (hybrid mode) above that when traveling on the highway on trips longer than the EV range.

Bottom line: EV Auto doesn't seem to have very sophisticated software algorithms. I suspect the Prime will have more advanced programming.

 

Lee Jay, I thought you had posted a link to the PDF of the Owners Manual. would you please point me to it. I am ready to put it on my ipad

 

ok, i just googled it 2017 Toyota Prius Prime Owners Manual and Warranty - Toyota Owners
if different let me know