Avoided warm-up cycle after overnight park

Ambient air temperature is the trigger. I haven't worked out the exact figure but it's somewhere around mid teens deg C where above that the warm up cycle doesn't trigger until the HV battery level falls below 2 bars or you push the accelerator pedal too hard.

 

I've a similar "first thing in the morning" start. IF I've got at least ½ battery charge, when I park the night before, I ensure the Climate Control is OFF. And, first thing when I POWER up, I press her EV Button.

No, not every time - probably 95%. But, she has a mind of her own, and 5% of the time, she'll start the ICE straight off, or give "EV UNAVAILABLE". She reckons she doesn't need to give a reason.

 

This seems to me to be the number one reason the fourth gen's are yielding such high mpg numbers. Hopefully not overtaxing the battery.

 

Calling for EV mode on first start up in previous generations would delay the ICE turning on also. If there was enough charge, the battery wasn't too cold or hot, etc.

 

With the 4th gen I believe the car will sometime start and can be driven without the engine starting up, without the EV button being pushed.

 

i never got more than 15 or 20 seconds on a warm day with full battery before the ice fired in my gen 2's.

 

I have that in the mornings, as long as climate is off I can get out of the garage, drive up the close, and about 300 yards down the road before the ICE cuts in. I usually have about 50% charge in the morning and this is driving in normal mode.

 

Yes it does, I assumed that's what the OP was referring to.

 

Thanks - that explains a lot - and I suspect Gen 4 is based on it.
Mine will go to 37km/hr cold in EV mode (about 50 when hot), and one time I tried it out on a mix of level/slight-downhill (no traffic either), went for about 2½km then when the battery hit 3 bars engaged the ICE.

 

My understanding is that the consideration is catalytic converter temperature. Don't know why you didn't get into the warmup though

 

I thought it was a combination of vehicle speed and engine temp (coolant and/or oil temperature, or maybe catalytic converter temp) that triggered the warmup cycle.

Very consistently, if I have not driven the car in quite a while (all day or overnight), the engine comes on like clockwork the first time I pass 20 mph. At work in the summertime, outside temps often hit over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, yet if the car has been parked all day, engine warmup starts like clockwork as I pass 20 mph. It does this even though when leaving work at the end of the day, the first mile is downhill.

 

Yes, that's about right - 38km/hr on a cold engine will kick it to life. But if the heater (Climate Control when the requested temp is MORE than the ambient) is on, it'll come on immediately, as the heater needs the ICE to be running to warm you up.

 

I think the engine comes on at high temp low speed simply to bring the cat. up to its optimum working temperature.

 

I'm currently driving a Toyota CH-R Hybrid in Japan. Back home in Australia I drive a Lexus CT200h so I am familiar with the warm up cycle.

I was surprised when driving the CH-R, the warm up cycle did not run after parking overnight. There must therefore be more similarity between the Gen 4 Prius and CH-R than the Gen 3.

On a side note, the transition between engine and battery is significantly smoother than the CT200h.

 

Gen 4's transition is like that - unless you realllllly try, you won't notice it at all, and even then, only rarely.

 

Can't say I've ever noticed any transition between ICE and EV on any Prius. I've had the Gen 3, the Prius+ (or v wagon in US) and now have the Gen 4, all ran on Shell fuel. Maybe I'm too thick skinned to notice

 

Interesting as my 2014 Auris/Corolla should be totally like GEN3 hybrid system on Gen3 prius.
But i have had two successfully EV only getaways after work when car has been on hot parking lot(well not so hot, but something like 30C).
Car has been sitting about 8 hours.

Havent monitored it via Hybrid Assistant but i try do that next time when i keep car in sunshine and think that maybe it does not fire ICE and check temps from OBD2.

 

If it's a cooler day - and Samantha thinks I want the heater on, she'll kick the ICE on almost immediately I press start. I've got about 1-2 seconds to turn Climate Control OFF and hit the EV button after startup - or her ICE will be on.

In reality - if I have Climate Control off after the ICE starts (i.e. - the heater OFF as I don't really like heaters unless it's actually cold) - I don't think it makes an appreciable difference to l/100km whether her ICE starts when I first hit START, or whether I run her in EV mode till the battery is low before her ICE starts.

The ICE WILL start at some time - and if the battery is low, there are no opportunities to play games like Pulse-n-glide etc.