When I first got my 2007 Prius.. I'd drive it till I got the low fuel warning to see just how many miles I could squeeze out of a tank... Gas stations are on every corner, so there was always plenty of gas to make it to a station. Well that was fun for summer driving, but in my climate, running out of gas in winter driving can be dangerous... So in winters I'd fill up at 2 bars. and even in summer if I know I'm going into bumper to bumper traffic I fill up at 2 bars. So now with my new Prime, and a "free" tank of gas, I'm wondering again just how far I can go before the warning. It's fun to have a fresh car and a spreadsheet. But I'm wondering if other Prime owners have played this game, and if they know about how much usable gas you have after the warning... I guess it might be different than the 07... and you lose the game if you have to call AAA for gas.
last fill-up, light comes on at 25 (or 28?) miles left, i got to the gas station with 1 or 2 miles to go and was able to put ~10.2 gal, after topping off a little, so there was ~ 1.2-1.3 gal left, good for probably another 80 miles on ICE (with my normal driving style). Even after 10 fill-ups, my range says ~ 435 miles to empty, which is incorrect but i don't pay attention to that anymore
At least forty miles after the low gas warning indicates I'm on reserve. It then takes 11gal to fill back up
For me, the light came on when the expected range was 29 miles. I drove 12 more miles and the wand clicked off at 9.9 gallons, leaving 1.4 gallons remaining. Those 12 miles were at 48mph so that was an additional quarter of a gallon. That will likely be the last time I see the gas warning light.
the problem with plug ins is, in some circumstances, you may never have to fill up. i fill when the warning beep and last pip flashes. if i were on the road and concerned about finding a station, i'd start looking with 2 pips.
On Gen3, fill up right after the light came on was always less than 10 gal, more like 9 gal to fill up again. So, I figured close to 2 gal of gas was left in the tank. I did the same with Prime twice already, and both times it took less than 10 gal. So, PRIME also have close to 2 gal of gas left in the tank when the light comes on. With Prime milage I get, even with ICE only drive, that should be about 100 miles of driving range. If you can charge, you can go even longer.
I am fine with driving for a while after the light comes on because we all know there is a gallon or more left. But I am not one to push this since the 2011 southwest blackout. That morning I drove my Camry to work and it was pretty low on gas but figured I would get gas on the way home. Then the blackout happened and all the traffic signals went out which made traffic insane and there was no way to get gas without electricity. It took some doing just to get on the freeway which was also jammed. I called my wife and told her I probably would not make it home before running out of gas. Well I drove with zero miles left and did make it home, but don't want to repeat that again.
Right... Similar thinking for winter driving around here... When I am coming home from work... I fill up at two bars at the station near work..because the traffic is that bad. However other than that I'd drive one of my 19 mile trips if it just hit one bar, so long as I know there is smooth sailing... Speaking of power outages.. I have work friends buying Teslas... Exactly what do you do with those cars if there is a storm that knocks out power for 4 - 5 days (It happens here)... own a backup car? With a Prime, you have the option of just using gas -- so long as the stations have power.
Sounds like a fun game, but why not run it dry, then you can tell us all how far it will go on one tankfull? ...and don't forget to make a note of how much it costs to replace the fuel pump after it burns out so you can share that with us also!
So like a strawman? Or are you saying that Toyota doesnt know how to design a fuel system? Especially since the 07 manual said that while you should avoid running out of gas, you can have a limited amount of EV driving if it runs out to get the car to a safe spot. And they say it again for the Prime.... or are you saying its not propper to enjoy a car?
If I respond to your post you might misunderstand me and think that I care in the slightest about how far you can drive when your fuel gauge is flashing at you, warning you to get fuel, and you're having fun trying to squeeze the last drop out of the tank just to see how far you can go! …so I won't, and enjoy your "fun" and… BTW Welcome to PriusChat, and, oh …enjoy the rest of your life!
Ah.. ok got it... it was purely a troll... so some play gas range games some enjoy trolling But knowing the parameters of your gas tank is safety training. For instance the prius "tank" doesnt hold a fixed quantity of gas. in cold weather you can fit less gallons in than warm weather, even though the gauge still reads from full down to warning. so is knowing all the parameters to squeeze max miles on the tank. This is how you know how to respond if you get the fuel warning unexpectidly.
Well what I do is run the car to the low fuel light and refuel as soon as possible. This allows me to gauge (pun intended) the reserve amount when the light goes on. Toyota typically does 10 litres but in the Gen 4, Toyota threw a curve ball and it's actually 8 litres. (i.e. Gen 3's gas tank is 45 litres, Gen 4 is 43 litres but they both have the low fuel light come on after 35 litres of fuel has been used). With my Gen 3, I then use a rough estimate of 10 litres left, use a nice round number of 5L/100km, that means I have 200km until I'm on fumes. Using that, I've driven 100km past the light and have refuelled 40-42 litres (summer vs. winter) and it has worked out well. I only do that in the summer. The winter one was the one time I was on the highway and wanted to refuel back at the "home" gas station. The low fuel light came on about 60km outside of the city. I haven't done it now that the car is older because of the potential of crud at the bottom of the tank. (The one time recently, the engine wasn't running smoothly so there's something at the bottom of the gas tank)
On every new vehicle I buy, after the first complete fill-up, I purposely run the tank down "close" to E and then fill the tank and compute the difference in how much it took to fill it versus the capacity. That gives me a benchmark as to how accurate the fuel gauge is at the low end. It's a one time test. After that, I fill up around 1/4 tank. It gives me an idea of how screwed I am if I get caught very low on a road trip with no stations.
