While I didn't buy my 2012 Prius (3) to climb mountains, it is interesting to see how much the mileage can drop when the battery pack is depleted. ~10MPG going up, 99+ going down. The car had some notable problems on the final 13k-14k climb, couldn't get above ~10 MPH no matter how much (electronic) throttle given, seemed to be in some sort of limp mode / engine at a steady 3000RPM and sounding as if under maximum load. Coming down was different of course, in "B" mode the battery filled completely after a few minutes. Had to stop at the brake checkpoint to let them cool down.
We live in "lower EagleRidge" as I like to call it: the flatlands at the base of a hillside residential neighborhood. The streets are nice and level, are driveway's a gentle upgrade. Meanwhile up the hill, EVERY drive is a redline hill climb, driveways will take off your muffler, and so on. They can have it.
I've never had to that before, stop at brake checkpoint. Just wondering how to do you know when you have to stop at a checkpoint? Thanks
Pikes Peak Road has a mandatory brake checkpoint, where an attendant uses a handheld remote IR thermometer gun to check brake disk temperatures. Those who flunk must pull over into a cooling off zone. The day I was there, snow had closed the road above Devil's Playground, so we hoofed it the rest of the way to the top. Driving down, I took several voluntary brake cooling stops before reaching the checkpoint, so easily passed the check. But while the spouse was in the gift shop there, an F150 pickup flunked and had to sit out. It stunk to high heaven.
That sounds about right. The maximum revs of the ICE is regulated by how fast MG1 and MG2 turn. Since MG1 has a fixed limit of 10.000 rpm (IIRC) you can calculate the maximum revs of the ICE at any given speed. At 10 mph it's about 3100 rpm. That's also why a Prius wil rev up gradually when you accelerate fully from a standstil. From 0 to 75 mph you go from ~2800 to 5200 rpm.
I took mine 2006 Prius to Pikes-Peak this summer. Going up hill was ok but going down was bit issue. The breaks heated up and when I poured a cold drinking water on front brakes the ABS break warning lights came on.
Wow, that’s a sure fire way to warp the rotors, or even crack them. They need to cool down gradually to avoid rotor damage.
