Will it hurt the ICE switching from EV to HV while doing 65mph?

I don't drive 65 when I'm in the HOV lane.. it is always a minimum of 70-75 MPH. Then again, I'm not going to floor the car to close up a 100 foot gap just to slam on the brakes and end up tailgating the person in front of me in the HOV lane. It's just common sense.

 

Agreed, you need to drive as it makes sense and is safest.

Personally, I usually plan ahead and run the engine warm up when I know I have a decent stretch on a secondary road at a constant speed (70-80km/h) before getting on the the highway. Seems to me the most logical way to do it. My most common commute path has a logical place to do this.

Ideally, I don’t believe leaving the engine cold when getting on the highway is the safest thing to do, as you never know if your timing may require a more aggressive merge (with a truck bearing down, etc), which the car may not be as willing to accommodate, if the engine is stone cold.

 

True - I actually get up to speed first before switching to HV. I also try to merge into as large a gap in the HOV lane as possible so I won't back anyone up - not that I'm driving all that slow anyway.

 

I get onto the freeway at the speed of traffic and merge into the carpool lane at 70 MPH which is 5 MPH over the speed limit. Over the next minute I get up to 75 MPH which is now 10 MPH over the speed limit and keep it there.

I can't tell you the amount of morons I see blaze by at 85 MPH and then about 10 seconds later I see them hitting the brakes as they hit the next bunch of cars. I don't worry about idiots as a general policy.

 

That's not entirely true. If you push the accelerator down hard, you will be propelled by the battery and engine.

The next time you come to a red light which turns green, press the accelerator firmly to the floor. The engine will start up and will go to full power and propel you forward with additional power from the battery. In this case there is no warm-up cycle as you stated.

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Have done this multiple times with no ill effect besides the guilt of engaging the gasser in my Prime.

 

I often end up a drive knowing I'm going to run out of EV a few miles from home. I dont want ICE coming on at the end of a drive for just a couple of minutes, under a strain climbing a hill, then to be shut off (arriving at home) without having time to come up to temp.

Instead I switch to HV on the highway while I still have plenty of EV. This lets the car decide when its warm enough to use ICE. When I get close enough to home the remaining EV will make it I switch back to EV only. While I may end up not using the full EV range, in my mind I would rather the switch to HV be done in a controlled situation where ICE is not under immediate demand.

 

Agreed. Under normal circumstances, the ICE should never turn on when in EV + ECO mode and the accelerator is fully floored.

However, it does not appear to be so when the Prime is switched to "Power" + EV mode. In my experience, when the Prime is placed in "Power" + EV mode the engine ICE will ignite when the accelerator pedal is fully floored.

Not sure how it behaves in "Normal"+EV setting.

Anyone, please correct me if you experienced differently.

 

I do the same. As the weather cools down, I can’t make my daily round trip on EV only, so I switch to HV while on the highway, then back to EV when I’m reasonably certain there is enough left on the battery to make it to my garage. Seems to be a smooth transition.

 

The computers control the drive, so I'd assume there is not much a driver can do to disrupt how the drivetrain functions, except perhaps shifting into reverse at speed. Though there is probably a failsafe for that as well.

I save power for deep snow, since I'm not going to get any kind of mileage anyways. Otherwise, I usually just stick with normal,
I've had to train new foot an leg muscles to -back off and hold- the go pedal steady.

 

Hopefully this discussion cleared up any misconceptions people still have about the fact that a 'warmup cycle' is NOT needed with the Prime in most circumstances ( i.e. - in EV mode ). I think this occurs because people assume that the Prime operates like a 'regular' hybrid Prius...which does always need the 'warmup cycle'.

Is my thinking correct? I don't have a Prime...I'm going off what I have read.

However, I am a bit confused as to what happens with the 'warming cycle' when a Prime is in EV mode and is then switched to 'Power' mode, etc...while driving. In this case, instant power is needed, the engine turns on in an 'unwarmed' state, and a 'warming cycle' can't happen. I'm assuming the increased pollution in the interim is considered to be 'ok' given the circumstances?

 

The Prime goes through a warmup cycle just the same. Going 65 mph in EV with a cold engine, hit the EV/HV button to go from EV to HV and you'll note that the mpg instantaneous gauge is still pegged, at least on mine, which only goes to 199.9 mpg. That's because the EV part of the system is doing most of the work while the ICE warms up. (Remember that the Prime can go in EV up to 84 mph so there's plenty to spare at 65.) It'll borrow energy from the battery till the ICE is ready to assume its normal role in propulsion. As it warms up, the ICE will take on more of the load. Once it's warmed up enough, the ICE will pay back the energy loan by getting about 35 mpg till the battery is back up to where it was when you made the switch. Easy peasy. Nothing to be concerned about but interesting as heck to watch.

 

Cool. Makes sense. Thx for clearing that up for me!

 

Floor it harder at an absolute dead stop. It will engage in any mode.

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When the scale is in the Power range, the engine is contributing. In EV mode it is impossible to get the scale into that zone.

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Except in a couple infrequent special cases, the engine is contributing to one degree or another any time that the EV indicator next to the speedometer is not lit, not just when it's in the power band.

And I have floored mine in EV mode a few times. The ICE never came on. Like Tideland, I've never done it in PWR mode and I never use EV Auto at all.

 

Yap, that's what I do too. Except, I don't have a highway speed drive in my commute. In past two winters when the EV range is diminished, I used HV in the morning commute and EV for the afternoon commute, but I am going to experiment switching EV/HV for both trips this winter. I am doing that right now, this usese more gas, meaning I have more unused EV range left when reaching home by switching EV/HV more frequently. I try to keep the ICE warm-up cycle to occur only once during the trip and using HV for high-speed and uphill segments seems to be working well to extend my EV range on the GOM.

 

That sounds perfect for me...my commute is 10 miles each way so the Prime would easily cover that in full EV mode.

Of course, I'm sure climate matters. I know the Prime has the heat pump but for really cold MN winters I'm sure the engine would always come on with heat usage ( either that or I wear a parka and go without heat ).

But personally...I'm waiting for the 'next gen' of the Prius/Prime (for now)..so I have a few years to make a decision.