Since our PIP can be recharged by plug/gas. Why can't gas recharge the whole battery? instead of just ~1.5ish miles. There must be a way to unlock so the motor can recharge the whole battery ~14 miles. Any thoughts?
yes, they added that feature to the new prime. other than saying anything can be done, i can only say that no one here is brilliant enough to do it. we're still trying to figure out basic repairs on the cars, not hack the software (and maybe hardware) that would lead to an inefficient use of gasoline
Seems to me I recall at least one other poster saying he fully recharged his PIP while driving for quite a while on rolling terrain. I suppose it's possible.
Yup, it’s called stacking. The trick is to get the ICE warmed up and to leave enough EV so you can recharge the battery by switching between EV and HV modes repeatedly. Switch to HV when accelerating, going uphill and cruising at high speeds, and then when decelerating or going downhill, switch to EV. I’ve stacked the battery to full on a fairly long trip that way even though I had only 1.3 miles of EV left when I had the PiP in the past. It’s a little easier on the Prime because it’s quite a bit more efficient, but I don’t take the Prime on really long trips. iPad ? Pro
Forcing the gas engine to fully recharge the battery regardless of conditions would be inefficient and self-defeating. And the PIP still used much of the "regular" hybrid programming, I think.
For normal, typical driving use (outside of certain special conditions), this defeats the entire purpose of making a plug-in car.
Stacking works really well. That's why I call it a car with a built-in game. I generally end up with at least 58 mpg on long trips with hills.
I'm guessing stacking is more efficient than force charge since you're just driving to the terrain and simply just moving the EV/HV threshold that's artificially set by the computer. (If we agree on the term "stacking", I can add it to the PC Glossary)
by adding miles to ev, you're taking away from hv. like force charge, it would be an interesting study in lost efficiency
I’d agree with that statement. Not quite as efficient as pulse and glide, but much easier to use for drivers. Better than pulse and glide with hilly terrain and when trying to keep up with traffic. iPad ? Pro
Actually when going down a long hill with a state trooper sitting at the bottom, putting it in EV and using B to keep my car from going the 85 I hit on the previous hill (with my wife yelling at me), efficiency was the last thing on my mind. On the previous hill I was trying to convince my wife I was using kinetic energy to help me back up the hill. She wasn’t buying it. Stacking also helps with peace of mind. iPad ? Pro
Hybrid battery charge mode is documented on page 91 of the Prime manual. It does reduce HV efficiency in bringing the battery up to 80% charge. So the primary use would probably be while in HV mode on the highway to build EV charge for when getting off the highway.
I used stacking now and then in the PiP. But only in certain situations where I was on highways with stop lights (no hills anywhere around here) and then planning to do some surface street driving.
Put it in D, put your left foot on the brake and floor it. Will it charge the battery? Yes Is it a complete waste of fuel? Yes
