What gas do you put in your Prius Prime?

Wow, that's like in the 1950s. Perhaps I should go there if the overall lifestyles are still 1950s there.

 

Avoid telling the pump jockey to fill it up, just ask for $15.00 or what ever (I was a pump jockey in my college years we would try to round to the nearest $ to avoid having to go into the office to make change)

A looong time ago I was returning from a trip to FL and traveling through NJ. My van got 11 mpg on a good day, so I was looking to save as much $$ as possible. I pulled off to get gas. The big sign in front of the gas station indicated "$1.12 9/10" and the station across the street was a few cents more.

I got out of the van and noticed that the price on the pump (the little numbers built in to the pump) were set at $1.21 9/10. I asked the pump jockey about this and he said it didn't matter. OK, so I left and filled up across the street.

 

I have no plan to travel to NJ, but we still have a few gas stations with full-service pumps. I don't use it often but when I don't feel like getting out of the car or the self-serve pump has a long line, I used it. Yeah, that might be what I have to do if I ever need to stop at a full-service gas station again. But, I don't carry cash, the rounded number doesn't matter much on a card transaction.

 

The only other state to outlaw self-service was Oregon, but I understand that they have backed off a bit on that and there are now some situations where you can pump your own gasoline.

 

Good 'ol 87 from the cheapest place I can find at that time. i've never had problems with Toyotas from my '86 Celica GT-S to my Prime.

 

87 from costco for me

 

I use 87 octane top tier gas

 

All PRII are factory tuned for economy. So 87 only.

SM-N986U1 ?

 

Living on the border of PA/NJ I have often encountered people from NJ asking me for help as they have no clue how to pump their own gas. Most are surprised how easy it is.

it used to be even easier. It’s now pay before you pump everywhere. You used to be able to pump it then walk in then pay. Like 16 years ago.

 

I once pumped and drove away. Those were the good days.

SM-N986U1 ?

 

The reason I suggested a dollar amount is so that the gas pumper doesn't try to cram more fuel into the tank after it clicks off.
I've done full serve on occasion over the years. They almost always will keep going after the pump clicks off for some reason.

 

I have a bad habit of overfilling. Could be potentially disastrous decades from now. I let the dice roll. Check owners manual. And put 2-3 gallons LESS than what it says. Keep in mind. It's stating the capacity when fully filled from empty (empty as in the tank being dry, not empty like the gauge reads.)

SM-N986U1 ?

 

Lol. By accident? Or on purpose. The pay before you pump started kind of when the giant SUV crazy began and it then cost $60+’ to fill a tank. At least that’s how I remember.

I also remember when a $5 bill would fill half my tank.

 

new to plug-in Thank you Prius chat!

I truly think it’s great, after running a larger yard business in the past, I have always used, in high capacity mowing machines at least, non-ethanol 90.

I have noticed several things from this, mostly that they don’t misfire or give out as much noxious fumes. I have come to the conclusion (from experience), that when you store corn gasoline gasoline ( ethanol 87 /91 etc.) that the mowing machines tend to run a slightly rough.

I noticed a senior member mentioned that in these high-capacity modern cars, that 87 ethanol is fine. (Toyota and all modern car gasoline engines have sophisticated equipment to make this possible).

I figure, that if the car (gasoline) sits for the month or two or three) because we are charging every night, then the extra two or three dollars for non-ethanol is an optimal solution.

My family has had Volvo wagons for 20 years and we are extremely excited for passing up the gas stations!

Noticing that I can charge this car nightly, sometimes it gets 29 to 30 miles on a charge, I came to the conclusion that $2.85 for the non-ethanol 90 ( Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada ) is worth the extra 2 or 3 dollars per tank. I charge every night in the garage at 1am ( for a 5.5 hour charge).
This may be pure subjective on my part, but I do realize that when gas sits for lengthy times, it is worth for me to put the extra two or three dollars if you can find non-ethanol gas. – Which is fairly difficult anyway.

Hope this helps, but I truly enjoy the fact that I can plug it in, and have a very quiet ride.

As another topic, sorry for this lengthy reply, I am curious what happens to the engine when it does shifts into gasoline mode while driving on the highway, having only used electricity (traction battery) for days??

I wonder whether I should use the middle HV/EV button feature, by holding it down for five seconds, to let the engine run a little before I attempt to go on the highway.

Thanks for the moderators of Prius Chat for this great forum! Us Newbies really appreciate it!

 

This would be true if PHEV engineers were dumb enough to just slap on a lawn mower gas tank with a big vent hole in the cap. Plug in hybrids seal the tank so no air or moisture gets in and no pollutants escape. The owners manual says the gas will keep for a year. There have been no reports here of the manual proving to be wrong; just lots of assumptions based on 1950's gas tank technology. I last got gas almost six months ago. ICE still purrs like a kitten. On 50 mph roads it gets 70 mpg or better in HV mode. [edited for clarity]

When you do that, the electric motors absolutely pamper the ICE. When the ICE first starts up you'll be getting about 100 mpg or more because the EV part of the system is doing most of the work while the engine comes up to temperature running at about a thousand rpm. This saves wear and tea and also reduces emissions.

Holding it down like that will put it into charge mode. Just press it and it will go into HV mode. Some people put it into HV before getting on the highway. It's really not necessary because of the way the car handles the transition. But, if you like pushing buttons, it won't hurt anything. I sometimes do that, but just so I'll have more EV range at the other end of the trip.

 

Good to know.

 

The PiP does the same. It's fun (traffic permitting) to watch it get outrageous gas mileage while it warms up by borrowing energy from the battery and then getting about 30-35 mpg after the warmup while it pays back the energy loan before it settles down.

 

As I recall, one of the reasons for the addition of ethanol was for pollution control after MTBE was found to have ground water contamination issues, and was banned in many, if not all, states.

 

I may be off base on this, but my take is that ethanol addition was pork to prop up corn farmers. We pay higher prices while efficiency suffers as a result, so much so that any atmospheric cleansing effect is lost by the diminished mpg... you need more of it to go the same distance (duh)!

On a brighter note (don't hold your breath, but) rumors are that the current administration may be building 550,000 charging stations... It'd be nice to have more accessibility.

 

Thanks very much! This forum is very helpful and nice to have a like-minded community for higher miles per gallon!

I am thoroughly pleased with the Prime. Having the information on the technology PHEV / ICE engineering is insight much appreciated

Just glad my "gas Station" visits are few and Department of Transportation is to increase charging stations:>

I wish I could afford solar panels and house battery storage to charge the Prius ! I remember when Jimmy Carter put them on the White House.

Looking at tires to replace the OEM / and spark plug DIY.