EV mode and range questions

I have made it over half a mile, but not a full mile. Using ev mode alot is hard on the battery, and will also lower your overall mpg.

 

Not necessarily true. If you have the right elevation, you can use it pretty effectively. I use EV for about half a mile of my commute and I don't lose any charge.

OP- EV is mainly only useful for parking lot situations, though. If you can't find a way to get that energy back without using the ICE, it's not worth it. Also, I'm pretty sure EV doesn't work if you run out of gas.

 

Just before I arrive at my apartment complex in the evening, I have a stop sign and then a reasonably steep hill. Climbing up that using the ICE feels painful, and the MPG agrees. I realized that I could switch to EV, however, and make it up the hill usually with 4 bars left on the battery, though sometimes only 3. Then I coast through the complex to my parking spot. The next morning, the process of warming up and subsequently going down that same hill inevitably recharges the battery, energy that would be produced even with a full battery, so I think I get a net gain.

Of course, going up a steep hill from a complete stop uses a lot of energy, so I definitely cannot claim any distance record on EV!

 

If your using ev mode for a half mile you don't use any charge? A big down hill section? Then your using gravity i would think?

 

I'v made it about a half a mine too

 

PikRok,
Can't say how far I've gone, but I think I've gotten up to 26 mph in a slow trip on the interstate using only electric power. Couldn't get any faster without the ICE kicking in.

 

I use EV sometimes and the max speed is 26. There are times where it's 13.

 

I just wanted to add, if you guys didn't already know if you don't use the ev button and when the car warms up you can drive on electric only up to 41 or so mph. When i do this it doesn't turn on the ICE untill i exceed 41 mph or i push the bar past the middle point.

 

No, I said I use the charge but then I regen everything before I go back to ICE. It's an up and down stretch of road which ends in a somewhat longer down. What I was getting at was in the right situations where you don't have to go above 25 and you can coast more than you have initiate motion, you can take the EV for a pretty nice stretch. It's a rare situation but extremely beneficial if you can find one on your daily commute.

 

The trick to this, depending on your stage of warming up, is to let go of the gas completely for about a second. You need the HSI to maintain this and it's actually higher than 41mph. 41mph was the electric-only limit on the Gen2.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but i believe the Gen3 can go up to 47 at electric only. 48 will trigger the ICE.

 

I have gone 1 1/2 miles. That is with a very slight downhill grade. We don't have enough flat roads here to test how far we can go on level ground.

I think with the new tires I recently bought, I can beat my personal record.

 

My car almost always starts the ICE around 41-42 i have noticed going down a hill it may not start untill 43-44mph.

I'm just saying what i get. I'd also like to hear what others are able to get up to without the ICE starting.

 

I have driven on the electric motor for about a mile on a level road. This has to be done at speeds less than 25 not in EV mode. When in EV mode I can't seem to get more than a few hundred feet. Why does my car keep telling me I have obtained an excessive speed at 15 mph when in EV mode?

 

That's about the speed where the ICE must begin to turn, even if it isn't burning fuel. At higher speeds the ICE must turn to keep MG1 from spinning too fast.

Tom

 

Are we talking EV mode or just gliding? I'm pretty sure it's 46mph now but you really have to feather the sucker.

 

What I'd like to know is your highest speed attained--STARTING FROM 0--without the ICE kicking in--regardless of the "mode" button pushed.
My record is about 26 mph.

 

With a warm ICE i have went from 0 to 41mph without the ice starting.

 

I have NEVER been able to put my Prius in 'EV Mode' successfully. It could be just because my house is uphill from most of my destinations, so the return trip leaves it down a bit. It always tells me it's not charged enough and kicks back to 'Econ'.

Rather than worrying about 'EV Mode', I look more toward the overall fuel economy. Keeping it at '100' without regard to where the power is coming from is more my goal, because every minute and eventual hour that I can keep it above 75MPG, I'm making up for the poorer MPG that I get elsewhere (i.e. initial warm-up, red lights that I don't manage to pace right, braking/acceleration to avoid collisions with people who take a 'following distance' as an invitation to cut me off, etc.).

Realistically, until the battery is bigger and plug-in chargeable, 'EV mode' is not a very good deal. It's just a gimmick that depletes your battery NOW and then forces the engine to run a LOT more later to recharge it. So you'll more than pay for the 'free distance' a little later on by burning gasoline.

That same depleted charge could have contributed power for sustained speeds while the ICE ran intermittently. Instead, the engine runs continuously and delivers 'Power' in a lot more situations until the state of charge comes back.

The lowest I've seen the battery was after over an hour of LA 'rush hour' traffic. (Why do they call it 'rush hour' when nobody's moving?) Intermittently creeped at a crawling pace on electric from Pasadena for miles past downtown LA until the engine HAD TO start, because the battery was showing its last bar. I could've gotten out of the car and walked faster, or even just pushed the car to keep up with traffic.

I really #@*( hate LA.

 

Pretty [Joe Biden bleep] good.