since the engine fires up to warm up the cat at begin of journey..i notice the car is driving mainly on battery.scanguage show a big amp draw. what is best way to begin...drive slowly use less battery..wait the 50 sec or so for the warm up or just drive normally until engine takes over which gives the best mpg?
Unless you need to do a jackrabbit start into fast traffic, just get in and drive, but take it easy if you can. Tom
I let it run thru a warm up cycle until the ICE shuts itself off then drive my car. Prius is designed to drive normal and get good mpg numbers. Mike iPhone
I usually to the same as WE0H (Mike) or I put my foot in it and make the ICE warm up faster. I don't sweat the first mile because I know it will only get better after the first couple of minutes driving.
At work and at home, I can ease the car for the first minute (speed limits are 25 mph), so I rely on battery power and coasting. When I visit my parents, I'm usually start by going up a steep hill, which can easily drain 3 - 4 pips for the 1.5 blocks I need to go (before hitting the freeway!). I've decided to give the car extra gasoline to kick on the ICE for propulsion rather than rely on battery power.
Every night when I leave work, I make a left onto a road that is a steep climb uphill for a mile with vehicles approaching at 50-65mph, so my first mile is usally spent at 70-80% throttle if I don't want to cause an accident.
I've wondered this, too. On average, during the first stage, how far on the HSI do you have to go to get more ICE help? And once the ICE helps out, does MG2 back off?
For the first 1/8th mile I barely give it any throttle. I keep the RPM at 1280-1300 or so. Once onto the main street I give it Just enough throttle to accelerate to 25-30mph. I hold that for a few moments then I lift off and try my best to glide to the next stoplight. At that point I either enter the freeway which means full acceleration (3/4 of the Eco section of the HSI) or I stay on the surface roads for a few miles before hitting a different on-ramp. This is usually good for a couple mpg more than just hitting the freeway immediately because I can keep speeds lower and I can get two really long glides out of it. Unfortunately it dumps me onto the freeway right before a large 50' tall river bridge which means I have to fun it and I lose about .2mpg or more just before that. Sometimes I can glide down the other side and recover a little of that wasted energy. Ugg I hate that part. LOL
Many times! My girlfriend works close to this area and since she bought the house I am not going to argue. I handle long commutes better than she does anyway. This is why my average speed is always so high. My house and work are less than 1mile from the freeway!
My protocol: READY; set EV; turn off AC and roll down windows - gets the car ready to drive EV to street - shifting between "D" and "N", keep speed under 9 mph to leave parking space and reach street wait for traffic 50 second catalytic converter warm-up - accelerate modestly, ICE rpm under 1,400 rpm, to ~40 mph and shift from "D" to "N" to coast and preserve charge after 50 seconds - drive shifting between "D" and "N" until coolant reaches 50-60 C. The "B" trip meter should read +50 MPG. If you've preserved the traction battery charge, the engine will have little need to run just to charge the battery. after reaching 50C coolant - drive normally. This protocol also works for our 2003, NHW11, although we don't have EV to reach the street. So I just back into a parking place, under the shade of trees, at the edge of the parking lot when I arrive. Then I monitor the side street traffic and start the car and pull out when everything is clear and I can smoothly accelerate in the first 50 seconds. I still use shifting between "D" and "N" to preserve charge. The alternative is just drive the car. My typical commute is 10 miles and the first mile easily becomes 'noise.' Bob Wilson
I have a three block drive though my neighborhood with 25 mph speed limit. I start the car and drive slowly through the neighborhood. By the time I reach the 45 mph main boulevard the ICE is warm and ready to help accelerate in traffic. If I have to remain stopped at this stop sign the ICE will stop indicating it is up to temp.
I prefer to cite the model number which are found on placards on the Prius to resolve ambiguity: NHW10 - 1.5L, compact sedan, original, Japanese only version, sedan, 1997-2000 NHW11 - 1.5L, compact sedan, also sold in North America and other countries, 2001-03 NHW20 - 1.5L Prius, hatchback, 2004-09 ZVW30 - 1.8L Prius, 2010-current ?? - 1.8L Prius v, 2012 - current ?? - 1.5L Prius c, 2012 - current USA model years are disconnected, offset, from the calender year. We bought our "new" 2010 Prius and took delivery in late May, 2009. Citing the Prius model resolves ambiguity. Sad to say, about two years ago, a vandal screwed up the Prius model identifiers in the Wiki site. But given the broken Wiki vetting, many Prius experts don't care. Fix Wiki today and another vandal will break it tomorrow. Bob Wilson
I have been around this site for a few months now and haven't seen anyone else using it, that's why I didn't know. My bad.
Not a problem. Another Prius Friend, john1701a, has been advocating another labeling system, "Classic" and "Iconic." Just my preference are labels and placards found on the body of each Prius. Bob Wilson
