Long time Prius owner. Just upgraded to a plug-in. I hope this isn't a stupid question. My Prius told me the other day that it had 30 miles of gasoline range left. Thinking this was a bit low, I went and filled the tank. Much to my surprise, I needed less than 8 gallons. So I had over 2.5 gallons in my tank! Definitely more than 30 miles. I couldn't find any documentation as to what exactly this "range" was measuring. When it reaches 0, is there still some specified fuel reserve? What is the point at which I actually need to fill my tank?
i think that was the point. at zero, the last pip will start blinking. the rest is for safety in case the next gas station is a long way away.
AFAIK, there is no gas only range, as the range to empty includes EV miles. There is definitely some reserve, but I have not tried running till the engine stalls to determine how much. Doing so may drop the fuel level too low so that the fuel pump, which is cooled by having some amount of gasoline, could overheat. The other thing that I've observed is that the Plug-in tends to click off early when fueling up, as I and others have not seen a full pips on the gas gauge after a fill-up on occasion. That may account for some of the "less than 8 gallons."
Pretty much every Toyota I've owned in the past 16 years has a had a reserve of around 2 to 3 gallons, no matter how big the tank was. When the last pip in my PiP starts blinking, I'll try to find a gas station within the next 20 or 30 miles. The most I've put in my PiP was 9 gallons, but it's usually around 8.5. The distance to empty, or estimated cruising range, is pretty much only for the HV part of the car. EV has it's own display and estimate.
From the manual, Distance to Empty displays the estimated maximum distance that can be driven with the quantity of fuel remaining. The value increases when you charge the PIP.
I verified that in my PIP had 509 miles when EV was 1.0 miles left. with full charge 11.9 Miles EV got 519 miles
I'd say the same for the household's Hondas and last Ford. (An earlier Ford had no reserve, running dry before 'E'.) But the Subaru has about 4 gallons of reserve.
Aye, you have approx. 2gallons left after it beeps. However, the beep occurs while there is still about 30miles left on the "range" display. Just keep in mind that the reserve is be affected by your current and near future driving, not what you have been getting. I.e. if I got 70mpg for the last 600miles but I start driving up a steep mountain at 80mph my average mpg will drop drastically so I cannot assume that I can go another 140 miles (2ga * 70mpg) before running out. People like Walter lee, markable, ufourya, and codyroo could go 150+ miles after the beep but the average Joe should get gas within the next 50miles. LOL
I have no PiP, but most cars have some reserve when you hit empty. Also, The Gas Gauge Says Full, But That's Not Quite True: NPR | PriusChat might be insightful, even though it's a Ford engineer speaking.
It's still a function of how your driving... If your on it pretty hard you might not get that range or you'll see it droping...
