Gen 3 vs PIP not plugged in

I am able to get an extra mile or so after the EV battery is depleted if I baby the throttle and stay under 35 or so. I think it is using the regular Prius battery at this point. If you notice when your EV miles drop to near 1 mile the battery symbol switches to the other battery and then starts to consume it to near empty. If you let the EV deplete to a level that the car switches itself from EV to HV mode then you will not be able to recoup any EV miles. I switch the EV off around 1 mile so I can start to regain some EV miles while doing some normal driving. I am not an expert just what I have noticed with my car.

Thanks

 

If you are in ECO mode the graph that appears shows you based on throttle position if you are in EV or HV mode. This is what I use to make sure that I stay in EV mode when I have depleted the EV battery.

 

Once depleted in EV you cannot regen. When I go on any small trip I will save all of my EV from the beginning and use it going uphill so I get 100 mpg bars. After peaking the hill I revert back to HV and take advantage of further regeneration and also getting more 100 mpg bars. Lately I almost always return home with 3-4 miles of charge to reach my destination the next day when I charge up again, electrically.

 

Right, you just have to change your method to agree with the car. The PIP technically has this EV SWITCH that peopl e were crying for for years on the Gen 2 s.

 

This is NOT true. You can MOST DEFINITELY regen to the point you will get back EV miles (and I'm talking real EV miles.. the kind that let you drive up to 62MPH).

Its been done many times by many other PiP owners. In fact, I just read a post by devprius who was talking about it yesterday.

MarcusT,

The EV button in the PiP enables the PiP's EV mode (the pure EV driving up to 62MPH kind of EV). The EV button in the regular Gen3 allows the driver to force the car into its "limited EV" mode (the one that lets you drive up to 23 or whatever MPH.

When you push the EV button in your PiP, its going to tell you that you dont have enough charge for EV driving. Which is true, because you have no EV miles remaining. However, the PiP will still allow you to drive the car (limited EV mode n' all) just like a regular Gen3. Its just that the EV button doesnt work the same.

But like I said above, if you regen enough, you ARE able to get enough of a charge to enable EV driving in the PiP.

Using devprius's numbers, its something like this:

At ~23% State of Charge, the PiP will switch from EV to HV mode. If you regen up to 28% SoC, then you will be allowed to get back into EV mode.. at which time you would have 5% of your battery's SoC available for pure EV driving.

Since I've been here, this is probably the best example I've read about the PiP's regen capabilities/example:

EV miles can be regenerated by PIP after EV depletion | PriusChat

Summary: Going downhill from 6300ft elevation to 1500ft elevation, 0 EV miles to 16.7 EV miles.

 

To add to what Tracksyde has said (and quoted me), when you have depleted all of your EV miles and are in HV mode, the car will run in the Gen 3 limited EV mode, but does it automatically. You have to be going less than 42 miles per hour, have sufficient battery level (3 to 8 battery bars), and keep the HSI indicator to the left of the middle line. As soon as you hit 2 battery bars, the engine will come on and stay on until you are back up to 4 battery bars, at which point, limited EV mode is available again.

 

Why is the limited EV mode limited to 42mph? It's not like the mechanical limit of the PSD, which limits you to about 62mph in EV mode. If you are above 42mph, are you getting power primary from the ICE or the battery ("Power Boost Mode")?

 

The green EV light won't come back on until you are at 32.9% SOC/1.5 miles EV range. However, this doesn't mean that you can't drive in limited EV mode. You just have to baby the accelerator. If you have the MID set to the HSI screen, you should see a display that has a small icon of a car and next to it an icon that says ECO. If the small icon of the car has the words EV in it, then you are running in the limited EV mode. There's a power bar below those two icons. If you you go past the middle, the EV words disappear, but ECO should stay lit. If you are accelerating rapidly, the ECO icon will go out, and the power bar will to go into the far right into the Power section.

See pages 268 through 270 of your manual for a better explanation of the HSI screen.

 

It amazes how after all this time and countless threads on the topic, people are still confused about this.
The reason you're limited to 42 is the same reason you're limited in the regular Prius: because going faster would require drawing more power from the battery and effectively destroy it. EV driving in HV mode is exactly the same in both cars; what's different is the way the EV button works.
Also, you don't need to be in ECO mode (button and green light on dash) to be in the ECO zone on the HSI. And you certainly don't need to be in ECO mode to engage EV driving in HV.

 

If you are above 42 mph in HV mode, you are getting power from the ICE & the battery, which is the normal HV operation. If you are above 42 mph in EV mode, you might be getting power solely from the battery, or you may be using the engine as a boost (Power Boost Mode) depending upon conditions (need to accelerate rapidly, going up a hill, etc).

I don't know why the limited EV mode is limited to 42 mph. Perhaps to mimic the Gen III's EV mode? To protect the battery from getting rapidly drained? Or might be that when you are in limited EV mode, the car can only deliver a certain amount of electric power, which equates to a max of 42 mph out of MG2. I'm guessing it's probably a combination of all three, plus some other reasons we haven't thought of.

 

But you can make the trip home in the limited EV mode of the PiP, which is essentially the same as the Gen III's EV mode. You just can't manually select it like you can in a Gen III. It's automatically available if you have sufficient power, and you aren't using the ICE for heat. You'll know if you are in the limited EV mode if you have the MID set to the HSI screen, and you see the icon of the car lit up with the words EV in it. What you won't see is the green HV light lit up on the dashboard. I know this works because I do it all the time.

 

as devprius pointed out, no, this is wrong. in case of a "fully depleted" EV battery, PiP drives just like a regular Prius in case of acceleration/coasting/regular driving. the only difference is that it has capacity for much more regenerative braking. that's it. it also ends up being slightly heavier, as if you have a second (light) passenger in the car. i can't imagine this being sufficient to prevent you from making it in EV only.
what's kind of funny to me is that I had never been in a situation where the EV button even worked properly in the regular prius. I'm amazed you were able to do any sort of distance with it.

 

I don't know which posts you've been reading, but I can tell you from personal experience that yes, it will come back. no need to plug in.