I'm a 2012 Prius Three owner already dreaming about a plug-in that I should probably have purchased. I make a short trip to the gym every morning, 5 miles round trip. Will the ICE in the plug-in stay off until its power is need up hill or the heater is turned on? My return trip has 0.5 miles of about 6% uphill grade. At what speed would that require the ICE?
If you do everything right, the ICE will not come on. I drive 7.6 miles to work every morning and the ICE never comes on, now that I know not to turn on the heat. Not sure about speed on the grade, but the ICE comes on based on throttle position. Typically, as long as you stay out of the PWR range on the HSI, it will not come on.
Sometimes it fires up due to cold outside temps to prevent battery overcharge due to brake re-gen. It was 18deg here this morning- as soon as I got out of my driveway and hit 22mph - the ICE fired up for a few min then shut off for the rest of the 5 mile trip. Read all about it here... ICE in EV Mode ... Again | PriusChat
I do not know about the 6% grade, Maybe someone with a steep grade can help, if you can keep it out of power zone you will keep ICE off. If you call for heat the Heater will turn on the ICE for a short warm up cycle and will shut off, if you keep on lower heat settings and fan speed on low settings it will go a few miles on elctric then warm again. If you use no heat You can go EV for a number of miles. I just got back from getting gas, I went 8.9 miles all EV, 20 degrees out, no heat, ICE did not start for the whole trip and still had 3.1 miles of EV left.
6% grade is a piece of cake. ev is more powerful than ice and 5 miles is nothing. all the best with your purchase!
it's possible to use only ev even on a steep grade, but may not be advisable when you have an suv on your tail. however, if you need to descend a steep grade first thing in the am with a full chg, the ice WILL come on to prevent overcharging battery
How does the ICE prevent overcharging the battery? Does it use gas or is it in the "B" mode, using compression without gas?
exactly, the motor generator turns it instead of recharging. unfortunately, it must then go thru the warm up cycle.
Where's the hill? If it's near the end of your trip, the amount of gas consumed would be quite small. You could simply shut it off upon reaching home. The engine is heavily assisted then too. Of course, in the summer warm-up is rapid anyway.
yes and no…please consult the FAQ is it covers both (a) why ICE goes on when "too much" regen happens and (b) what exactly the B mode does.
Yes, its near the end of the trip. In the non-plug-in the gas used takes the mpg down around 10 mpg (usually 55 to 45) because the total trip is so short. Perhaps that would be less in the PIP where the ICE would kick in for only part of the hill or perhaps the motor would supply more of the power when the ICE is running if the battery has sufficient charge. You have to appreciate the folks who programmed this whole thing and the folks who find ways to work with the program parameters to get the best mileage.
My regular 2 miles trip has 5% uphill grade for 0.3 miles. If I get caught at the light, I have to start the climb in the middle of the hill from a stop. I can keep up with others car with about half the EV power bar. If I try to push near the end of the EV power bar, I'll accelerate faster than most cars, but not as fast as some of those "in a hurry" guys. If the light is green, it is a piece of cake.
