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EV Button Mode Issue

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by jsfabb, Jun 1, 2013.

  1. jsfabb

    jsfabb Active Member

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    Yesterday, I was coming home from work in the LIE HOV Lane. Now that it is summertime, the HOV lane is a lot more packed on Friday's because people are heading out East to the Hamptons, so the speeds are a lot slower, stop and go to 60s. The temperature was about 82* out and I was not using any A/C. The highest temp I saw on my Ultra-Gauge was 188*.

    I tend to use the EV Mode button a lot, especially when stuck in traffic. For most of the trip everything was fine. The battery would charge/discharge as expected. When I got off of the LIE I was stopped at a light and just happened to notice that the battery was all but one bar full (7 bars). So, as usual, I pushed the EV Button starting off from a traffic light. It immediately kicked me out and gave me the message "EV MODE CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE.' I wasn't even moving!

    The car functioned fine in the regular EV Mode, it was just when I pressed the button there was an issue, even though there was plenty of charge in the battery. This continued on for the rest of my trip. Even when I picked up some pizza and restarted the car, it continued to act the same way all the way to my daughters house.

    When I left my daughters house about 2 hrs later, everything was completely back to normal, as if it had never happened. I have to run out in a couple of minutes for a little while and am anxious to see if it happens again. I will report back after my trip.
     
    #1 jsfabb, Jun 1, 2013
  2. nklb

    nklb Member

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    That's normal. I've even seen this happen in Michigan now that the temperature has gone up.

    I'm pretty sure it's because the battery temp is above some internal threshold.
     
    #2 nklb, Jun 1, 2013
  3. jsfabb

    jsfabb Active Member

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    That could be, since I wasn't able to see the battery temperature. I just returned from going out and everything was back to normal. But, wouldn't the high temp also affect the normal EV Mode, because that ran perfectly fine?
     
    #3 jsfabb, Jun 1, 2013
  4. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    I would go through the exact same conditions every day and the car would still decide if it would go into EV or not.
     
    #4 El Dobro, Jun 1, 2013
  5. jsfabb

    jsfabb Active Member

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    Using the EV button or just going into EV? Mine was the EV button. It would immediately kick me out even if I was standing still.
     
    #5 jsfabb, Jun 1, 2013
  6. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    Ev button. I had a 2011 GenIII and the car always decided if it was going into EV or not. One day it would, the next day not.
     
    #6 El Dobro, Jun 1, 2013
  7. adamace1

    adamace1 Senior Member

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    Most likely the battery warm above a set temp. EV mode lets you draw more power from the battery before the ICE kicks in. They moust be trying to prevent to much wear and tear to the battery.
     
    #7 adamace1, Jun 1, 2013
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    I never use the EV button when driving. The only time I'll use it is to get from our garage to the driveway (or the reverse), to avoid starting up the engine.

    That's not say I don't get a lot of EV mode in traffic, but I let the car decide. It will put you in EV anyway, at low speed/load conditions, until it's run down the charge.
     
    #8 Mendel Leisk, Jun 1, 2013
  9. retired4999

    retired4999 Prius driver since 2005

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    Dosn't the computer go thru a battery cond. cycle every so often where it discharges the battery then recharges it again? Maybe this is what was going on!
     
    #9 retired4999, Jun 1, 2013
  10. css28

    css28 Senior Member

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    I use the EV button for one purpose only and that is moving the car in and out of the garage.
    An educated foot and the HSI display are all you need to control the car in normal driving.
    I'm just as happy not draining the battery below what the car wants, given the driving conditions.
     
    #10 css28, Jun 1, 2013
  11. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    I used it only to go up one little hill on my commute home, and it worked great when the car let it. :D
     
    #11 El Dobro, Jun 1, 2013
  12. prev93

    prev93 Member

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    I'm not sure why you would want to use the EV button while driving. The car takes care of when it will use EV and there is really no reason to try to bypass that logic. I use it, as others have mentioned, to get the car out of the garage without having the engine start (and that only works in warm weather). Using EV does not save any energy; all the power for the car is ultimately produced by the engine running and burning gasoline.
     
    #12 prev93, Jun 1, 2013
  13. nklb

    nklb Member

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    I occasionally use the EV button when starting from a stop light to help get up to speed, or when going up certain small hills with no traffic behind me. I certainly don't use it for 'normal' driving.

    But yeah, in extreme heat it sometimes just doesn't work. I figure the car knows best, and I don't want to question the Toyota engineers decisions over this matter. The 'stealth mode' ev stil works in these cases, so it just means you can't accelerate as hard while in EV mode.
     
    #13 nklb, Jun 1, 2013
  14. jsfabb

    jsfabb Active Member

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    This exactly how I use it, except that I do use it in stop and go traffic, because it does get me up to speed quicker. I also use it in combo with the regular EV when I am close to home. I do drain my battery a little more on my last trip of the day. I figure that the ICE is going to automatically run the first thing in the morning and charge the battery no matter what the weather, so I might as well take advantage of it.
     
    #14 jsfabb, Jun 2, 2013
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