Charged PiP seems to be using gas?

Yes, and ECO is always on. In the situation I described, sitting or gunning were the only 2 options. I may have a bad case of rabbit foot. Maybe I should drive more like the old fart I am! On the other hand, I still have the engine popping on a lot of times for no apparent reason, and when the power zone has not been encroached.

This is the same argument I have with hypermiling. Why should I have to work at it? Why not encourage Toyota to add a few more algorithms to deal with more scenarios? The argument that sudden power demands could harm the batteries seems pretty bogus. As cheslyen alluded to, the EVs do this all the time.

All that being said, the software does in fact work well most of the time. My mileage has basically doubled, because most of my driving is short trips. I now feel much less guilty about being too lazy to pulse and glide! I'm not sure why, but battery life when gliding seems to last forever now, as long as I remember to back off the accelerator when appropriate.

 

Don't look at other EVs as better. They let the leaf charge to 100 percent

 

The Volt handles acceleration like an EV (if in Ev mode). It can accelerate from 0-100mph in pure EV. o-60 is 8.9 seconds.. so better than many cars but not a a sports car or telsa level. If you are in CS mode (hold mode or already exhausted the battery so ICE is running) then its a mixed battery + generator supplied power (it switches into serial mode for hard acceleration).


No need to hypermile or work at in the volt, just drive as an EV. The volt only leaves EV mode if the driver chooses hold, or if the battery is depleted or if the ambient temp is below a fixed temp (design flaw in my view.. if I did not ask for heat no point in providing me ICE heat).

In the volt the regen, in L, is nice and agressive and will slow one very well. Or you can get the reven via the brake petal

For comparison, if the Volt is fully charged and going down a steep hill it uses the two EV motors to oppose each other to keep speed rather than firing up the ICE to provide the added resistance or burn off excess charge, so things feel normal without the users needing to think about it.

Not all EV are better, and "better" depends on your elements of performance.
Some have nicer properties, depending on your drive/need/desires.

 

I think this mystery could be figured out if you simply watched your HSI and report back to us how far you let the bar go when accelerating. Also, what mode you're in (eco, normal, power) and what you have the AC set to.

 

You don't have to hypermile to get good mpg. Just drive it.

But it isn't reasonable to think that the car is going to know what the terrain looks like up ahead (sure it could be done -- do you want to pay $5K extra for this? Not because that is what it would cost, but because that is what they would charge) It isn't reasonable for the car to know that you think the light ahead is going to turn red soon or that you are going to let a guy change lanes in front of you because he' driving aggressively.
It isn't reasonable for the car to know a lot of things...sure it could know some of these...but until we have driverless cars most people won't pay for them.

I think this is a designer's choice. They chose to design to some limits. If they allowed bigger discharges, they would need bigger cables, bigger inverter, etc. They chose smaller. Bigger discharges might also mean degradation of battery capacity sooner. How would we know until 5-10 years goes by.

It is what it is. I don't get the ICE coming on for apparently no reason...usually it is the 124 mile forced run, or I hit the accelerator hard to pass.


Mike