new to Prius confused about when or not Eco or EV

These are my opinions, not facts. (They are wrong if you have a PIP, but this ic the c forum)

EV is a gimmick, I just let the computer choose when EV makes sense to the car. If I was driving around in a drive way, (let a car out) I might use EV so the engine did not warm up.

ECO slows the throttle down and limits the A/C, so it has the most effect when it is hot. If you like the throttle response of any mode,that is the right mode to be in, for you.

 

Gimmick is a bit misleading, since there are very definite benefits... but those circumstances are quite limited.

I was able to take advantage of it on a regular basis... living both at the bottom of a valley and just a short distance from a highway exit. Both provided great recharge & engine-off opportunities the majority of owners wouldn't encounter.

It also gives you a taste of what the system has to offer, since it does provide a sampling of increased power. You can witness the change more electricity makes from the same motor... which is quite pronounced later with the plug.

 

In my opinion a lot of new Prius drivers over think how to drive The Prius...whatever model.

Prius, are designed to maximize their fuel economy, pretty well on their own. If you drive them with the same common sense you'd apply to any vehicle in trying to get better fuel economy, that is avoiding jack rabbit starts, smooth and steady accelerations and reasonable speed limits, it's going to do great.

You can look up "hypermiling" techniques and apply what you feel comfortable with, but many of them are common sense actions.

I agree that EV is mostly a gimmick. You can use it in crowded parking lots, if you have to cruise around for a long time looking for a spot. But if your engine is warmed up, and your battery charge good enough....high enough level, then your Prius is automatically going to put you into EV mode most of the time. So I seldom find situations where I feel I have to use it, or need to use it. If your Prius isn't warmed up enough, or your battery charge not high enough pressing the EV mode button will only result in the message that it's not available.

"Normal" , Eco, or Power Mode? Well if efficiency is your ultimate goal, I'd just get use to using Eco mode as much as possible. It maps the accelerator peddle to be a little less responsive...deeper press's. You can still punch it or press it aggressively and get the vehicle to respond as it would in "normal" mode or even power mode. But it's a little easier in Eco mode to pull back and keep EV going and/or just stay in a speed sweet spot.

If I'm trying to merge onto a busy freeway? I might put it into power mode, in expectation of just wanting to, or having to reach freeway speeds as quickly as possible. Even though this behavior can be duplicated in any mode by simply stomping the accelerator.

But for me? I don't over think it...Eco or Normal...and then just drive with some common sense thought as to what is economical.

IMO sometimes, some people get too clever. You can improve the fuel economy of The Prius with some applications of techniques, but the system and machine itself is pretty automatic. Just get use to driving it period, then if you want to become a hypermiler...start looking up those techniques and applying what you want to adopt, or what you feel comfortable with adopting.

 

i find that after 6months of ownership, manuel ev is very limited and as above stated more of a gimmick and eco is also quite useless too, ive compared driving in eco n not n eco and have concluded to myself that it really doesnt save anymore gas than its supposedly made out to be.

and after first few months of touching those 2 buttons, they have been untouched for a good 4+ months now

just let the com decide when it wants to ev and as for eco...y make a already underpowered car more underpowered in the hopes of barely niticeble mpg (imo eco could also be dangerous in situations u need to quickly use that low end torque to accelerate but cant b/c u forgot ur n eco, and now ur still stuck n another xars path

 

Watch what happens with those of us who experience winter, the kind where temperatures drop below freezing and stay there. ECO makes a noticeable difference then. That alters the way the heater & engine interact.

 

I think if I ever should live in states that have extreme weather conditions like that, I'd put my money on a AWD

 

I've been wondering how that will be for me this winter. First with my Prius.

Of course generally where I am at, the winter is much milder. Not a drop below freezing and stay there for long periods of time type of environment.

I've already noticed a slight deduction in my MPG with just the coolness of fall. Longer to warm up the engine, and engine stays warmed up for a shorter interval, if it turns off.

I used Eco mode mostly during the Summer with the idea that it "interacted" with the air conditioning in a more efficient manner.
Now I guess I use Eco mode in the Winter, because it interacts with the heater?

I don't really feel a whole lot of difference between driving in Eco or driving in Normal, so leaving it in Eco isn't a big deal to me.

In a weird way, I'm looking forward to my first winter with my Prius....don't plan to do anything extraordinary, no grill blocking. Was going to switch to more "normal" mode driving...but now maybe I'll rethink that, and just keep it in Eco.

 

Or you could put snow tires on your Prius and drive sensibly.

The only real problem here could be ground clearance, but I live in a city and work in a city so with plowed roads it's not really a problem.

For driving, I think it would be worse to live in a slightly warmer place with frequent rain and refreezing.

Back to topic:
- Use EV to avoid unnecessary engine warm-up, such as when moving the car a short distance on your driveway or in a parking lot (e.g. you get out and realized you're not properly in the space).
- Use Eco to give you more precise throttle control or potentially to sacrifice some comfort for efficiency.

 

I use Eco Mode because when I try to do pulse and glide, it is very difficult for me to hold the throttle at the exact spot for the C to glide. It's still pretty difficult for me in Eco mode even with the throttle re-mapping. I find the sweet spot for gliding to be a tiny area in my car.

I have also read (for the regular Prius) the engine coolant temperature threshold is lower in Eco mode (145F vs 114F). I cannot find much substantiated information about this, especially for the Prius C. If this information is true, it would result in the engine warm up being shorter, which will reduce gas consumption. If anyone can chime in on this that would be great.

 

I use ECO mode around town and appreciate the feel it gives for throttle control. However, for lengthy freeway driving I turn it off, especially if there are any hills involved.

I use EV mode coming home for the last 1/10 of a mile of a driveway in order to avoid the possibility of the engine spinning up just before I park.

 

I generally leave ECO on because I use a/c for most of the year and in this circumstance it makes a HUGE difference to fuel economy with only minimal difference to a/c performance.

A side effect of this is that I'm far more used to the ECO throttle mapping, so I may as well leave it on all the time. ECO mode doesn't restrict performance, so I see no reason for me to turn it off.

I actually managed to leave air con off for most of September despite it being our hottest on record, but I've caved now. Yesterday hit 99°F... it's going to be another hot summer.

 

I'm actually having to turn my ac on now... stupid cooler weather in the morning. We hit 55 this morning. That's crazy cold.

 

we've had a winter here with our prius, and the handling isn't any different than a small front wheel drive car.
the little tires want to grab rather than slip which is nice. it also sleeps in a closed garage, which is also nice, no ice and scraping. the mpg wasn't really noticeable, but we have the eco mode constantly on, rarely a need for real 'power' for me, even driving weekly on the highway.

 

EV mode is a gimmick. It literally only lets you go like 10 mph. How does that have any purpose?

 

It offers an increase in power over the regular electric-only mode.

And the limit is 25 mph when the engine is warm, not 10.

 

It lets you go 25 mphs when the car is warmed up.

 

Eco mode makes a large difference to me when it's either really hot outside or when it's really cold. Here in Sweden we can have +30C or even more in the summer and in the winter we have (I live in southern Sweden) temperature ranging between 0C and -20C. In these situations, the Eco mode lets the hybrid system go into EV mode a lot more frequently and this increases the MPG markedly. Especially on shorter trips when the engine is still warming up. I haven't tried an electric engine preheater yet (they are quite common here in Sweden) but I suppose you will save a lot of gas by using one. Likewise, if you have really hot outside and the AC is running it prevents the hybrid system from going into EV mode - you could easily try this by simply shutting the AC off at low speed - the EV mode is entered almost instantly. So from my point of view I save a lot of gas by using ECO mode, given that I can stand a little hot or cold inside the car during engine warm up time.
Regarding the EV mode my experience is that you actually can push the pedal a little harder before the ICE starts, compared to letting it switch into EV mode automatically in ECO mode or Normal. But I rarely use it, often the ICE remains off when it's warmed up and the battery has sufficient charge.

 

So, I almost always go with ECO mode, sometimes Power mode for overtaking or accelerating before entering the freeway.