Situation: 55 degrees fahrenheit, no climate controls on. Everything set to OFF. Heated seats off. Started 15 mile commute in EV. Drove on side streets for 3 miles in EV mode. Got on freeway and switched to HV. ICE turned on but EV miles went down by 1.2 over the next minute or so then stopped going down. This is despite being in HV mode and the ICE being on. This has happened a few days in a row now. Why do the EV miles go down so much after I turn on HV? Apologize in advance for so many "why does my PiP do this" threads! Just getting the hang of this piece of amazing technology.
While the ICE is warming up, the battery provides most of the power. It's stealing the power to propel the car until the computer is satisfied. It's completely normal.
...and once the gas engine is warm, the computer controls will keep it on while the generator replenishes the traction battery to replace the borrowed EV miles, at which point, speed allowing (less than 63 MPH) the gas engine will shut itself off. If you have major climate controls running, the gas engine shutoff will happen a bit later.
and for more help, we have an FAQ sticky, put together by member lensovet, costing him much toil and hard work.
The takeaway is that, although EV miles first appear to disappear, they will be returned to you as you continue on the freeway and will be there once you exit and choose to switch back to low speed EV driving (assuming that's what you do.) I'm more or less used to it now.
This is where careful use of the EV/HV button comes in handy over the long term. Knowing your planned route(s), you can help yourself a whole lot by judiciously turning the HV (gas engine power) on when driving on the freeway and turning the EV back on when off the freeway. Of course, it's best to plan to get back home with an empty EV capacity no matter how you mix the use of HV and EV while enroute. Good Luck!
I generally switch to HV mode to heat up the engine about 2 miles before getting to the freeway to ensure the ICE is warm enough when I get up to speed on the freeway.
