2010 prius towing?

The major issue I see for Prius towing is what happens on an uphill pull that exhausts the HV battery. The HV battery is generally kept at mid charge, providing extra power when necessary, and recharging when the travel load is low. A long enough high power operation (such as uphill) will drain the HV battery, leaving only the gas engine to carry the entire load. The performance at that point is going to drop to that of the gas engine only, without the assist usually available from the electric motor. The obvious way for Toyota to avoid complaints about this situation is to declare a zero tow rating.

 

Toyota seems to get complaints from Gen II drivers who live in the mountains even when they aren't towing, so this makes sense! =)

 

No arguments with what you're saying. You could even be right. On the other hand, and no offense meant, you could be wrong, too. Or there could be something neither of us have thought of.

A nickel bet says that Toyota has a full computer simulation of the Prius into which they can stick flats, hills, mountains, lead-footed drivers, and Out For A Sunday Drive Grandmas. Into this model I would further surmise they stick engine control software, brake control software, battery control software, and anything else that crosses their minds. Every time they change something they would run a suite of fixed driving paths against the changes to see what positive or negative effects the changes might have. (A lot faster than driving the car all over creation.. Although they probably do that from time to time to validate the models.) As to what those "positive" or "negative" effects might actually be.. Well, I'm not an automotive engineer, just electrical, but those parameters, like everything else about my hypothesized purported computer model, is likely a deep dark Corporate Secret. And for good reason, too: It likely took them years to develop this thing and there's all sorts of up-and-coming competitors who would simply love to have it without developing their own.

So, there may, indeed, be corner cases where your point is true; other points of which we're both unaware may be true; and, given that Toyota is trying hard to keep this all secret, they may be loathe to give away anything about their model by saying Why.

Isn't Intellectual Property fun?

KBeck

 

Funny, there is an ongoing discussion in the Nissan Leaf Forum about just the opposite thing! =)

 

Umm.. That's about the car being towed, not the car towing something. Fun, though!

KBeck

 

I tow with my prius. I put a 700 lb cruiser on a 330 lb trailer and tow from Florida to Tennessee. It's about an 11 hour trip each way. I do it in 95 degree weather. I put my foot to the floor and leave it there til the tank runs empty. I get 18mpg like that and run at 77mph. I have done this trip 4 times. I also use the prius to take my race bike to the track in Florida and Pooler Georgia. These trips are 3.5h and 6h each way in 95 degree weather. The car now has 120k miles and I have burnt out the catalytic converter at 90k miles. Other than that there have been no issues. Not bad for holding my foot to the floor for so long. I wonder if anything else might break... What is your towing experience?

 

Pictures of my prius towing: [ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22093537@N05/6633171455/"]77055_1653017415344_1534299671_31569515_7514744_n | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]

 

FWIW, pEEf towed his turbine engine generator w/his Leaf. Pics at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - The of him standing next to the Leaf's Chief Vehicle Engineer. IIRC, the Leaf's towing capacity is also 0...

 

I just finished towing a 1,200 lb trailer with a 420 lb motorcycle on it a little over 400 miles. Surprisingly, my 2010 IV handled it okay. I would not recommend this much weight being towed. After one particularly steep hill and subsequent stop at the top of the hill, there was a distinct hot oil smell. Still, the car is working fine. I am going to change the transmission fluid very soon, just to be safe.

I normally would not have put this much weight on the poor little Prius. It was a bit of an urgent situation. Next time, I will use a much lighter trailer.

 

Here is a pic of the setup I used. Two weeks after the first trip (top image), I took a second trip with a lighter trailer (bottom image).

 

Edit

 

Rear Hitch Rack? A bolt on Trailer hitch? Same thing?

I am not afraid of towing, just don't want to get below 40mpg just for putting a hitch on tho. I only get 42 now but most the the miles are at 80mph.
2010 - 200K miles
/Rear hitch Rack