am planning a long trip from nashville to daytona in may. i just got my 2012 pip (elvira) a week ago. im thinking that for such a long trip (almost 12 hours) that ill just leave it in hv and then switch back to ev when i hit daytona (99.99999% highway). what is the general feeling for max very long trip mileage. am i thinking right or wrong?
direct and to the point. great. btw i know i did not say but there will be no plugging capability til after i reach daytona. thanks again. there are so many things to explore on this car even though ive had several before, never a plug in though. im loving the huge kick in mpg with the ev
Enjoy the ride and the car on your trip. Not sure if you're in a hurry on the trip, 62 mph seem to be the sweet spot. At 70,75, or 80 mpg's will drop. Read as much as you can on this forum as it has a wealth of information. By the way, leave with a full charge and use EV when city driving (fuel up). Also nice looking PIP.
thanks very much. i will be doing between 70 and 75 going with traffic, im excited. even though ive had severl prii, this is my first pip and im really loving it.
You won't be able to save a full charge, but wouldn't want to anyway. The system will automatically deplete from 83.5 to 72.5 for the sake of providing a buffer. I tend to drain it a bit lower on all-day highway trips without the opportunity to plug-in at the destination, since I'll often encounter driving situations where charging is available... like long hill descents.
Blocking the lower grill will improve your overall MPGs more than making the most efficient use of the EV range. You'll probably see the EV range reduce as the trip progresses. The car seems to use some of it and not replenish it. I like to save my EV range until I near my destination just in case I get overconfident in my ability to locate a gas station when I need one. It's saved me twice so far. Use some of it up if you know you will be recapturing a lot of energy on a steep downhill grade from a mountain pass or other high hill. I usually burn up the first 2 EV miles just so there is room to recapture from braking events.
we just did boston to orlando in my wife's hycam. flat as a pancake the whole way. are there any decent hills coming out of nashville?
will be interesting to see how many miles of regen you get going down it, you'd hate to be full, and miss some.
What is the speed limit on that mountain pass? The interstates in Oregon limit trucks to 55 MPH and they normally go 60. That's the perfect speed to switch to EV mode and follow them down. Much faster though, and the engine kicks on. I suppose the idling engine isn't a big deal, and if the hill is steep enough for B-mode, then the engine will run without injecting fuel (I think). Avoid B-mode though, unless the hill is so steep that maintaining speed requires more than full regen. It's a mostly pointless and inefficient operating mode.
If its fully charged when you leave (85% SOC) and you start in HV you will "lose" 10 to 15% SOC because the battery life is improved with HV operation kept below the maximum charged state. Of course it isn't "lost" because the energy is used to help mpg. Also, as discussed above, you want to gain recharge advantage with any significant downhill portions of your trip. So if you have some distance before you get to the high speed roads, use some EV to get the "EV miles" down to about 10. When you get a chance to use EV at low speeds to take advantage of the available regeneration parts of the trip.
It depends on if there are descents in your trip. For my trip to San Diego, I stuck with the regular city EV and highway HV recommendation. However, downhill after the Grapevine on south 5, replenished the battery fully and the ICE drained off and wasted the rest. Now I use up EV as I approach the Grapevine knowing I have a huge descent later that will recover about 4 EV miles.
