Is My EV Damaged?

Find another dealer. If the car won't go into the EV mode, it is a warranty issue. No "diagnostic fee" required.

 

Marsh, with all due respect, you might be "overthinking" everything. Just put the car in "Eco" mode, or "Normal" mode, and just drive it like a regular car. You can accelerate normally, and still get good gas mileage. (At first, I tried to maximize the time in "EV", and it just depleted the battery faster. Then the gas engine had to come on more often.)

Let the Prius motor/engine do their work, together. And those info screens can be distracting. TMI . I think it happens to all new Prius owners, myself included. I would guess that your car is fine. What I learned, is the gas engine needs to work in a partnership with the hybrid motor... you don't always need to be in "EV." I'm accelerating normally, briskly, smoothly, and my gas mileage actually went up a bit. I'm not concerned with what "percentage" is in EV.

Now I rarely look at all those gauges and screens, and I just drive the car. It is much more relaxing (and less worrisome.) I am probably in the minority, but that's how I enjoy my Prius. Everybody's mileage and driving mode will vary.

 

agree with cc^^^ you're over reacting. too much concentration on the gauges, what it has done and what you think it should be doing, is not helpful. just drive it. measure your mpg's when you fill the tank, and keep track. don't waste your money at the dealer. as wiliam said above, you're under warranty.

on another note, you shouldn't be trying to drive ev. it kills your mpg's, and is one of the biggest rookie mistakes. all the best!

 

62 MPG for 1.6 miles seems good to me. Toyota protects operation on the battery when hot/ect. Several instances I expected EV but didn't get it due to a variety of factors. Go for a decent drive (10+ miles) and see what happens. Maybe get a scangauge or obd2 with torque on a smartphone and see whats going on with the car when driving. I however admit 3.2 miles with 1% EV is really odd for the car. I live in florida and never see this. Also, a second thought, ensure the defroster or heat is NOT running AND turned off. The car will run the engine a good while if these are utilized.

 

Check in your configuration menu. There is an option to disable the ev indicator. Let us know if it helps.

Nexus 10 ?

And drive in normal mode. It won't hurt your mileage and the car is way more responsive.

Nexus 10 ?

 

I wouldn't waste money getting a diagnosis done - I'd be very surprised if it's needed - and I suspect they do to, and just a money making exercise. It's not a fault.

I'm still trying to work out why it sometimes goes into EV, and other times. It seems that is dependent on quite a few factors, which I suspect include:

• battery level
• ambient temperature
• heater & a/c settings
• throttle
• speed
• gradient of a hill
• if the engine has just started and isn't at operating temperature, it will stay on till at operating temp
• and probably many other factors that only TOYOTA know about.

The HV's EV indicator seems to be a bit slower to react than than the energy monitor.

You didn't buy an EV, BUT A HYBRID, as far as I am concerned, the BEST of both worlds.

As others have said, being in EV is of secondary, in fact minor importance. Being a hybrid, the computer works out which of the different modes are most economical using a complex algorithm, and swapping them around continually. At the end of the day, it's the MPG or l/100km which matters. EV proportion is relatively unrelated - I almost never look at it.

 

This is why I am not concerned with the "EV". I drove that entire 101 miles this morning, using the PWR mode. Normal city driving, in light traffic, obeying the speed limit. Normal smooth acceleration. I also had the AC/defrost on just about the whole time, due to fog.

83 MPG. That's the best I've ever done. And I'll probably never do it again! But my point is, I'm learning that I can drive the Prius pretty much like a regular car, and still get very good gas mileage. (But of course, everyone's mileage will vary.) I'm happy if I *only* get 60 MPG. That's usually my average.

Just drive your car and have fun. No need to "analyze" it. Just my humble "rookie" opinion.

 

That 0% EV.photo points there is something abnormal with your brand new car. If I were on your feet:
1> I would have contacted directly with Toyota US. I would have DM Toyota via twitter (I believe they reply faster and any of tweets and replies would be always on twitter wall) and have showed Toyota that 30 mpg and 0% EV photo.

2> I would have asked Toyota, if it is unjustifiable behaviour for a dealership to demand 120$ for a diagnostic on a brand new car, which is also Toyota's "sacred cow", while I had already shown dealer that photo.
2.a> If the answer was affirmative then, I would have tried to persuade Toyota that my case would have been a great opportunity for Toyota to send a " public message" to "partners" who harm Toyota reputation.

2,a,I> If Toyota agreed and would like to provide me some legal advice and pay trial costs against the dealership, I would have paid the 120$ and start "the crucifixion" along with Toyota.
2.a.II> Otherwise I would DEFINITELY not pay that amount and seek another dealership. But also I would have questioned Toyota to analyse me their lack of interest, or even their passive stance on the matter.

2.b> Otherwise I would have asked a lawyer about his opinion on the matter.

I believe members here would like to get informed about how you case evolves.


PS. You don't have to worry. Such stuff happens.

 

The elapsed time in that picture is only 10 minutes??

Sometimes my EV ratio is very low too. But my car runs fine. I would be very surprised if something is wrong with marshmallow's car.

It may be just operator error, which a lot of those rookies I have.

 

First, it's important to keep the "JUST DRIVE IT" motto mind whenever you are behind the wheel.

Literally thousands of new Prius owners make the very same assumption, that more EV is better. It's not, hence the motto.

They try to squeeze out as much as possible, not realizing the penalty that comes later from having to replenish the consumed electricity. That can actually result in lower overall MPG. That's not the outcome they hope for, but at least no damage comes from it. The system is simply compensating from you fighting the hybrid system. Instead, just drive it.

If something was truly wrong, you'd find out after a tank or two of gas. For example, the engine never shuts off, even when stopped waiting for a light to turn green. Poor MPG would indicate that. Simply not seeing much EV means the electricity being generated is used for HV instead. Great MPG would indicate that.

Enjoy your new Prius. No worries.

 

I suspect TOYOTA wouldn't consider action on the basis of 2 runs of 3.2 miles and 1.6 miles. Particularly when one has 62.6 MPG!!

Maybe if this is a pattern for a week, but not just 2 trips on one day.

This is a HYBRID - and it works on using one petrol and 2 electric motors and a smallish battery to store some of the regenerated energy for use at other times. Whether it's in EV mode is irrelevant to MPG, which is the

I also notice that both the photos showed quite hot weather - had the car been in the sun or in the shade. If it had been in the sun, the A/C would be working quite hard to cool the car down - (even in the shade too).

What was your battery level before each of the photos?

 

My 16 won't go into ev unless it's properly warmed up. Sometimes that gas motor just has to run for a little bit before it will operate normally. On hot days it doesn't need to warm up and just does ev all the time.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I can't type this morning.

Operator errors. Rookie mistakes, I did a lot of those. People think I'm nuts, but when I started driving my Prius more like a regular car, is when it seemed to run smoother and my gas mileage improved. I no longer even look at the screen that shows "EV ratio", time elapsed, average speed, etc. I drive a little PRIUS, not a Nascar race car! I don't need to know all the fancy technical details.

The only thing I look at now is the gas gauge, and Trip-A distance/mpg. Pretty boring, huh? (Once a Camry driver, always a Camry driver.)

 

Also my daily MPG average is about 54 no matter what I do so you're doing great! I might have to try that top tier.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I must admit, I used to use the EV button on the Gen 3 and Prius+ occasionally to force EV, for example to move the car on or off the driveway etc. but there's no need to with the Gen 4, it stays in EV by itself on these occasions, unless the temperature outside is very cold and even when there's only 2 bars on the HV battery sometimes. The only time I use the EV button now is when I'm sitting in the car on the driveway, in cold weather and going nowhere. just to make sure it doesn't fire up. Of course it will still fire up if the battery falls below 2 bars anyhow. When driving the Gen 4, I just let it do it's EV thing as and when it pleases.

 

Very well said.

I've only pressed the EV button one time. Driving slowly around the nature center. It ate up all my "electricity" pretty quickly. I don't use it anymore, I like to have lots of "battery bars" showing... it makes me go Zoom!

 

I've used it just to see what happens but my intent once I'm done playing with everything is to just drive.

I have noticed that I can get the EV indicator on by switching via Drive Mode but if the battery isn't ready, pressing the EV button will say EV mode not available, even when allowing me to turn on the EV indicator via Drive Mode.

I have also switched it on when entering my work garage, and it took me out of EV mode while I was coasting down the long hill into the garage when I hit over 25 mph, even though the battery was taking in energy.

All of this makes me think in future models they will hide a lot of this stuff, because the system can get the most efficiency without the user trying to manipulate factors we don't really understand.

 

I have noticed that there are times that I am not able to get the mileage that I expect. I cannot for the life of me figure out why that happens. But, those times are few, far between, and always short in duration. I am OK with them because I know that my car knows better than me how to maximize mileage. I am just a bit player in the big game.