Is My EV Damaged?

What is the "ENERGY MONITOR" showing? It might give an idea what it's doing. The engine will only run for maybe a minute or 2 to warm up or charge the battery, generally at a STOP sign, it won't turn off, but at a RED LIGHT, it'll generally go off within maybe 20 seconds at the most.

 

If there are only 2 bars, I find the engine will start almost immediately, and run for a while as I'm driving, presumably to push the charge up. Is it uphill/downhill, or flat driving, a lot of stop/starts to the Gym? I always find mine gives relatively poor l/100km for a short run where the engine has to warm up, but as the run gets longer, the l/100km gets better and better. How does it go with longer runs?

I'd suggest taking it for a slightly longer drive, watching the ENERGY MONITOR to see what it's up to. Also, when you see the battery nearly full (2 bars from full), stop the car for a few moments and see what the ENERGY MONITOR is doing - it shouldn't be trying to charge the battery at that stage.

What battery do you have - mine is Ni-MH?

 

Talking about EV Mode - I had my 87yr old Mum in the car yesterday (she's in there regularly) and she heard the engine (ICE) start up while we were sitting at a LONG traffic light.

Her comment "I thought this car was Electric" had me turn the ENERGY MONITOR on the Radio screen. I explained what each item was, and she could see that the ICE was charging the battery, then stopped "idle". As I took off, she kept telling me "it's driving using the battery now" "the engine is driving now" etc - then got confused when it showed power flow from the wheels to the battery. So I had to explain Regeneration to her. Kept her entertained for ages!!!

 

EDITED post: I apologize if I caused any confusion or being rude in my posts. if you want to check on your own if something is not ok with your car why don't you take a long trip lets say at least 50 continuous miles and see how many mpg your car gets?

 

That's a nice story, Alan.

About 3 months before my mom passed, she said to me, "I see a Prius in your future." She (and my dad) would have loved riding in my car, and been absolutely amazed at the technology and great MPG.

 

That's normal. The engine is cold. 3 miles is about the distance it takes to get the engine into working temperature. Getting the engine there will override the shutdown during the first minutes. Also it will be increased if you drive too slowly trying to get energy from the battery. In a two bar charge, the car will try to get it to trhee bars, so the engine will run.

Try driving 6 more miles. Don't try to keep it working on ev range, just drive. It also needs to be charged to get the juice from the hybrid system. You will see how it changes immediately. My regular commute is about 12 miles, and engine keeps on and consumption keeps high up to 10l/100km during the first three miles. When I reache the destination, it has dropped to 3.5l/100km.

Remember than short trips with cold engine is when an hybrid is less efficient. And any other car is like 3 to 6 time less efficient than an hybrid in the same situation. Trying to get the best economy on short cold trips is complete counterproductive on hybrids. Just the opposite of a regular gas engine, so it's really counterintuitive.

Nexus 10 ?

 

Just because we bought a Prius, does that mean we must be obsessive-compulsive, or worse yet, anal-retentive about gas mileage? And "EV" time?

I still say to Marshmallow... Just drive the car! Even on your worst day, you'll still probably get 55-58mpg in normal city driving. Quit looking at, and quit analyzing all those screens, and just drive your Prius like a regular car.

I believe Toyota designed the Gen4 Prius to be driven like any other car, and you'll still get great gas mileage.
(I read that in one of the many reviews.) Seems to be true. I'm now up to a steady full-tank average of 64.7 mpg, without even trying. In the PWR mode. AC blasting. Driving like I stole it...

 

Recently noticed EV mode not turning on as much, Intermittently(some trips it would happen some trips not). I checked the power display screen and noticed that when this happened I could be stopped in drive but the engine would be idling and no power going to the battery or the wheels. No AC or heater running. Even if the battery was almost full and I was coasting down a hill, the engine would still be idling.

If the engine did turn off at a stop, It would start out in EV mode; then once I accelerate and the ice turns on, it doesn't seem to want to shut off (unable to pulse and glide).

Also I noticed that sometimes when I come to a stop the ice will turn off and then turn on again for a second and then turn back off. I'm thinking this could be a glitch in the computer system. Planning on having it seen by a Toyota dealership this week.

 

It's probably not a glitch in the computer. Your HV battery could be running hot. Under these conditions, the computer will limit charging, i.e., during coasting downhill, and spin the ICE instead. Have you cleaned the HV battery cooling vent/filter/fan under the rear seat? PS: you're better off starting a new thread rather than continuing a thread that ended almost 6 years ago. Many readers might not want to skip through 3 pages of posts just to get to yours at the end. Also, you might want to post the miles on your car. The 2016 Three Touring was the first to come with Li-Ion battery, and some of us would be interested in the long-term/high-miles performance of this battery.

 

Good call. I will start a new thread