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New Owner + Questions

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by PriusArtist, Apr 5, 2017.

  1. PriusArtist

    PriusArtist New Member

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    Hello, I brought my 2017 Prius 2 last month and logged 1300+ miles on it.

    I have read previous thread regarding to this but I am still confuse.

    Does Driving in Ev most of the time reduce the Prius battery life? I thought when the battery is low, the engine will kick in to charge it. Most of my driving consist of 55%-70% in Ev. I noticed I saved fuel when using Ev more.

    Example - My workplace is 10 miles from home, so if I use Ev mostly, I saved at least 2-3 fuel points.
    Then if I don't use Ev much, I use 10 points of fuel . 10 fuel points equal to 10 miles.
    In both of these examples I average 55 - 70 mpg. I have done it multiples times.

    What I'm asking is using Ev a lot will reduce the Prius battery? I'm not talking about using Ev mode. On the screen when you drive, there is a Ev indicator, it will light up to notify you are using Ev. And when it is not light up, the engine is running.

    Sorry for my grammar, English is not my first my language.
     
    #1 PriusArtist, Apr 5, 2017
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  2. Samprocat

    Samprocat Active Member

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    #2 Samprocat, Apr 5, 2017
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  3. Samprocat

    Samprocat Active Member

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    If you don't do high speed and hard acceleration your battery will have same life like driving in Eco mode
    Driving in EV mode is same as gas engines so if you don't accelerate hard you are not pulling a lot of current
    Toyota have built in 3D map to keep battery always in best parameters....
    So for long you are not driving hard you are ok

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #3 Samprocat, Apr 5, 2017
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  4. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    NO.

    The EV symbol could be indicating that you are charging the battery during deceleration.
    OR that you are coasting so that the gas engine is OFF and the battery isn't doing much either.

    But let me see if I have the question straight:
    You bought a car with a battery expressly so that electric operation would save you gas.
    And now you are worrying because the technology might be working TOO good ????? ;)
     
    #4 Sam Spade, Apr 5, 2017
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  5. PriusArtist

    PriusArtist New Member

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    @SAMPROCAT - My first language Vietnamese. Thank you for the reply.

    @ Sam Spade - Okay, Thank you for the reply.

    I was worried, because I read in another thread, a few were stating using Ev too much will reduced the battery life. Thanks for the answers.
     
    #5 PriusArtist, Apr 5, 2017
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  6. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Toyota tries to build the Prius so the car cannot hurt itself. (Driving with no gas is an exception, always give the car the choice to use gas or electricity, and it won't make bad choices)

    If you drive the car in any mode in the owners manual, you are fine. (Some owners find hidden inspection or maintenance modes, they were hidden for a reason)
     
    #6 JimboPalmer, Apr 5, 2017
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    driving in ev won't hurt your battery, but it will hurt your mpg's. try to learn the pulse and glide method, where you accelerate on gas, and glide, using no gas and no electricity.

    btw, you can't drive mostly ev on a 10 mile route.
     
    #7 bisco, Apr 5, 2017
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  8. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I would guess that 99% of the time I don't even think about EV Mode. I don't even put that screen up, preferring upload_2017-4-6_10-18-56.png which entertains passengers better, plus provides a better graphical display than upload_2017-4-6_10-19-53.png .

    The only time I think about EV is when I first start from home - I've a slow windy section of my street of about 400 metres, ideal for EV, or occasionally when just moving the car a short distance.

    The battery won't go below or above safe levels - let TOYOTA's engineers work it out for you, they've done much more experimentation than any of us possibly can. Somewhere I read that a team of 1000 engineers worked on the first PRIUS.

    Just enjoy driving it - over time, you might observe things which improve your economy - slightly.
     
    #8 alanclarkeau, Apr 5, 2017
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  9. RCO

    RCO Senior Member

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    Along with many others on this site, I recommend you simply drive your Prius like you would any other car. It really is clever enough to sort the whole economy thing out for you.

    Congratulation on your English, by the way. :)(y)
     
    #9 RCO, Apr 6, 2017
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  10. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    If it helps, I also get around 60% EV mode while driving in the city.
    I don't worry at all about it - all this range is due to much higher efficiency in power electronics and transfer of energy and a lighter vehicle - compared to Gen3, Gen4 simply finds it easier to move in EV.
    Moreover, I drive the car with "normal" mode the whole time. I never use ECO mode or PWR mode. All 3 modes have little influence on how often and how long the car will glide in EV mode, it is more to do with how one accelerates.
    As for fuel efficiency, simply drive the car as smooth as possible, predicting traffic lights and traffic patterns, accelerating and breaking progressively and smoothly. Let the car do the rest. :)
     
    #10 pakitt, Apr 6, 2017
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  11. neopunk1

    neopunk1 Junior Member

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    The first 2 months of ownership, I paid a lot of attention on ways to increase fuel efficiency. By the 3rd month I totally lost interest and just sticked with Normal mode. Mpg did not suffer much or at all. Most of your saving is from buying and using the car, don't worry too much about anything else. If anything, I noticed that I get better mpg when the car is on DRCC.
    Btw, the mpg indicator is just a rough estimate and I think Toyota over-estimated. I reset Trip-A at each fill up, and calculate mpg for the 600 miles I drive each week. Toyota is always in the 63+ while the calculation at the pump gives me around 61,
     
    #11 neopunk1, Apr 6, 2017
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