When you need a tiny bit more Ev range

Probably not. I've gone both ways. But it certainly won't hurt to let it finish warming up. (And I often run through some of the HSI screens after I stop anyway, so that takes a little time ... and annoys my wife. What can I say? I'm a little geeky.)

It's only happened a few times. Now that I've had more time with this car, I've learned to anticipate it better and either give up on EV in time to drive HV at highway speeds or, if I'm close enough and traffic allows, to try to game the system and get a little more EV range with using neutral and hyper slow acceleration.

 

short warm up on gen 3 can lead to misfiring on the next start up. i always let it finish, it's just a few oz of gas.

 

I've gotten away with it, but only done it maybe 2-3 times. Don't want to push my luck.
I also saw it once on my wife's '07.

 

So based on the statements here who is willing to run their Prime out of gas the same way I did with my volt then check how it operates and how far you can go past zero?

Worst case you needs tow and some massaging after running empty.

 

That sucks, the Volt just goes slow then coasts to a stop after several engine off miles.

 

I too had my EV charge run out less than 1/2 mile from home the other day, and gas kicked at the last light before home. And I did everything I could to extend the range ("B" once I got off the freeway, slow speeds, slow starts), managed to get ALMOST home (way more than expected) but the gas came on just before I got home. It'll happen from time to time I'm sure.

On a similar matter, does anyone know how much "reserve" fuel there is in the gas tank either once the fuel light turns on, or once it shows "Empty"? Or if there's a reserve of fuel AFTER the estimated amount of miles it shows you have left?

I don't wish to "run out of gas" but am curious... as I have two long trips this week more than EV range (I'll be using gas) with under a 1/4th tank, and was hoping I could do both before filling up.

I don't drive as much as I used to, so since I got the car (April) I've never filled up -- only once put in $10 worth, so I've never run into the low gas light so far, and don't know how much reserve Toyota puts on their cars (I know how it was with the old Hondas...)

 

There are no separate HV/EV portions of the battery. When the state of charge of the battery gets too low, or you hit the HV button, the hybrid system operates in "HV" mode, utilizing the ICE to maintain the state of charge at a particular level. "HV" and "EV" portions in the display are a fiction manufactured by the software to help explain how the battery is being used.

 

I have had the same issue when running out of EV near my destination. What I discovered was that when in B mode, the prime does not go into EV mode when it comes to a stop, after running the traction battery below the EV portion. By not going into B mode, I have been able to run quite a bit in EV mode after the traction battery goes below the EV threshold. I was always driving around town in B mode to recover more energy, and drive with a single pedal as much as possible. Not any more.