ICE comes on anyway

Huh? Is there a documented heat pump range?

Bob Wilson

 

Below 14f you need/use ICE heat. It's in the specs for the heatpump. You probable wont get to test this at home. We hope not anyway.

 

Lifted from "Catch 22":

"The gasoline engine may also operate in circumstances other than those listed above depending on conditions."​

This thread is defining an undocumented circumstance.

Bob Wilson

 

I just open a new thread before I found this. Here is what I posted:

I just bought a Prime Premium 10 days ago and really like it, it just sips the gas.

I have it charged during the weekend and test with EV mode (not EV Auto) but found that engine is always on during the morning. So MPG is miserable at beginning for about half mile, and then it turns the engine of so I can achieve like 120MPG after a 5 miles trip.

In on occasion, even after I stopped the car after the trip, the engine was still on, but panel is not showing that engine was on, either it show the battery was being charged. It lasted for more than 10 seconds after I fully stopped in garage and pressed parking key.

I am in Northern California, during morning temperate is around 45F, battery is full with 26 mils EV range. I live up the hill so it is down hill when I leave and EV range was almost same after I drive to school and it only drain the battery when I drive back. So I don't see any reason why engine would be on give the temperature and down hill and I press the gas pedal very gently. If it is to warm up the engine, then why it would turn it on after I reach the home?

Can I completely shut off the Engine when I drive in EV mode? That's all the purpose I bought a Prime.

Update: no AC, no heated seats, nothing was turned on when I leave the home except driving in EV mode.

 

It's likely those down-hill runs. Regeneration while the battery is full charged or nearly so will start the engine so that the car can put the energy into engine braking rather than regeneration. See if you can charge to 85% or so and stop and then leave.

 

Can you make a video of the morning drive and share it via YouTube?

This can give us valuable clues as to what may be going on. For example:

Bob Wilson

 

Will do it next time. But here is a picture I took this morning, it shows engine is on while it is 50F, nothing (AC/heating etc.) is on and it is down hill for one mil. Once when I drove back to garage and stopped, engine was on for 15 seconds while panel does not show that.

Thanks

 

try charging it about half and see what happens. and make sure your front defrost button is not on.

 

That might be true but it does not make sense isn't it.

 

Why doesn't it make sense? How do you expect it to charge an already-full battery?

 

didn't someone report that the prime software allowed for more full regen than pip?

 

Whats the big deal, its a plug-in “hybrid”...again Plug-In “Hybrid”

The engine turns on when its needed

 

Good photo. See if you can display the power meter in the middle display during the video. BTW, I've seen the engine come on descending a hill too.

If there is a safe place on the way, pull over and power-cycle the car. It will come back in EV mode with the engine off. Don't worry, your car is working similar to what several of us have documented.

Bob Wilson

 

It can stop charging but there is no need to turn on engine. How can "put the energy into engine braking", can you explain? I really don't get this.

 

We are finding the conditions when the engine comes on are poorly documented. So a user group like PriusChat provides a place we can experiment and find out.

You will find we have skilled people who will work with you and if possible, replicate what you share.

Bob Wilson

 

Spinning the engine takes substantial power. Think of the power the starter motor has to use to start a conventional engine and multiply that by a factor of ten or twenty or thirty to spin an engine much faster. Even if a little gas is being used to warm the engine, spinning it faster that it would spin on its own again takes substantial power. This power can be used to slow the car. Here in Colorado this method is essential for descending in the mountains. If you use the friction brakes you'll eventually overheat them and burn them up causing a loss of control. People get killed this way every year in our mountains.

Prius B mode uses engine braking to slow the car. Prime has a much larger battery that can accept much more regenerated energy so the car uses that first but eventually that can be overwhelmed and must be supplemented with engine braking. The happens earlier when the battery is full or nearly full but it happens even on a partially charged battery on large fast descents.

 

The big deal is that the engine can be kept off thus saving the wear, tear, gasoline and emissions of a warmup and cool down cycle if the startup can be avoided. In most cases, it can be avoided with a little help and planning from the driver. I have driven for several months and more than 2,000 miles without an engine start.

I prefer to treat the car as a hybrid only when on long trips outside the city and I've had excellent success treating it as an EV when staying in town.

 

Here's what you do: Leave the car in neutral while you coast down the hill and maintain steady speed with the brakes (forcing the car to use friction braking and not engine braking). I guarantee you the engine won't come on.


iPhone ?

 

I had the same gripe with the PiP (lived at the top of a hill) and solved it by coasting that first hill in neutral.


iPhone ?