Hello folks, Just bought my Prime Saturday in Laurel, Maryland and really like this car. First new car since 1999 and first hybrid vehicle ever. I'm happy to report that it was in EV mode this morning for 33 miles of my 38 mile commute. If I had a charging option at work I think I'd be absolutely over the moon but being able to drive > half of my drive in to work is pretty sweet. I've been leaving it in "EV Mode" and "Normal" - do you tend to do this as well or do you have a preferred combination of settings or do you actively change these? Thanks in advance for taking the time to reply, Matt
If I'm driving to work I use evo mode and EV mode. If I'm driving around town and know I'm not even going to use all of the battery I'll put it in power mode and drive in EV mode because I can take it right back home and top off the charge. Why not unleash the power! Had mine since last Monday. Enjoy! awesome!
All three accelerator pedal modes have the same power. You get the power more slowly (more pedal travel required) in ECO, and you get power more quickly in PWR. Normal is somewhere in the middle. Use the mode that best suits you and your driving conditions. We like PWR on the freeway were we sometimes have to squirt into a gap in traffic. The only times I switch out of EV are when I drive a route that is hilly and longer than the battery duration...EV Auto gives lower total gasoline consumption by saving the battery in the heavy load uphill sections. And I switch to HV to warm the engine briefly when I know I have a steep fast run ahead, like an uphill freeway on-ramp with a cold engine. Then, back to EV.
Congratulations and welcome to the PHEV community. I drive my car to work on eco mode. I take my time driving so I'm driving efficiently. I have a 14 mile drive one way to work. I start off with 39.5 EV miles. When I get to work I have either 26 to 25 miles left. I usually don't run with the AC because I live in Upstate New York and 6 months out of the year it's cold. If you search YouTube you'll find a lot of videos on the Prime. Oh by the way just to let you know how great this car is. I drove down to Florida on only two tanks of gas 1300 miles. Averaging 54 miles to the gallon. I got back on April 8th and haven't put gas in it since refuelling it on April 8th this year. I've traveled about 3500 mile since. Enjoy your Prime. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Just picked up my Prime a week and a half ago, love it for my 18 miles commute to work. I can run almost exclusively on battery for my round trip commute and right now I am averaging 110MPG!! I went from a half ton GMC Sierra to this little guy so these numbers are staggering.
Yeah seriously even at 70 mph I get around 53 mpg, on average. Also while I was going down a long hill on the interstate, I curiously tested the EV Mode, just to see how fast I could go on all electric. Got up to a dashboard readout speed of 87 mph before the engine kicked back on (which would be 84 mph on my ScanGauge, with no speed correction, and this 84 mph matches what's stated in that long manual that you'll have fun reading).
I use eco mode for my everyday driving because it gives me the most control over how much power I'm using. If there were a super-eco mode, I'd use it. I'll occasionally switch to power mode when I need to accelerate quickly, such as going to highway speeds from a stop.
If you want to accelerate more quickly in ECO mode, just press down on the throttle harder. All the ECO/Normal/PWR modes do is change the throttle offset/power demand curve. But full throttle is the same in all modes.
I'm aware of that, but unfortunately my foot doesn't naturally contain enough lead, so the power mode makes it easier.
