Low gas range with a new prius prime

Give the car some time to learn your driving habits.

 

if this is the first tank, everything is low because of dealer test drives and etc.

if you reset everything and are still getting low mpg, report here with the data

 

To expand on schja01 true post, the Prime starts with a generic factory 'history' to base predictions on.
Over weeks it learns your actual styles and replaces the generic history with your history. So it becomes more honest over time.

Some owners are upset that it notices they do not drive frugally, some are amused that it begins predicting better range.

For me, get gas before you run out, no matter what it predicts.

 

It isn't using the full tank to guestimate / forecast that range. A couple gallons are set aside for safety margin and not included in the range.

And as mentioned in previous replies, much of the MPG 'history' it is using to forecast that range, is whatever default initialization numbers that where loaded in at the factory. It takes time to overwrite that dummy history with your actual driving history.

If your numbers don't start coming up good by your second refueling (ignore the first one, it includes variables out of your control and pre-delivery history that isn't your's), then read this old Gen3 thread for ideas:
Fuel economy complaints/queries? Please copy, paste & answer these questions, esp. if you're new | PriusChat

 

I guess the big questions are, how fast are you driving, how hot or cold is it outside, how long is your commute? I get good fuel economy as long as I stay under 75 MPH and drive long enough for the ICE to get to operating temp. When I say "good" I mean better than the 2016 Prius which I averaged 56 MPG for the time I had it (61,000 miles of driving). However, my results, your results, someone else's results will vary. I live in a rural area, not too many stop lights, and moderate speeds and moderate climate (most of the time).

That being said, although the Prime is very similar to the regular Prius in HV mode, it is a different animal. The Prime's regenerative braking is much harder than the regular Prius. It's 40 kW on the Prime and 32 kW on the regular Prius, and those are maximum values, they go down in cold weather when when the battery is fully charged. The big thing I notice on the Prime is how much the ICE can charge back tot he battery, much more "aggressive." So under normal driving I can at times hear the ICE drone more and at higher RPM's than the regular Prius, not a huge difference but enough to notice. Likewise, more charge to the battery and higher RPM's, although slight, can result in worse fuel economy than expected, especially if you're making short trips in HV mode. HV mode on the Prime tries to hold the SOC of the HV battery, where ever it is, so if you get into cases where you're in (little) EV driving down the road and never have to stop the Prime will regain the charge from the ICE. One way to avoid that is to manually switch to EV mode, which has been what I have been doing here in the winter and on longer trip where I can "strategically" go back and forth from HV to EV, very helpful and effective if you know the terrain such as if there's a elevation loss. I've been able to recharge the HV battery from 80-100%. Not saying this is a good practice, or that it is good for the HV battery but it is what I have been doing so far.

If your Prime is new, do give it time to adapt, a lot of new cars to have to adapt, this is mostly emissions stuff, so driving it in HV might speed up the process. Plus also keep in mind during the winter your HV fuel economy will be a bit less...the colder it gets the worse the fuel economy. Not sure what your commute is from home to work, but if you got a 20 miles commute you will fair better using the ICE for part of the way in and then switch to EV once the car is warmed up. This partially warms the battery up and the battery won't have to rely on the heat pump to heat the cabin. Plus if you're like me and can't charge at work you will have enough charge to make it home (most of the time) on EV only and end up averaging something like 120-150 MPG (depending on your commute).

 

i'm surprised no prime owners have posted their range. are you aware that toyota calculates range as mpg x usable gas above safety amount?
iow, the spec for tank size isn't a part of the equation

 

My commute is about 18 miles and with one charge I get about 120-160 MPG each day...weekend trips pulls the tank average down into the 70's... It all depends on how much you can charge, how far you go, outside temps, speeds, stops, acceleration...headwind, tailwind. I mean seriously so much can help or hurt overall economy.

EV range the car displays 28-30, at least here lately. During the summer/fall months the display showed something like 32 or 33 for a while.

HV range my car had 510 miles if I recall correctly when I last filled it up (couple days ago). What I actually get just HV not sure, I don't go heavy on the spreadsheets these days. Of course the "cruising range" shouldn't go down when driving in EV. I usually don't pay much attention to the range until it says 0.

The only other thing I have noticed is that the last few times I have hit 0 range I find that there's less gas left than what would have been in the 2016 Prius. Not sure if it's just evaporation, or if the tanks are slightly different, but my understanding is they are both the same capacity (11.3 Gallons). So if you're used to cutting it close, might not want to press your luck unless you have EV range to get you to a gas station, then I don't know what behavior the Prime exhibits under the condition where you run it completely out of gas but have a full EV range.

One thing I will say is that fuel economy plummets driving over 80, way more than the regular Prius. So if you're a speed demon, well Prius in general isn't your car, but the regular Prius will do better at 80...90 and going to jail speeds than the Prime in terms of fuel economy.

Not sure what the top speed is on the Prime, some source said 101, well that can't be true because I did get it up to 105 for a wee bit...Who knows, doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things other than to say it will go that fast.

 

actually, the range is only based on mpg's. has nothing to do with ev usage. see: DTE

 

Just filled it up yesterday and hv range said 523. As others have said, as you get more miles of good driving in the car's history it will give you a more accurate estimate.

What is the miles and mpge reading on your ODO trip reading? I'd only be concerned if this is terrible but you're driving efficiently.