Secrets to Maximizing Prime features

1--that depends on the hvac & seat heater. You're certainly not running the seat heater, so if the air temp is Goldilocks--just right and the heat pump neither runs for AC nor heat, the range is increased. And it depends on speed & traffic conditions.

2 & 3--the word Mode is used too much. EV & HV mode relates to whether the electric motor or the gasoline engine runs. ECO mode relates to how much acceleration you get from a part-push on the accelerator pedal. Whether you're in ECO, or Normal, or PWR, zero pedal is zero acceleration. Floor boarded is always max acceleration. Part pedal is...less for ECO, more for Normal, even more for PWR. If you draw a pedal-position vs. acceleration graph, Normal is a straight line from zero to maximum. ECO starts off low at the start, then rises to max. PWR rises fast at start then flattens toward max. Not a big deal. So...pick the mode that feels best to you for your driving and stick with that.

4--probably not, but somebody with a sharp pencil may provide a detailed answer.

5--it does a pretty good job. It's not perfect.

 

welcome!
the slower you drive, and the less you use ev on the highway (same thing) the higher your ev estimate will go.
but that won't give you more ev miles when you speed up or drive more on the highway.
you can't change anything really, it's just an estimate of your past driving average.

put it in hv mode before you get to the highway, so the engine warms up a little before you need full acceleration.

leave it in eco mode for best mpg's and ev range, until you've had a chance to experiment with normal and power mode to see how they compare.

charge mode is less efficient than just driving on the engine.

all the best!

 

I've actually used the "un-parallel-park" feature, in of all places, the Toyota dealership. I went in for my 20K maintenance and after they were finished my car wish in a bumper-to-bumper long line of cars. It actually worked really well. All I had to do was to switch back and forth between forward and reverse and the car rocked itself out of the spot. took about 10 forward/reverse cycles (like I said, it was in there tight), but I was fairly impressed by it. Is it a bit of a gimmick? Hard to tell, I used to work in NYC so can parallel park with the best of them, but for someone who doesn't do it regularly or hasn't in a long time, it sure beats trying to re-figure it out in traffic or with people blaring at you.

 

Turn the HVAC from Auto to off when the weather is nice. That will get you extra EV only miles. Hills will kill your EV miles. When I am in a hilly area I sometimes use EV AUTO. It uses the ICE more on the hills and EV when there is less load on the ICE.

 

Recommend keeping ac, screen, seat heater, and anything requiring power off I suggest using Bose Frames for audio since they don't obstruct your ear and are much more fun to use.

 

last seen: 1 year, 5 weeks ago. guess he didn't have that much fun

 

UN-PARALELL PARK?! I can parallel park great, but yes there are times when you're squeezed. I did not know it works in the opposite direction. Thanks!


iPhone ?

 

3--See what you like. This is about Eco-Normal-Pwr accelerator pedal modes, not the electric or gasoline power modes. We like Pwr on the freeway for quicker scoot getting into a gap in traffic.

4--I'm not sure anyone has ever found a good use for the charge mode. Why burn gasoline to charge the battery???

 

People always blame the seat heater, but I wonder how much power it actually uses and how much is just loss of capacity because of cold weather? It can't be more than 100W, which is nearly insignificant for the Prime. Even if it's 100W each you'd lose only about 3% of the stored energy driving around with them on for an hour. One of these days while it's still summer I'll have to drive to work with both seat heaters on high. It won't be pleasant, but I'm willing to sacrifice comfort for science.

 

My one good reason for charge mode: to make sure you have enough EV power to preheat or pre-cool for the return trip if you can't plug in at your destination.

 

• When driving up a mountain you could use it when you're close to the top so you can use B mode in EV mode on the way down (B mode in EV mode doesn't run the engine, but in HV mode it does)
• You might use it if your next trip is very short to avoid a warmup cycle
• You could use it if you're going camping or sleeping in the car and want to run the climate control without the engine. This could also be useful if you have an inverter and want to run it for a while in a remote location without using gas
• If you need maximum range on a long trip you could use it to top up the battery before getting gas
• If you're doing a short trip where the engine doesn't have time to thoroughly warm up, you could use it to put additional load on the engine, to try to avoid condensation in the oil or exhaust. There is the automatic warmup cycle, but it doesn't get the engine that warm.
• I have used it when someone wants to try driving my car in EV mode, but I don't have time to charge.
• As mentioned above you could use it if you want pre-conditioning to be available for your next trip

 

Welcome to PriusChat !

1) Consider running a bit more PSI in your tires to achieve better MPG's.

2) Try leaving it in ECO (throttle mapping) indefinitely.

3) Drive it smoothly for best MPG's.

4) Use A/C sparingly for best MPG's

5) You can use your 120v OE Toyota EVSE at 240 volts for fast 2 1/2 hour charging, if you have a near by 240v outlet.



Rob43

 

last seen 1y, 5w ago

 

UGH,

I can't believe I MISSED THAT !


LOL at myself,
Rob43