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Explain how driving habits impact EV

Discussion in 'Prime Fuel Economy & EV Range' started by amooner, Sep 28, 2020.

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  1. amooner

    amooner Junior Member

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    newbie here. Absolutely love my Prius Prime!

    This may have been answered elsewhere, but I could not find it.

    My November 2018 Prius Prime will only charge to 19.5 miles and says charging complete. WHY? When I ask at the dealership, they say driving habits impact EV miles available, but no further details are provided. How do driving habits impact how much the battery charges? If there are supposed to be 25 miles available and it depletes, why won't it fill to 25 miles? Is my battery a dud?
     
    #1 amooner, Sep 28, 2020
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The DTE (distance to empty) is based on your previous driving habits. Drive more aggressively and you use more electricity (just like you use more gas) so you have to recharge (or refuel) more often.

    Drive more efficiently and you can go further per charge just like you can go further per tank of gas.

    How? It can easily take 6-10 miles off. Drive really efficiently and I can almost get 40 miles. Drive inefficiently and I'm closer to 30 miles.

    You want to look at your miles/kWh consumption (just like mpg). You want more miles per kWh which means you're driving efficiently. You're probably getting less than 3.5 miles/kWh for the car to estimate under 25 miles. I'm currently at 4.9 miles/kWh and getting around 32-35 miles.
     
    #2 Tideland Prius, Sep 28, 2020
    jerrymildred, Tips and Prim.e.xample like this.
  3. route246

    route246 Member

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    Try driving a full charge around town like a grandmother, preferably late at night when traffic is light. Take it all the way down to zero charge. Stay off freeways and expressways because accelerating to speed uses much energy. Keep your foot as light as possible, glide into stops as much as feasible and then after a full charge see if your DTE improved.
     
    #3 route246, Sep 28, 2020
    Tideland Prius likes this.
  4. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    @Tideland Prius covered it, but just to clarify, the miles of EV range is just an estimate based on your way you have driven recently plus some other factors such as temperature and use of A/C. The car always "charges" same amount (or very close to same amount) of electric energy in kwh each charge. What differ is the distance the car estimate to be able to drive by that amount of energy stored in the battery. If you switch the display to battery % instead of estimated miles, it will be always 100% when it complete the charge session.

    upload_2020-9-28_13-27-58.png
     
    #4 Salamander_King, Sep 28, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2020
    jerrymildred, john1701a, Tips and 1 other person like this.
  5. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    It's exactly like the DTE for gas. It's an estimate based on how profligate your right foot was in the past. It's not common knowledge among gasser drivers but there are other accelerator and brake pedal positions besides all the way up and all the way down.

    So, you can get 30 mpg or 70 mpg at the whim of your right foot and the demands of your driving situation. And you can get 3 m/kWh or 6 m/kWh in the same way. I'm convinced that the worst hit to efficiency comes from last second hard braking. That's like throwing money out the window.
     
    #5 jerrymildred, Sep 29, 2020
    Hicksite likes this.
  6. walterm

    walterm Active Member

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    Also if you always have the heat/AC on it robs a little of your estimated range - there's a display you can call up where it will show DTE for both with and without AC on. If the heat/AC has to run a lot (i.e. if it's very cold or very hot outside) it affects the EV mileage more than just a little temperature difference.
     
    #6 walterm, Sep 30, 2020
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