Electric miles increasing on Gen 5 prime

Yeah, mine started in the low 40's of miles (in December) and is now at about 58 fully charged. I've been using electric mode on slower roads, and hybrid mode on highways, and the car has adjusted it's prediction. I don't believe the battery is being broken in - just the car learning your driving style.

 

I started off in mid-February with my SE projecting ~34 miles of range at a full charge up here in upstate NY. It’s currently at ~43 miles of range at a full charge.

 

the software estimates range based on past performance. the battery cannot be broken in, and in fact is degrading from the moment it manufactured.
range is affected by many factors, and the estimate is constantly updated.

 

The car has learned your driving style and the weather is warmer and dryer. Expect your averages to start tanking in fall and winter months. This is typical behavior of EV.

 

Li-ion does have a break in period. The battery has to go through several charge cycles before the cells can reach 100% full.

Of course, EVs don't charge to 100%, leaving the other reasons mentioned for influencing the distance to empty meter.

 

Range estimates are based on driving history. When you first get the car, it has no real "history", just some "fake history" of default placeholder values placed by the computer programmers. It takes a while for your driving to push out all the defaults with your real history.

I would hope the programmers put in something in the low-average to pessimistic range, so most drivers can see it rise, instead starting it too high and having drivers wonder why it is degrading so quickly.

My RAV4 Prime initially showed an EV range of 40 or 41 miles, vs an EPA rating of 42. It has since climbed, though not quite monotonically, to 52. That may be close to accurate for a mix that is mostly streets. It is very clearly an overstatement for level highways at highway speed, but my pattern of tending to use HV on uphills, then EV for downhills and their run-outs, may bias its 'history' a bit towards downhill highways.

 

TBH, I haven't seen any change I could not contribute to higher temperatures, smaller, lighter wheels and better tires compared to 8/2023 when I picked up my car at dealership.
But it is my 3rd hybrid, so the learning curve to sync with the car was considerably shorter.

 

Biomed is correct. Watch the trend peak in summer and tank in winter. It's not subtle...

 

Opposite for me, I get better mpg during the fall/winter.....
My significant other runs errands that are less than a mile or two with the A/C at "LO" and fan at full speed in the Florida summer (May-October).
When I drive it and run A/C 70-72F and fan at 2, I can get 55+ mpg on a 6 mi trip to/from work, but the tank average is 45 or less....

 

OP has a Prime which will go around 40 miles on battery alone.
You have a Prius with the smaller battery. Your engine needs to run to generate electricity to power your heat pump. Heavy use of your AC unit will require more ICE operations vs your mild winters where the AC isn't being used - therefore less ICE operations. BTW using the auto climate controls, the ECU looks at air temperature in & out and will adjust heat pump usage accordingly.

 

My electric range is up to 58 miles and the XSE is rated for 39. I did an all-electric “run it till it’s out” ride and tripped over to hybrid only at about 53. It was rolling terrain on a warm day on a road with a 45 MPH speed limit. I still call it a guess-O-Meter but it was close enough for me… happy!

 

No, it doesn't. You are talking about the guess-o-meter self-calibrating, not the actually BEV mileage. The battery capacity and BEV mileage are both at the maximum with a brand-new battery, and they will decrease especially during the first few dozen battery charging–discharging cycles.

That said, 47 miles is on the low side for a Gen 5 XSE. I get around 38 miles on my Gen 4, which is the equivalent of 59 miles on the Gen 5 XSE. Drive slower and more gently in the BEV mode and avoid friction braking to increase the BEV range.

 

2023 Prime SE here, had her for nearly 1 year/8,300 miles. I got the EV range to display 61 miles on both the Toyota app and on the MID for battery percentage on a “full 100%” charge. Whether or not I get 61 miles is yet to be seen, as I never simply use EV mode until it runs out and the ICE kicks in. I think my range estimate is high because I drive quite easy in EV mode and pretty much only use it on surface streets. I switch to hybrid mode before I hop on the freeway or when I’m doing some “fun” driving so that behavior has been hidden from the EV calculations I’m guessing.

 

Wow, 61 miles estimated for the SE. Impressive. SoCal weather probably helps too ...

 

Agreed, last "winter" was very mild, rarely in the low 50's high 40's so I barely ran the fan nor heat. This spring/early summer had lots of overcast (May gray & June gloom) so AC wasn't used much neither.

 

With 8500 miles on the odometer, my maximum EV range has now climbed to 55 miles. But considering the patterns in how I select EV vs HV in hilly and mountainous terrain on the days the vehicle is driven beyond EV-only range, biasing its driving history, I'm increasingly seeing it as a "fake number", overstating its useful range.

This displayed max EV range number is probably more meaningful for flatlanders, and for those who manage to do a much larger fraction of their driving in EV mode. While I do all my local driving in EV, gasoline road trips still roll up a large majority of my total miles.