Good morning, I would like to know if it is just my impression or is it reality. Does it make sense to use the Prius Prime in HV mode with a charged traction battery to reduce fuel consumption? It seems to me that with the traction battery charged (plug-in) and using the car in HV the fuel consumption is lower. I say this because I notice that the engine is off more time than when the traction battery is discharged.
The more the engine's off, the less gas you use. Look at the thread about fuelling up; plenty of posts about refuelling once or twice a year in there. If you charge every night and your commute is short enough to do on battery, it's basically an electric car with some extra junk in the frunk. I don't know much about the algorithm that decides when to run the engine (because mine has basically been an EV since I got it), but it makes sense that. It would run the engine less with more battery available. One of its goals is to keep the traction battery low enough for regenerative braking to be helpful, so it would need to use the electric motor in some capacity in any drive mode, with or without external charging.
If you use a hybrid as an electric car, then the junk is most likely in the engine compartment and under the bottom of the car.
The prime will use some plugin electricity in hv mode for better mileage, but you have to weigh electric vs gas costs if that is the objective
Good morning, Thanks for your replies. I mainly use the Prius as an HV because the daily home-work distance exceeds the EV range. At work I don't have the option to charge it. So I charge the Prius at my house once or twice a week. With a 100% charged battery and HV (full hybrid) use, fuel consumption is lower compared to a flat battery. This is my impression.
I believe the Prime uses less gas after being plugged in and charged too. Have you noticed that some days when you get home or to work that the Prime has used more charge than on other days commutes? Or is the amount of charge used each day on the same commute very close to the same?
You do realize it is compensating lower gas use with electricity? So you have to figure in both to calculate fuel consumption
Well, impressions can be deceiving! There is no such thing as a "flat" battery in Prime. There is an EV portion that you fill up by plugging-in and there is an HV portion that is managed by the computer when operating in HV mode just like the normal Prius. Since you are carrying around the same weight whether there is EV charge or not, your gas MPG is likely exactly the same in either situation. If you're not using EV at all, why waste the electricity from your home charger to fill the EV portion? Just leave the battery in HV and run it like a standard Prius Hybrid.
Good morning, Thank you for answering my doubts. As you said, it's just an impression. I bought this Prius only 3 months ago and I'm doing some experiments. However, driving the Prius in HV with a 100% battery there is less use of the thermal engine because it is evident that there is no need to regenerate more current to avoid draining the traction battery too much, having a lot of energy reserve. I will do a test by calculating the actual liters refueled always with use in HV and traction battery 100% charged and then I will repeat the same test but with a discharged traction battery with only the reserve for HV use
Does your battery go down? Even in HV mode, mine will slowly drop until it hits 85% or so when it'll kind of even out.
I see the same use of Traction Battery while in HV mode. It can be more or less usage depending on many things like speed, temp, length of drive, raise in elevation, driving downhill mostly. It can be hard to track unless one drives as close to the same route at the same speed and temp, every day.
Ciao Gianmarco, Ottimo acquisto! I have the car for over two years and yes, I can confirm that, when the battery is NOT indicating --%, it does consume less as it is using the battery just like the Prius 2 would do when it had a green battery. When you will eventually reach --%, the car will behave more like the Prius 2 with a blue battery. The solar panels we have will keep the battery topped up.
