Low Tech Explanation of Hybrid System

Don't worry too much about the battery bars. The car will manage the battery without any special work from the driver. I have run in lots of stop/start traffic, just running in EV (electric engine only) and watched the bars drop down until the last two, then the computer basically kicked the ICE on to recharge the battery to a level that it was happy with and then turned off. Happened a few times as we crawled along.

I cannot comment about the bladder, as we don't have that option in Australia, or so I have been told. As far as gas is concerned, there are lots of threads, especially in the fuel economy forum, that talk about how close people get to running out of gas, or even actually running out of gas. The simple solution - don't leave it until the last minute to fill up. Set a mark of, say, three pips and fill up then. If you do it that way, you should never run out of gas regardless of the traffic.

 

JUST DRIVE IT!

That low enough for ya?

If you want more, check out the document links on my homepage. Much reading of discussion and lots of owner feedback helped to compose them... in a format intended for the typical consumer.

Suggestions are welcome. I'm always looking for newer perspective, as the hybrid market continues to evolve.

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As others have pointed out, the Prius requires no special care or skills to drive. Just drive it as you would any other car, and when the gas gauge says to get gas, get gas. It's that simple.

Tom

 

Hi Ohcat...,

You can think of the Prius HSD system as an electric torque converter. The engine runs real fast when you accellerate, and what speed that cannot go to the wheels, because they are turning slow, goes to the generator (MG1). Which generates electricity for use by the torquey motor (MG2) which is designed for the slower wheel speeds. Is that low tech enough for you ?

 

Hi Again...,

Maybe not the only thing special about driving a Prius, is when the SOC gets down into the pink, you want to accellerate slower, so more of the energy goes into the battery. That way, it will get charged back up into the cool blue!

In the morning, the engine does a little warm up thing, and even though its running, its not doing much to push the car for the first 57 seconds on the road. This is when the battery often gets down to the pink, if your unaware, and the car had low SOC when it was turned off. So, just drive slow, and avoid going up hills during this first 57 seconds, and try to avoid using the battery. Which is actually driving real slow. This will help the battery last longer.

 

OHCATWOMAN - drive the car, enjoy it and get gas when you get down to 2-3 pips. drive it nice and docile for 500 or so miles, then come back and renew this thread. we'll all give you the P&G, stealth and such tips. just drive and fuel up!

 

HYBRID SYNERGY DRIVE: Power Split Device