Idle at In-N-Out Burger

Mark,

There's no problem at all. When the hybrid battery gets too low, the internal combustion engine will kick in to charge it up.

 

You handle this situation by not worrying about it. The Prius will take care of itself. When the battery gets low enough, the ICE will come on automatically and charge the battery. This cycle will continue as long as you have fuel and keep the transmission out of N (it can't recharge in N).

Tom

 

Since the engine will come on to protect the battery, there is no risk at all, I've seen it go down on mine quite a bit, but the engine will come on to recharge when it gets way too low.

 

As the others say, no harm to your battery. However, it will hurt your fuel economy; the ICE (internal combustion engine) has to run to recharge it. Two steps you can take to minimize the MPG hit: turn off your headlights in the drive-through line and, if you can tolerate it, the climate control.

 

The ultimate solution: Park and order inside. I know that In-N-Out lots can be small--at the Davis location, I usually park down Olive Drive and walk back

 

I like this answer. I really dislike the whole concept of drive throughs. I always get out and go in, although I usually avoid places that have drive throughs. You can make a good argument about time, kids in the car, convenience, and such, but to me those are all symptoms of a bigger problem. We have allowed our lives to become over scheduled and too frenzied. Taking a little time to eat is a first step back toward being civilized.

Tom

 

Amen to that, Tom! Too many people driving too fast, eating too fast, etc.

 

Well when I am waiting for my #1 combo with a Coke please, and I can not believe I have not seen this suggested, I turn the car off!!! Its a wonderful concept! I jsut sit there, when they get around to a moving on up, I turn it back on. Get to the window, grab the goodies and off I go!!

Animal style rocks!!

KK6PD

 

You're trying to optimize what the Prius has already optimized. The Prius turns the engine off when it's not needed. The problem with idling is all those cars that don't turn the engine off when it's not needed.

Yes, the Prius engine will run occasionally during a long wait. But even when it does that to operate the air conditioning during hot weather, the actual cost is really quite minimal.

Turning the Prius off triggers the low efficiency warmup mode when you actually do restart it. My Prius gets terrible mileage for about the first 10-15 minutes, and then gets the great mileage. I suspect that 5 minutes of sitting in the car with it in READY mode would use less gas than turning it off and then restarting.

 

A big benefit of the Toyota hybrid system is that it is an economical way to travel stop & go - this is why the EPA city mpg rating exceeds the EPA highway mpg rating. The engine usually does not run while you are traveling at low speed or stopped, unless the engine needs to be warmed up or the traction battery needs a charge.

If you make the car IG-OFF while waiting for a short period of time, then when you make the car READY again, the engine will run for a short period of time before it automatically turns off. Depending upon how frequently you make the car IG-OFF then READY, you may use more fuel compared to leaving the car READY and letting it decide when to turn the gasoline engine on and off.

 

We bought our new Prius from a dealer in Daly City last week and got caught in a traffic jam (overflow from the game last Sunday) on the way home and drained the battery down to 2 or 3 bars. As everyone stated before, the ICE came on and charged it back up during the slowdown. It's nice to know we're driving such a smart piece of machinery.

 

In general, I like this answer, but you can't "avoid" In-N-Out Burger. That's sacrilege to those of us who pray at the alter of cheeseburgers and french fries, but don't have the luxury of having an In-N-Out any closer than about six day's hard drive from us. But you're right, there's always the "park and go inside option".

But back to the topic....the only way I understand it that the battery can be drained dangerously is if the car is driven when the ICE is out of gas or otherwise incapacitated. In this case it can't kick on to recharge the battery when it drops below tolerance. Similarly, the newer Gen II cars won't let you drive on just the battery...

 

i think what i would have done is go to parking lights since there is no need for them in a drive thru and that is what i do. because you have to move occasionally, i never turn the Pri off.