If I'm not mistaken it's about a 1 mile range and it's supposed to switch out of EV around 25 mph. Seems like EV is more for parking lots. I'd think regular or Econ mode with the hypermiler pulse and glide trick would be more useful.. and maybe even fun to play with. I've never driven a Prius but this video seems like a good guide on how to get the most out of the electric motor [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1PPQ8N-95I]YouTube - Toyota Prius City Gas Mileage[/ame]
Remember this. All the energy used to power the electric motor comes from the gasoline burned in the ICE. So if you are wondering this to try to save fuel, you will not save fuel using the EV mode for extended periods. The range of in EV depends on 3 things: 1) Your SOC (State orf Charge) the higher the state of charge the more range you will achieve. 2) The terrain. Oviously a downhill slope will produce a longer range then an uphill slope. 3) How fast you use the available charge. With all this said 1 mile is about right. Why do I say that, because very few people use the EV for propulsion, as it is less efficient in the long run then using the ICE efficiently. Hope this helps.
I picked up my 2010 Prius yesterday. Like others have posted the EV mode only works up to 9 mph. After that you get a message saying "Excessive Speed" and the engine starts. Not what I expected from EV. My info shows EV only good for up to 1/2 mile.
There has been different information published by Toyota on EV mode range. Some publications noted it as 1 mile and others as 1/2 mile. It is all very dependant upon the type of drive you are trying to use it on, but I'd say the 1/2 mile is much more appropriate for rating it. As noted many times before, don't think of EV mode as a mode you can use to drive the car like a Tesla or something like that. It's real benefit is for moving around a parking lot, moving the car in and out of a garage/driveway etc. That's not to say it cannot be used to help save gas under certain driving conditions but it must be used wisely otherwise it will actually hurt your mpg.
went to cancer fund raiser in Tacoma (about 25 north-east) started at 5.30 so we did the "I-5 crawl" and was in EV a few times and looked like we could do anywhere from 2000-3000 feet and mind you we never had more than 6 battery bars. so top off the SOC range and i guess a mile would be close... as far as mode goes, you can select either eco or normal as a default i believe since mine always starts up in eco
Yes, the car will retain the setting for ECO or normal when turned off and back on again. If the car is shut off in PWR mode it will just default back to normal...
tried shutting it off in power mode, still came back on in eco. there is a setup screen that shows eco as the default, wonder if i could change it?? i will have to let ya know on that after the return from BBQ....at least that s if i remember to try it
Well it assumes if you want ECO, you don't want to have to select it every time. I think that's the reasoning behind the software remembering ECO mode and not PWR mode.
One note in the video, (great video btw) I wouldn't floor it to jack rabbit. I think it was John1701a's site that said it's peak efficiency combustion wise was closer to 70% throttle. So I would try to push it 7/10ths of the way down! GREAT video though, that is exactly how I normally do it.
