2016 Volt vs 2010 Prius

Perhaps the "forced charge" mode uses some of the Plugin capacity. @bwilson4web likely knows through experimentation.

 

Forced charge takes the pack up to about 80% of its total usable capacity before shutting off.

 

the larger battery will not help with mpg's unless the drive creates those specific circumstances you mentioned. i don't see it around these flatlands, and the o/p has left us to speculate.

 

People are still braking for stops there, I hope.
The EPA test doesn't have hills, and the PiP and Prime both got 2mpg more than the Prius in combined MPG.
Compare Side-by-Side

 

yes, this is what i'm trying to get to. what is it about the bigger battery that helps? with the pip, i figured it was li-on, but with prime, you've got li-on, nimh and eco.

 

This.

For an analogy, picture the batteries as tanks of water. Now everytime you brake from 50mph produces the same amount of energy. Add that energy as heat to the water, and the smaller tank will heat up faster as the larger tank has more water to absorb that incoming heat. You don't want the water to get too hot, because you are going to use it for a shower when you get home. So you have to stop putting brake energy into the smaller tank sooner than you would with the larger one.

tl;dr A bigger battery has more volume to spread the heat caused from charging or discharging out among. This means the larger battery can stay cooler, and thus be more efficient than the smaller one even if they using the same amount of capacity.

 

thanks!
so you are saying, even when the battery isn't full green, toyota is limiting potential regen to protect the battery?

 

They have since the first Prius. heat is bad for all batteries. If the pack is too hot for some reason, the brake system will switch to the friction ones.

I wasn't saying they limit regen on the plug in's pack when in hybrid mode. Just showing how a larger pack can help efficiency if it was.

 

right, i figured you meant the o/p's volt vs his 2010. i don't know how warm it is in oregon this time of year.