2023 Prius Prime - Share Your EV Mode Range, Rate

Yeah, sometimes the SOC will drop well below 0% on MFD during HEV driving. You probably completely depleted the HEV reserve and reached the lower buffer.

 

The only way I've ever been able to bring the SOC much below 0% is by driving in EV mode with a tiny load ( less than 10 Amps) on the pack.

Down to 0% SOC can show different voltage rebounds after the (( load on the pack is completely removed )(foot off the go pedal) ( depending on the load) or (speed) one drives when the pack runs out of juice for EV mode only (0% SOC)
and DrPrius will show the voltage rebound of the pack when taking the foot off the go pedal right between 1% and 0%.

With a minimal ( not tiny ) load on the pack ( around 10 Amps or 15 mph ) I've seen the pack go 5 volts under
0% SOC without the engine firing up, but the voltage has to rebound back to the at least the 0% SOC voltage with foot off the go pedal, or the engine will fire up.

I've posted Gen 4 Prime voltages in the past. You'll have to find Gen 5 0% SOC voltage if knowing that is of interest to you.

It's not intuitive until you actually see it on the gauges, but when you see it once, it becomes more clear.

 

2023 Cutting Edge Prime Premium
I’m getting 45 miles on a charge with 17% left. Awesome. And it isn’t broken in yet. 390 miles on it so far.

 

Nice @Ngenovesi ! I did another short trip today draining the battery (100% to 0%) and got 51.1 miles before HV mode kicked in. 1.6 miles was neighborhood roads and the rest was highway speeds between 55 and 68MPH with just a few slowdowns. Only known bias to the data was a net drop of 645 feet from start to where the battery died (5655 feet down to 5010 feet). Temperatures were 45-55 degrees with windows up and just the fan running using outside air. I know how to make sure AC is off, but a little less certain knowing that I have heat off which I know can make a big difference in EV mode.

will

 

No surprise on the concept, but still surprising to see the numbers. After getting (or at least projecting to) several 50-ish miles per charge on my PPPXP in pleasant weather, today I drained the battery doing errands in cold/snowy weather. There wasn't slush on the ground, so likely the drop was more due to just cold than splashing water.

My battery drained at 37.1 miles - ouch! That is a pretty big delta. Standard conservative driving and no altitude change either, it was 99.9% round trip.

We begin a road trip in a few days and the forecast temperature for our departure is 11F. That likely bodes poorly for a super-efficient start.

will

 

I ended up getting 52 miles on my charge. Outstanding.

 

did you turn on the heat? if yes to what temp?

I typically don't turn on heat unless the gas engine is on and warmed up, or I'm told the passenger is ( freezing ( usually when I'm sweating ) )...

 

@vvillovv: I needed airflow, so had the fan running. While I know how to get air with AC disabled, not quite sure yet how to get just outside air with heat disabled. So, yes, probably was using heat. I set the temperature to something low-ish like 65.

How do you get outside air without heat?

will

 

@Will B
It sounds to me like you would like a HAVC ( vent ) function, which I've never found / seen in our Gen 4.
The best suggestion I can think of is to reduce the heat as much as the HVAC system allows ( ie: LOW ) and / or open window(s) accordingly.
Below freezing ambient temperature ( 11 F ) changes a lot of the Primes programming as well as other variables that effect all automobiles. And without waste heat from the engine ( , ) heat for cabin comfort and traction pack efficiency needs to come for the heat pump system, seat and steering wheel heaters ( if equipped ) and the traction pack heaters, reducing EV range even more than the efficiency hit one might normally notice in a non-EV car, at that temperature.
Your question is a good one. The question doesn't really have one answer that is going to satisfy all conditions and / or personal preferences.

 

Same way you always have in previous generations - set the temperature to LOW, so it doesn't heat, and turn off the A/C switch so it doesn't cool.

 

@vvillovv and @KMO: Thanks, I'll give that a try knowing that it isn't an "always" solution. Automation is cool and I'm sure in general much more efficient, but there are times I really miss the simplistic controls of my Gen1!

will

 

My best EV range on the XSE was 49 miles last august; I mainly have been doing local driving and get about 39-40. But nothing is flat around here - if it was, I'm sure I'd do better, gas mileage too.

Has anyone noticed that in EV mode the real-time energy-use meter sometimes just reads zero regardless of how you drive? it's happened 3 or 4 times on me, I will just be driving in EV mode and the energy meter will just go blank. Sometimes it will come back if I pop it into auto mode (and it switches to MPG) and back into EV, but sometimes that doesn't bring it back, but it will just randomly pop back later. Doesn't seem to effect the average calculations though.

I've also noticed the car loves 65MPH but mileage/energy use starts to suffer around 68-70.

Lastly, I was surprised to see how long the ICE stays on even when put in EV mode when driving in cold weather. This affects the accuracy of EV range calculations (it's using gas, primarily, I assume, which extends the "apparent" EV range). The display should really NOT show it is in EV mode if the ICE is running). I know keeping accessories like defrost, heated seats, etc, will make the engine kick on , but even without them it runs for a while even after the air coming from the heater is hot. I guess it takes a while to warm up the battery?

 

This car is awesome. Full charge got 40 miles in 20F degree weather. 2023 XLE PREMIUM

 

A couple of mid 80's to low 90 degree days and the Prius really sips gas and electric, as long as the HVAC settings are responsible or OFF completely.

That shows good detective work. I'll be there are other more sweet spots in the Gen 5 's efficiency speed ranges too.

I'm pretty sure you're describing the engine warm-up cycle. I've found in the Gen 4 Prime that the main reason the engine stays on is due to the engine coolant temp. (of course there are other smaller reasons why the engine runs sometimes).I've narrowed down coolant temp in the Gen 4 to 132 F where the engine will shut off as long as the HAVC system is off. With heat ON that coolant temp shutoff will be a higher temp depending of the how hi the HVACs heat temp is set, and it will take longer before the engine will shut off.
While driving in ( HV Mode ) the engine shut off coolant temp ( whatever that temp is per the HVAC setting and ambient temperature ) is pretty much the sole governor of when the engine turns ON and OFF.
edit: sorry, relative to when EV mode will become available. Engine load is another variable, because sometimes when the engine stays on longer than (butt timing ) the switch over and the driver lets off the Go Pedal, the engine may switch back out of HV Mode and into EV Mode.
Finding an EV light on the dash that is grayed out while the engine is running in Gen 5 ( if there is one ) will help the driver to know when the engine is OFF according to the ECU's

 

Yeah, I see my ICE is really running a lot, even with my heater at 65 and blowing very hot, and all the electric heaters off. I am quite surprised it runs so much, and that the engine takes so long to "officially" warm up, as the heater starts blowing warm air in about 4 minutes; So the HVAC heater is entirely "powered" by the ICE - uses a regular heater cre like a normal ICE car? Obviously BEVs don't work that way! Looks like when the ICE is running in EV mode the "energy use" meter goes to zero, too - I was wondering about that. All good information to know, and some things I'd definitely look more closely at when picking my next vehicle. Thanks!

 

Hmm, it's my experience the heater runs off the EV battery even when the ICE is running. Look at your EV range when the heater is off and then when you switch it on. You will see the EV range drop when it's on.

I drove to store and back today in 17F, about 8 miles total. Had the heater set at 75F with the fan set to full blast, front and rear defrosters on, the steering wheel heater on, and butt burners on full. The ICE never came on, but it did burn through about 40% on my EV range.

 

Interesting observation @HacksawMark, in an errand yesterday around 1F with cabin heat, steering wheel heat and butt warmer on, I saw the ICE on for a good part of my errand. Today I had only the steering wheel heat on (no HVAC or butt warmer), about the same temperature and no ICE. The only other difference was yesterday had a bit of interstate driving, today was only local roads.

I have one more errand tomorrow before it warms up, it will have some interstate driving, so will try the steering wheel only option and see if the ICE comes on.

Will

 

The heat pump is rated down to 14F. Cabin heating above that temp shouldn't involve the engine. Below it and the engine will come on for cabin heat.

 

Interesting. Has anyone else had their ICE come on in EV mode in 50 degree weather when NOT accelerating or driving up a hill, heat off? How long should we expect the car to take before it "warms up" enough to shut off the ICE in 50 degree weather? Would be nice if we could override that setting and be pure EV when desired. Some other Plug-in's don't run the ICE at all in EV mode.