I looked and looked and cannot find a direct, non-technical answer to this. What is the average miles per gallon on a Prius Prime using Charge Mode (engine only) from a completely empty traction battery to full battery?
That's because it's variable, depending on how or / and when it's used. Using a few extreme examples of the differences that can show up. Middle of winter below freezing temps switching on charge mode right after starting the car while driving up hill to enter the freeway at 80 mph into a 20 mph headwind (for whatever crazy reason(s) ) Middle of summer temps around 80 F 20 mph tailwind at speeds around 40 mph with a steady decent and no stop signs or traffic lights. Another big variable is how long charge mode is left on. 10 minutes to give a few % EV range (which the Prime wouldn't do by itself after running out of EV range, unless sometimes when on a long decent, it might. ) Or running out of EV range and switching on charge mode and leaving it on until the Prime reaches 80% SOC when the Prime shuts charge mode off automatically and switches the Prime back into EV mode. All these scenarios give different results, but all of them give lower than normal MPG.
So how many miles per gallon? I can put it into continuous Charge Mode by holding the EV button for about 2 seconds. It will charge until the battery is fully charged, and then it will revert to EV.
