Crazy Drivers. Anyone Use a Dashcam?

The EV button should never be used outside of activities like repositioning on the driveway/parking structures, stealth late night approach to your driveway, when making the car READY to stop the ICE starting in the startup cycle (for one reason or other), etc.

It is a false belief. long term, to think better economy is attained using the EV button when out driving. All that is accomplished is wearing out the HV battery sooner than it normally would.

I'm surprised anybody still does this.

 

This is Rexing S500 dual camera. Routing the cables was fairly easy. Just take the pillar panels off gently and tuck it under the headliner. I had to play with the rear one a bit more since the car is a hatchback I didn't want the cable to be showing. I ran it through the brake light cable boot. It was a tight fit but I pulled it off. Good luck!

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That's essentially what happened to me. I was rear ended while stopped behind another stopped car. Luckily I'd stopped far enough behind them that the impact didn't push me into them... That would have definitely been a total.

 

I did not hit the car in from of me cause I was paying attention. Driver are going to fast.

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The EV button isn't that serious... You make it seem like if you use it you're going to kill your HV battery. These cars are pretty smart so there's really nothing to worry about, it will kick you out of EV mode when it wants to. I use it sometimes on a slow stretch of hill and then recharge going back down, I just don't want to use gas going up that hill that slow right before I go down hill and recharge.

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I suggest if your intent on not going the ambient speed, like everyone else is, please keep right. slowpokes in the hammer lane are inconsiderate at best and dangerous at worst.

 

Even that doesn't help . even in the right lane I get the same reaction, drivers pull to the left lane and pass me while I go the speed limit.

 

That's what the left lane is for.

 

While I agree that the Prius does a good job of protecting itself against stupid, in the long term, killing your HV is exactly what will happen. By constantly forcing long full to empty to full (80%-40%-80) duty cycles you will cause the HV battery to fail sooner. There are only a finite number of charge/discharge cycles in the life of a battery.

If you do what you say on an infrequent basis, it is probably no worse than what the car would do anyway, and wasn't point of my post, which was in the second paragraph.

At the end of the day, it is your car, you can do what you want with it. Come back and let us know at what milage you had to replace your HV.

 

Master Tech here and Hybrid certified... I'm not sure where you are getting your information NiMH batteries do not have a finite amount of cycles. And if by deep cycles you are referring to what you see on your gauge, the gauge is only a representation, it does not actually tell you state of charge it merely gives the user an idea of what's happening. Cycling is a very good thing for NiMH, (also good for the legs) it extends the overall life of the battery and is part of the algorithm keeping the battery healthy. Things that kill HV batteries are cold weather, extended time at a low charge or over charge and general issues with shorting or construction. And the number one cause, inactivity (gradual depletion to low voltage). There are specific parameters for the cycling and conditioning of NiMH (historically more finicky than other compositions) batteries and the software controlling it is incredibly robust. Unlike other compositions NiMH batteries can be rejuvenated if needed. I am telling you that the software does not ever let the state of charge get to dangerous levels while being driven, it's primary function more than giving the user an EV button is to keep the HV battery happy, it will start the ICE motor when it wants as you must already know. Dangerous discharge happens when the car is sitting for days, months or years without being turned on. Did you know synergy drive can bleed off voltage too? It uses MG1 to turn the ICE motor over until the proper voltage is achieved. But I'm sure you knew that. Don't scare people with ignorance.

 

That not on the Hwy. This is driving on main city streets lol. I have no issues while driving on the interstate.

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I thought driving a Hyrbid car often is supposed to extend the battery life rather than having the car sit. I currently have 163,981 mileage on my 09 Prius that's been driven far beyond 15k miles annually from the previous owner that racked the mileage up high very quickly in a short amount of time due to mostly Hwy driving. My HV battery have went through an insanely amount of charge and discharge through all those miles on a fairly young car. I think it should be the other way around, discharging a battery from 100% to 0% is bad on battery life as you shorten its capacity rapidly. On the Prius, you are not technically discharging from full to empty as it's partially. That's how you supposed to charge your cell phone Batteries so that they last much longer. And these cars are used as Taxis many of them still with the Hybrid battery that are driving 30-60 miles annually. So yeah, HV batteries age as the car ages not how often you drive the car using the HV battery. The car wouldn't even operate without the traction battery. That's what those grid chargers are for to extend the battery life.

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As the EV button discussion is taking this post off-topic, I have started a new thread in the technical discussion forum as I think the EV button topic is worth discussion.

Please add further discussion on the EV button over there. This post can return to the original subject, Crazy Drivers. Anyone Use a Dashcam?

Thanks.

 

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So, do dash cams actually help once you have been hit? I'm a little ignorant of how effective they are with insurance companies.

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Dash cam provides recorded evidence of what happened. If you have an accident recorded it will rule out speculations. Plus, like it was said before, whoever is at fault might try to twist the story against you to avoid responsibility. Dash cam acts as a witness.

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... a reliable witness.

 

Right, but if you live in a jurisdiction with no fault insurance, does it matter who is to blame for the accident? Won't your rates go up regardless? Can anyone clarify how it might play out in Ontario, Canada...if one was hit and could show a video countering the claim of another driver?

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