EV mode on start up.

I have Prius C 2013. i have noticed the EV mode is only when speed limit is 25 mph when using the battery more than 2 bars of charge. if the battery is 2 bars of charge then the EV mode is not enough.

 

doesn't the ice have to warm up first?

 

good question. i live in San Antonio tx the weather is very hot. when i drive around the city and the battery is charge up and i decided to park some where for a while and the charge is going down. i am not sure that cause from the electric motor generator or used up the A/C energy. the good news is set up the price per gallon. i have seen save alot of money when i parked and used up the battery of charge into A/C.

I have not try to turn off A/C. if the electric motor generator will go up of charge battery.

 

What do you mean by "EV mode" ?

There is also the engine-off mode that owners often mix up with true EV, since the indicator shows "EV" but in a different way.

One requires an explicit button request. The other is automatic while driving in HV. Their behavior differs, even though the engine isn't running for either.

 

I know it's very confusing about "EV mode".

There are two "EV mode": with or without physically push the EV mode button.

You're talking about "EV mode" without pushing the EV button from engine off and cold overnight: no matter how full your battery is the ICE will start in about 10 seconds to warm up. When the ICE is warmed it will turn off and the "EV" icon will show next to the green bar: you can drive up to 42-45 MPH depends on how soft your foot at the gas pedal. When your ICE is hot enough you can drive in "EV mode" with only two bars left until the ICE will start to recharge the battery.

"EV mode" with the push of the button: there are two speed limits at 9 MPH when the ICE is cold and 25 MPH when the ICE is hot enough.


So in your case this is what I'm doing all the time: right after starting the car (either overnight or during the day) I push the EV button without worrying about the level of the battery. There are only two conditions:

1. The battery level is low: it will beep and pop up the message "EV mode" is not available.
2. The battery level is good enough: it will engage the "EV mode". Depends on how hot the ICE is it will have the speed limit at either 9 MPH or 25 MPH.


I turn off the EV button when the ICE is hot to have a more responsive gas pedal and not using AC.

 

I'd love to know more about this. I had no success using the EV Mode button last winter, but a 9mph EV mode would be quite useful. How hot is "hot enough" to enable 25mph EV Mode?

 

The User Manual is quite clear to me.



EV drive mode - need to push the EV Mode button.
EV drive - no need.

The engine coolant temperature must be higher than approximately 70°C (158°F).

From the NCF:

Vincent

 

Thanks, Vincent. It's so much easier to drive efficiently when you know how the car is programmed.

 

It was 60°F this morning when I tried the EV Mode button. The car declined to enter EV Mode, without giving a reason. This afternoon, it was about 70°F, and it worked.

The EV Mode button might be occasionally useful at parking lot speeds, but only a few months out of the year. :-/

 

Depends on where you live.

 

Is it more economical to warm the car up first and then drive in EV mode (button pushed) or to just drive in ECO mode for short distances?

I live in a very, VERY small town (Utah outlands) and a lot of the trips around town are going to be 1-3 miles R/T.
The speed limit in town is 20 MPH, 40 MPH on the main drag that goes through the town.
A traffic jam here is seeing another car at an intersection.

What is the correct way to warm up the Prius C before starting out?



John

 

The best choice is always been to "just drive it", letting the system decide rather than you doing something special.

 

Thanks,

It would have been nice to be able to drive to church, store, etc.. and use no fuel at all.
Just for "Show & Tell" if nothing else.

Right now the Prius C shows it cost me $0.14 for fuel to go to church (and back).




John

 

You could warm it up first and then drive in EV if you want, but you won't be saving fuel/money. Even if you don't have to warm up the engine first, you'll still have to use gas eventually to recharge the battery.

 

S0.... here is where a micro EV charger would come in handy (is there such a thing?).

In Utah electricity only cost $0.07/kWH. Other research shows the Prius C gets 5 miles/kWH. That would make it about .4kWH or 2.3 cents to drive to church using only electricity, R/T.

Gas 0.065 / mile
Electric 0.014 / mile

A savings of 5 cents / mile

I could track kWH using my Kill-A-Watt meter to really do the compare.

OBTW: Is there a mod to force EV mode? Or maybe a cut off switch for the fuel?




Just thinking outside the box.

John

 

At work, I park about 1000 feet from the entrance/exit of a large parking lot. I usually arrive with more than 50% SOC. When going home, I select EV mode when the car is "ready" and before the engine starts. This lets me drive slowly (less than 9 mph) to the parking lot exit which has a traffic signal at which the wait is often more than a minute. When the light turns green, I drive away and the engine starts. So, selecting EV mode saves two or three minutes of running the engine while driving through the parking lot and waiting at the traffic light. Even though this takes charge from the battery, I think it's more efficient than having the engine run and warm up before getting on the road.

 

Thanks,

I agree. I do that around here to start out with (to the second stop sign, no stoplights here).

Around my small town I would go less that 2-3 miles R/T for most outings.
The speed limit here is 20MPH so I would like to be able to force the 25MPH limit the Prius C has for after it warms up.

A fuel cutoff switch might be a cheap/easy answer. Any suggestions?


OBTW: I'm retired and don't HAVE to do any long driving to work.
I do some long distance driving for pleasure, but that is a different story.



John

 

Its a good idea, but not really practical in a regular Prius/C/V. The whole battery pack is about 1kWh, and it only uses between about 40 and 80% or approximately 0.4kWh. So even the best case scenario, 80% down to 40%, would only get you a couple miles, and the ICE would be working hard to recharge the battery after that. Getting a plug-in instead would make much more sense.

 

It bugs me that the car doesn't come with a way for a cognizant driver to use its hybrid capabilities in situations like this. There's a few ways I deal with this scenario:

1. EV mode as you described. Only works if coolant temperature is >= 21°C. But when you get to the main road, you'll still be in the SOC-destroying S1. Sometimes I'll just drive like normal; other times I'll go to 80% throttle pedal position and demand that the ICE participate in getting me up to speed. Once up to speed, I let off the throttle, trying to keep battery amps near zero.

2. When I'm ready to exit my parking space, shift to D and stab the throttle to enter S1. Putt along to the end of the parking lot, with a goal of exiting S1 as you reach the main road.
* If your coolant temperature reaches 40°C and you're stopped, the engine should shut down while you wait for the light.
* If you get to the light and your coolant is well below 40°, as will be the case in winter, shift to P, key off, restart, and shift to N. Then if you shift to D, the engine will spring back to life and it will begin the warm-up cycle pretty much where it left off.

3. I'm strongly considering a coolant temperature hack, to allow the more natural and logical arrangement of keeping the ICE off while you're getting to the main road, then switching it on and warming it up by using it to propel the vehicle when you reach a street where there's sustained demand for power.