EV mode

Ya this is normal. The computer monitors the battery (amount of charge) the temperature of the battery and the current draw verse charging .... usually it takes me 3 miles of driving to fully initiate the EV mode. Also - as you know, it is only functional up to 25 mph. After that (normal operational condition) the EV mode kicks out and you get the error message 'excessive speed'

Again - normal situation for now (hopefully someone will improve on the battery life going forward).

Mr. Bill :rockon:

 

My experience has been that it depends on the water temp in the ICE cooling system. If I'm drifting down a gentle hill for a long time in cool air the ICE comes on (seemingly for not reason) for an interval of time. I'm drifting down hill so no throttle is involved and the battery is fully charged. Of course, this disrupts the 99mpg and starts burning gas for no reason other than to heat up the coolant. I am not running the heater and the temp is set to LO.

 

A couple of quick ones:
- EV mode needs to be selected soon after turning on the Prius and *before* the engine starts up (with a cold car - say, after a night); if the warmup sequence of the engine is started, even if you have a charged enough battery, you're out of luck, it will not go into EV mode - and it makes sense - once you start the car, and the engine starts warming up, it is OK to keep it running until is warm - the computer expects you have turned on the car to drive someplace (you need the ICE) and stopping warming up and starting it again after using EV mode is a complete waste of fuel; better start with EV from the start, if really needed - but you have to be quick selecting it!
- if you run a lot with the battery ("gliding") or not running the engine too high and the ambient temperature is pretty low (right now we have around 0-5C) - the ICE will start or continue running for "no reason" when you least expect it - the whole purpose of these "nonsense" ICE running sessions, is to keep the engine warm (and thus efficient when needed). I hope and wonder whether the Toyota engineers have properly insulated the engine from the outside to keep it warmer than an "always running" engine - traditional engine.

 

At least in the US, you have to be in Drive (or reverse) to select EV Mode. Otherwise, you get an "EV Mode Not Available" message. So to go to EV mode right off the bat:

-Turn on car
-Quickly shift into Drive
-Hit EV Button
-All before ICE turns on

 

Woah!.... no kiddin.... I could have swore I go into EV when in park... I'll have to test that out!

thanks for the heads up because I have gotten the "can't go into ev mode message before, I"ll have to pay attention if its just because I'm in park.

 

@adrianblack - you are right - you need to be in drive to select EV - it would also make no sense to select it, if you are in park - but I need to verify this again - I am doing it now so quickly and automatically already I don't notice it anymore...
Actually my main "problem" with the Prius is that after 36 years (my age) of driving conventional cars, where there is always the unmistakable starting engine noise, I am still baffled when I move with the car still silent. I even ended up turning the car off by mistake, thinking that I didn't turn it on - it will take some time to adjust years and years of starting engine induced behaviour.....add to that that you don't even need to insert the key any place....

 

Simple EV mode's a JOKE. They sould change the button to "makes you feel like you have a real electric car mode" LOL

 

How very deep and incredibly helpful.

 

In the US version when you start the car, the "READY" indicator light comes on in the lower left of the instrument cluster. I am not sure if it is the same in the Europe version.

 

Thank you You are very welcome !

 

LOL!... your much too modest!

Go ahead, take another bow!

 

Just tested this yesterday. I was able to switch into EV mode while the car was in park with no problems.

 

Just one addition - if you end up out of EV mode (while the car is still cold), if you are in stop and go (stopped for like 4 secs), you can again activate EV...

 

@hybridprius - it is the same in the EU version - there is the "ready" light at the bottom left of the dashboard - my consideration was due to the fact that you don't hear anything, you plug or turn nothing to get in the car and turn it on - there is simply 1 beep and that's it. And when you put in D or R, and still hear nothing (especially when the car is warm already) you wonder - "did I turn the thing on at all or what? will it move?" and then, yes it does! as I said - 36 years of conventional cars...
@adrianblack - I have re-checked - I can get into EV mode soon after switching ON and before selecting R or D while in P.

 

I use EV mode on the last 0.5 mile of my usual route home. After being on a highway for 20 min, battery is usually about 8 bars. Yesterday, EV mode would not turn on at the stop at the bottom of the ramp. "EV MODE NOT AVAILABLE". Tried it all the way home, still no luck. After parking, I powered off waited a minute, powered back on, and EV would still not activate (pre-ICE). Weather was moderate 60-70s all day, engine not overheated, i've done this dozens of times before. In the morning, with the engine cold (SOC @6 bars), EV would still not immediatly activate. ICE then started, I drove a few blocks, ICE stopped, and then EV mode could be activated.
I understand all the arguments concerning the potential (in)efficiencies and uses of EV mode. But this is just a data point to note.

 

I'm of the same conclusion. If it was predictable it could be usable but when it's on there's only "gut feel" of when the ICE will turn on and often EV won't turn on anyway. If you drive to the left half of ECO mode at low speeds you can almost always go on just pure battery anyway and the slider gives a hint as to when the ICE is likely to kick in.

I wonder honestly if EV mode was in great part put there as a foundation for the plug-ins; less to change later and a mostly meaningless thing to sell people on (and it probably works, I thought it was neat before I realized it's really quite useless).

I'll probably still fiddle with it from time to time but considering how nicely the eco mode works EV is not much of a boon.

Yep, but you can do that in normal mode using the eco slider If nobody is behind me I often accelerate to the left hand side of it and keep my MPG stratospheric while accelerating.

I still get a 1 beat per minute increase when the engine stops at a hill. Feels like the car stalled.

 

I just had the brake software recall fix on Thursday. On Friday the EV mode goes off at 10 MPH. Never happened before the brake software fix. Always backed out of the drive way and would do surface streets at under 24 for the EV mode to stay on, Have you have you folks with this problem had the brake software fix? Not happy either.