How much electric distance are the Primes getting?

Actually, I had this happen as well....Full battery, 29 degrees, going down a steep hill and braking....Engine came on. I also had the heater on as well as heated seats on.

 

full battery is a different situation. the engine has to turn to burn off excess energy.

 

True... Thinking of it I had the engine come on a couple times also with battery not full, but full load with hearing and heated seats. When in ev mode.

 

With the way Prime is calculating EV miles (miles with no gasoline consumption - no matter what mode you are in) one estimated range is really meaningless to other owners.
Most probably that if KyLien will follow your wife's trip twice or 3 times, he will get an estimate similar to her at the end of the trip.
The acid test for evaluating battery condition and health is the amount of charge (not miles) it can hold, and can be checked by measuring the charge (from wall) it accepts. A good and new battery will accept about 6.3 kWh from wall.

 

Thought I give a quick update on the EV range experience over the last months. Our winter here in the Seattle area has been unusually cold with extended periods of night time temps in the mid-20s and day time highs in the upper 20s to low 30s. During that time my EV range was down to 23 - 25 in in-city driving. This was with both heated seats running on high and the AC set to 69. Under these conditions on the freeway going 60 - 70, the range was more 22 - 23. Now that temperatures are back to normal meaning lows in the mid 40s and highs in the low/mid 50s my range has increased significantly. As of yesterday when I turn on the car it shows a range of 31 miles....and more importantly...when I set the trip odometer...I do get over 30 miles in in-city driving with the occasional few miles on the freeway. Couldn't be more happy with it. This range though is with heated seats and AC turned off. With AC turned on the estimated range is reduced to 28.5 which is still excellent.

I'm wondering if the temperatures go into the 70 whether I'm going to get a range of mid to high 30s

...and I'm still amazed by the mpg I'm getting in HV (eco) mode. Two days ago, I drove from N Seattle to the airport and back - mostly freeway (60 - 65) and got a whooping 69.9 mpg!!! Mind you, that was not hyper-miling, just normal driving and HV from the beginning, no EV mode at all. What's not to like!!

 

i have found 70 to be the cutoff for better or worse battery performance in the pip. will be interesting to see if prime has moved to a lower number with battery tech.

 

Now it has plateaued at 23 miles.

 

Brilliant.

Did you happen to notice if the EV range was unchanged from start to finish ? That is my understanding of how it should work but I would like confirmation.

 

HIgher temps are better ... until you start using AC ;-)

 

Not sure I understand your question....

 

Was the EV range at the start of the trip the same as the end ?

 

The actual mileage was pretty much what it estimated. However, obviously, if you were to go up a steep mountain for 10 miles.....The actual range would be lower.

 

Still unclear --- sorry

I'm asking if the EV range changed duirng the airport drive in HV mode.

 

While I can't answer the specific case because it isn't my car, I can say that no, that is not how it has worked for me. If I am in HV mode, it will consume some of the EV-Mode battery. This isn't a reserve mode, this is just part of the overall battery and it only consumes from the top not from the bottom. To do what you are suggesting would require it to have two different battery pools, which it doesn't. It just has a capacity under which it no longer attempts to run in pure EV mode. In HV mode it will still slip into EV mode under some conditions on its own and consume the EV battery. I had this happen several times at highway speeds. That said, I started with 4.4 miles of EV range remaining when I got on the highway and put it in HV mode and when I got off the highway I had 4.6 miles of EV range. During the 40 miles on the highway I ranged between 4.1 and 4.8 miles remaining, this was mostly flat with a few small hills along the way.

Also when you enter city driving it will go into EV mode like it normally would for the Hybrid system in any Prius, when it does this it obviously has to consume from the battery pool. It isn't as aggressive at staying in EV mode though and stepping on the gas hard will flip it to use the ICE as you would expect.

From my usage, there are 3 essential modes of driving: HV - seldom uses EV mode but will when it won't consume much power for a mile or two. EV Auto - Uses EV mode in most steady driving situations but will use the ICE to provide acceleration or added power. EV Mode which aggressively attempts to not use the ICE unless it really must. For EV mode it seems if you do long heavy draws on the battery or put a lot of power into the battery it will flip on the ICE to pick up the slack. This can be seen in hill climbs and hill descents if they are long.

 

I'd love to hear the result of this kind of drive when starting from, say, 15-20 miles of EV range.

 

if you hit hv right out of the driveway with a full charge, how much ev will it use up? and will it make it back up as you continue driving?

 

Does the Gen1 PHEV you own work this way ?

 

yes, it uses up about15- 25% depending on warm up time, but does not make it back up. i think others have had different experiences, so it may depend on operating conditions.

 

I have not done that test, yet. I typically wait until at cruise speed on the cross town route and then HV mode. But I am skeptical because of final charge taper. The last 5%, the taper charge rate is reduced. It might take a 'long time' IF the control laws allow it in READY.

In our BMW i3-REx it is called charge sustaining mode and won't even come on until 75%. The battery needs head-room for regen charge.

HV mode has a lot in common with charge sustaining mode.

Bob Wilson

 

My experience with the PiP is the same. But if you consume about 22-25% by driving ~3 miles or more EV and then hit HV then the system does try to return back the 'warm-up' battery consumption.