How to run out of gas

The Low Fuel light comes on right around 1/8 of a tank left, and a notification message pops up on the 11.6in screen to ask if you want to check for nearby gas station since the fuel is low.

 

You answered your own question here:

The total fuel range of one previous car, and the top tank range of a later car, simply were not enough to reach those least expensive Top Tier (or even non-Top Tier) stations along my common routes. Note that much of my travel is in areas far less populated and serviced than SoCal.

Yes, this Prius has greater fuel range than those cars. But I don't see that as reason to quit characterizing fuel gauging behavior the same way I did on previous cars. After sharply reducing that previous over-two-hour fuel range uncertainty, I find it hard to go back to large uncertainties again.

Note to folks who don't drive in Mendel's province: I've found that pricing patterns there are far different than in my home state. Prices in BC are often exactly the same at every station in town, and only a (Canadian) penny or two per liter different in the next several towns. There is very little dollar savings potential from the price arbitrage possible by having more accurate knowledge of fuel range.

Pricing patterns in my home state are very different. This morning, in my main shopping area, there is a $0.66/gallon price spread in a single block! $0.76 in two miles, lower than normal. Along my trip routes, differences sometimes exceed $US 1/gallon. At the CA-AZ border, there was a $1.70/gal spread in a reasonably short distance.

 

"YMMV"

However (comma!) I'm thinking one tank of gas and one battery charge means one tank of gas and one battery charge, otherwise one of our vendors has a cargo van that's in the 400,000 club and it's not even a hybrid.

Of course you can take Veedubbaya's approach that if you're not cheating then you're not trying hard enough.

 

i have never ran out off gas in any car i owned except for prius 2006 3 times . 1st one got distracted . 2nd one was mis calculating my how much milage left not considering extra passengers and luggage. 3rd got distracted. but out the three it was on the highway near an exit. the third time was 1 mile from gas station. had to walk .1mile to gas station

SM-G930T using PriusChat mobile app

 

Who runs out of gas anyway? gotta be smarter than that. Saw a lady cut off the entire right lane at a traffic light putting gas in her dead SUV with a gas can.

 

where is gas $1.95? i want some.

 

In the news they're predicting gas back up to $1.50 (Can) a liter here, soon...

 

I just heard on the radio this AM that they expect gas to go up about 50 cents/gallon here pretty soon when they switch to summer blend.

As for running out of gas, I did it twice. First time was on my old Kawasaki 350 during the Arab oil embargo. Going from the Bay Area to Vancouver, middle of the night, no gas stations had gas. I knew I was close when I saw another station up ahead but the bike sputtered to a stop about a mile short. Pushed it the rest of the way and finally found a gas station selling gas. Other time was not long later. Just pushed it too far and the car died in the gas station's driveway. WHEW!! Normally, I've always been more careful than that.

As for doing it on purpose, I'll leave that to pros like @bwilson4web. Thanks for adding to our knowledge base, Bob.

 

You know what's really frustrating me?
I buy my 2013 Prius....and gas prices go low...and stay low.....the entire time.
The minute I trade in my Prius?
They start creeping back up.

Yeah...now that I don't own a Prius, watch gas prices spike back up.

 

Like the guy said, "If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all."

 

Don't want to whine too much...
But the other thing is I won't get any sympathy from my non-Prius owning friends.
I now own a Honda Fit...so they are all going to say...."You still get good gas mileage so shut up".
Most of them own large Pick-Ups or SUV's.

Only Prius Owners and Prius Chat people....can really grasp the difference.
Oh well....I'm getting around 30 mpg....that's kinda like a Prius on a cold day with two flat tires.

 

As a poor college kid, I ran out of gas in S-10 a couple of times. And have actually done so twice in my wife's equinox. But I am a bit irresponsible.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I ran my 06 out on purpose to see how far I could stretch it. 565 miles wasn't too bad. There is a low fuel warning on the gen II. It's called a loud audible warning through the speakers and the last bar flashes. Of course it was flashing most of that day lol. Made it on battery power the next 2 miles. Was getting anxious at first. But as a warning to everybody that owns a gas vehicle never and never let it go empty consistently because the fuel pump is cooled by the fuel. Could cost you later down the road if it's done constantly.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I think, with second gen at least, when out of gas the car'll willingly run the charge down to level requiring special equipment to recharge it.

For me, all this stuff is a headshaker, but carry on, lol.

 

I'll note that both my household's Hondas (past Honda, and present Acura) have suffered fuel pump failures. My Honda would run low occasionally, the spouse's Acura regularly. No other household car has ever suffered fuel pump failure.

But I'll also note that both happened at vehicle ages at or very close to 20 years. For all other car brands we have ever owned, we have needed to replace the entire car well before that. So I'm not too worried about that fuel pump.

Also, I use Bob Wilson as my 'canary in the coal mine' on this. He has intentionally run two Prii out of fuel more than 50 times, and so far reports no fuel pump failures.

 

Def could have something to do with age also. It's just good advice to never run low lol. It's inevitable as someone else stated you have to refuel so why wait till the last minute.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

When I was doing the test I did run the battery down to no bars all the warning lights come on when you run out of gas anyway. I didn't need anything special to charge it. I just idled for a few mins to build some bars back up but other than that nothing special. Haven't intentionally ran out of gas since then just wanted to see the range. I did have a two gallon gas can in the back as I already new I was gonna test the range limits haha.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.