Prius Prime Acceleration

I merge onto the highway now with my Prius PHV expecting the engine to start. No big deal, the EV-BOOST performance is nice and the remaining electricity lasts longer. Sometimes, it doesn't start though.

Discovering I've used up most of my battery from cruising along at 55 mph in EV can be annoying... but it does confirm not as much power is needed as some try to lead is to believe.

And of course, with the bigger pack, there's more EV range available anyway.

 

EV Auto is all about efficiency, not acceleration. So naturally it will start dual motors EV and revert to HV at a certain speed.
I will take the chance here to speculate that even in EV mode, if you are flooring the pedal in the production model it will start the engine (i.e. out of dual motor drive) at a certain speed (my guess - around 40-45 mph) to give you the maximum the car can give, and go back to motors drive when releasing.
IMO Toyota did not state 0-60 time in EV for a reason.
Just my speculation...

 

i just wasted 15 minutes of my life watching the first video, didn't see anything out of the ordinary. are you going to make me watch the second?

just drove back from new york city to ma, it doesn't get much worse than that.

 

In for a penny, in for a pound.

 

The Science Behind the Calculator | 0-60 mph Calculator for Cars

Edit: Where did my text go? Weird. Maybe later I'll type it back in.

 

That calculator doesn't include the option of either a CVT or an electric drive system. It's for conventional cars.

 

And why would you ?
Prius has more than enough power for US highways .
I never have any problems merging on to german Autobahn,and believe me they drive a little faster on German highways than on US highways...

 

What is natural about using dual motors for efficiency? It helps the Tesla's, but their motors are close in power ratings. MG1 might be too small for that benefit. The battery is much smaller than the Tesla's, and dual motors under acceleration will drain it faster than using the ICE. The dual motors operation is to allow harder acceleration and higher top EV speed than in PiP. When driving for efficiency, MG1 for traction isn't needed. Dual motors outside of EV mode is still an unknown.

Has the operation specs for EV Auto been released yet? The top speed of EV operation and such? I think all we can say is that EV Auto is a blended mode that works like the PiP's EV mode. It should be the best overall efficiency.

 

PM motors generally have very low losses from simple running. Most of the losses tend to be i^2*R losses in the windings.

This means losses are lower when you run them at lower power. Thus, using both motors at lower power is likely more efficient than using one at higher power.

 

But MG1 is a smaller motor. Will running it at low power reduce the energy consumption of MG2 during for mild to medium acceleration and cruising than in comparison to just leaving it off?

Then dual motor doesn't seem to be used in Hybrid mode. With MG1 needed for eCVT operation, could accelerating with dual motors, and then switching to using ICE create a gear shift sensation as MG1 goes from traction duty to its hybrid one?

 

Probably.

Probably, because of the spool up time for the ice. Getting the ICE started is MG1's job, and then you'd have to wait for it to start and spin up before you could use MG1 to divert the torque from the ICE to the wheels. This is a greater than 1 second operation so it would create a long delay in an emergency acceleration situation.

 

The specs were not released so we don't know. Maybe dual operation is only at EV mode. On the other hand, in dual motors the engine is isolated but not the planets' carrier, so, engaging the clutch when running may be more than enough to spin the engine for starting it.

 

It's a one way clutch; not one in which the ICE actually decouples from the PSD. It allows the ICE to spin only one direction. This works for the dual motor use, because MG1 has to spin in reverse of it's normal hybrid duty to provide force for traction at the wheels.

 

I don't really care if it takes 10 or 11 sec. to get to 60,but it would really be nice if it had some kind of boost,even just for a few seconds,to speed up overtaking times .
With each new generation Toyota promises better performance,but 0-60 was never really improved since gen. 2,but with that bigger battery the prime should at least be able to create better 40-60 and 50-75 performance than the liftback.

 

Why? They have the same MG2 and the same ICE. The bigger battery enables it to maintain full power for longer, not get more power for a short burst since it's motor or power electronics limited.

 

Ahh, the wonderful feeling of accelerating hard into a fixed object.

 

I was hoping for some kind of software trick .
Well then let's hope it's not even slower due to the added weight !