When I'm driving to the freeway in electric mode, I often manually switch to hybrid mode a few minutes before getting on... I'd rather let my engine warm up before subjecting it to 75-85mph speeds. Anyone else do the same?
Yeah, I do, but it's also the way to get the best gas mileage given my commute, and that's my main reason for doing it.
The battery and electric motors assist the engine a LOT while the engine warms up. Try switching to HV with a cold engine at highway speed and watch the remaining EV range continue to drop while you keep getting at or near 100 mpg for a while. Once it warms up, mpg will drop below normal for a while as the ICE puts the energy back that it borrowed from the battery. It's an amazing machine!!
I agree letting the ice warm up is a good idea. What I do is when I leave the house I'm on HP into the engine warms up and then when I get on the highway I switch to EV mode. My distance from my house to work is only 14 miles. I easy start off with 25 EV miles even in the cold weather. By that time I arrive at work I have either 10 to 8 EV miles left. So on the way home I'm on HV mode. Seems to work out well. Then I charge it to my 240 volt chargepoint level 2. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
