They reduced the EV mode top speed to 53mph?

Evan, top EV speed being lower would reduce the rate of draw from the pack, potentially making life easier (longer) for the battery. I have no clue whether that is the case, but that is my interpretation of john's reference.

 

You can choose to preserve SoC for local short trips at the end of an HV highway segment. If you do not choose to do that, the SoC will be used in conjunction with the ICE power, like when the current gen2/gen3 Prii get 7 or 8 green bars: it likes to use them.

 

53mph is an improvement from 45mph so it'll definitely be helpful, but it means no true glides on 55mph roads. However, I hope at least that the higher speed limit means it can save charge by not spinning the engine as much.

 

53 in a 55 sounds ok to me, most of the time.

 

I'm thinking the US versions may not have the EV-city function. Sounds like something they had to do to get into European city centers where ICE has been outlawed, gives up efficiency to force the ICE off.

 

I read that Eco mode can be applied to both the EV<->HV and EV-City modes.

 

Yea, we should get the Power button instead.

 

While we are discussing top speed for EV in this particular car;

Does anybody know what maybe the ideal mph speed for maximum efficiency of both sources of energy to switch from EV to HV.

 

People are reading way too much into this. It just says you will get x miles at up to y speed. It doesn't say anything about what happens when you go about y speed. Most likely your range drops significantly, but that's about it.

 

I'd guess right around 53mph....

 

If you leave the car in EV mode and go over the speed threshold (be that 53 or 62) the engine will come on to assist, but still use large amounts of battery power. I drove the PHV prototype around Rockingham Speedway last week, and observed at 65mph the car was returning 100mpg. the engine was running, but lots of battery assist was still happening. If you choose to press the EV/HV button you'll force it into HV mode, and the battery assist stops. you will save your EV range for use later.

On your 18 miles you will probably use all of your "EV miles". this still works out to 14 "EV" miles and 4 "gas" miles, so you'll use ~0.08 gallons of fuel and get ~225"MPG".


My guess on the 53mph thing is that toyota determined a best efficiency threshold (in terms of energy used by the drivetrain) similar to the threshold in the centre of the HSI. The threshold will also move dependant on load, temperature, SOC etc etc.

 

Let's not forget about the way EV for Prius has been depicted in the past.

24 mph has been the official threshold noted, but we all know the engine RPM will remain at 0 all the way up to 46 mph.

In other words, that mode we call *STEALTH* could still be alive and well in the plug-in model too. So for PHV operation during depletion, it would be from 54 to 62 mph.
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Fixed.

 

Then EV city should have a higher ev top speed.

 

It sounds like EV driving is a high priority with you. Why aren't you considering a Leaf?

 

Actually, I did mean 24. It was with respect to the "EV" button.

On the Energy Display for the cordless model, we can see that "EV" really means being able to supply electric-only propulson into the WHITE & RED zones. But that has been limited to speeds up to 24. There still is electric-only available in the GREEN zone, by that means "EV" is longer engaged... despite the fact that the engine is at 0 RPM still... hence STEALTH.

That's my guess as to how 53 to 62 electric-only travel will behave. It won't be called "EV". It will still act like it though, but with a lower power threshold. In other words, you'll be able to cruise along a 55 mph highway with the engine motionless in the PHV very much like you can on 40 mph road now in the cordless.
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