When do you use the EV button?

I've used it when I'm in a large parking lot. If I didn't use the EV, the ICE would be running for all but 7 seconds as it would be preparing for a regular drive. Since I know the trip won't last more than 40 seconds I see no need for the ICE to turn on.

That being said, the number of times I've used it since I installed it in February 2006 is less than 30 times. Many times the conditions aren't right and the EV mode won't engage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 8 2007, 08:02 PM) [snapback]492743[/snapback]</div>

I use it when I need to get out of my garage at 4 am. Also to go up the small hill on my street just before I get home without running ICE.

 

why? because we can. because there's a blank in the dash and a button belongs there. i do not know

i used it when it was a <500 ft run from my parking spot to the first stoplight on my commute, which seemed to be red about 80% of the time that i approached it. that was in our old apartment.

now i use it in parking lots, and on the downhill road if i'm going to the store. that's all.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 8 2007, 08:02 PM) [snapback]492743[/snapback]</div>

I use mine anywhere from a couple of times a trip up to about a dozen times a trip. If I know I'm coming up to a stop and don't want the ICE running, I will use it. I always use it coming into the parking lot at work or the last couple of streets when I park the car in the garage at home. Sometimes I will use EV mode early in the morning (3AM) when I leave the house so I don't wake up my wife.

Before I installed the EV button, the ICE would run when arriving to work in the parking lot, which I thought was a real waste of energy. My combined mileage is always above 50mpg even when running the AC. If I treat the car real gentle, use the EV button at the smart times (and don't forget to disengage EV mode), I have obtained several tanks over 60MPG!

I can see the traffic ahead of me, the road terrain, and I know my route. I think I can figure out when to turn off the ICE better than the car can. :blink: well....maybe I can.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 9 2007, 01:02 PM) [snapback]492743[/snapback]</div>

Uh, 'cause the EV button came as standard equipment on mine.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 9 2007, 01:02 PM) [snapback]492743[/snapback]</div>

When I want to sneak up on the sheep in our paddocks
I use it in big parking garages in the city (but I'm not in them too often)
When I want to show off.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 9 2007, 01:02 PM) [snapback]492743[/snapback]</div>

It gives me pleasure to have a car with an EV button.

I don't really need a radio or CD player either, but it gives me pleasure to have them.
It gives me pleasure to know I'm saving fuel, producing fewer emmissions, and driving a neato car.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 9 2007, 01:02 PM) [snapback]492743[/snapback]</div>

Always.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 8 2007, 08:02 PM) [snapback]492743[/snapback]</div>

The EV button helps the most during warmup, and it helps some much more than others. It helps me a lot.

I live just below the top of a hill. To go to work, I go down the hill for 1.5 miles, and then I have a flat section for 1.5 miles.

Without the EV switch, I power on and the ICE begins to run without stopping all the way down the hill. I force stage 4 at the bottom, P&G the next 1.5 miles, and end the 3 mile section at about 50mpg.

With the EV switch, I can disable the ICE at start up, EV to the top of the hill, glide all the way down, turn on the ICE, accelerate, and begin a warmup P&G cycle over the 1.5 miles of flat road by killing the ICE to start a glide. By the end of the 1.5 mile flat road, I can force stage 4. My mileage at that point is not 50mpg, but rather 120mpg.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mparrish @ Aug 8 2007, 11:01 PM) [snapback]492794[/snapback]</div>

Another Prius owner (Dan, I think), coined the term "Engine Veto" for EV. This is an apt description of this ideal application.

[Marc, you know this -- this is for the OP.]

 

Over use or incorrect use of EV will pull your FE down. It is advantageous to get the car to state 4, fully warmed and have stopped, so from that point the ICE will always stop when needed. Where the EV can come in useful is when the ICE has not reach stage 4 and so will not shut down then using EV will force the ICE to shut down.

Also when driving below 30mph and managing to glide but the terrain makes it difficult to hold the glide put EV on and this will ensure you do not accidentally fire up the ICE. So even though the EV is on you use little battery power.

If you do over use the EV you will soon notice the engine revving harder which will offset the petrol you just saved.

The above is all how I use EV as well as the car park moving and showing off of cause.

 

We use the EV button for the last half mile to the house - it is slow narrow lanes and we never get over 30mph.

The thought here is that setting off for work in the morning, the ICE will run anyhow, to get up to temp. There is also good oportunity for regenerating the lost charge in the 1st mile or so.... and also on the way home. So I figure we aren't loosing much by the ICE recharging the batteries

It's also kinder on the horse riders who use the lanes - they don't get so scared with a quiet whoosh as we go past - well, the riders seem to appreciate us

 

why? because so many here had it so i had to have it :blink:

 

My primary reason for installing the EV switch was so I could move the car into or out of the garage without the ICE starting.

One of the worst things you can do to the ICE on any car is to run it for just a few seconds or minutes without letting it fully warm-up. With my other cars, if I needed to back it out of the garage (to wash the car, sweep the floor, etc.) I'd push it out of the garage (very slight incline which made that feasible). And when I wanted to move it back in, I'd combine it with an errand driving somewhere, so it had a chance to warm-up. Maybe a bit compulsive, but since I could simply install an EV switch and bypass all of that, it seemed like a no-brainer.

I also sometimes use it getting to work. There's a traffic light around the corner from the parking lot. If I'm stopped there & have a good SOC, I'll switch to EV mode, so the ICE doesn't run when I start driving the last few hundred yards. And as previously mentioned, I also use it in a large parking lot, if I need to move the car from one end to another.

I would not find a reason to use it during regular driving. My honest answer.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 9 2007, 06:24 PM) [snapback]493311[/snapback]</div>

Well, there's a lot of mods that are done to cars in general that are the same way. People like to change things.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 9 2007, 09:24 PM) [snapback]493311[/snapback]</div>

I would not have added the EV function if I thought there was any possibility of it causing damage to the car. And since the button is there on non-US versions, it wouldn't make sense to think it was something detrimental to the car. My understanding is the reason Toyota chose to omit it from the US Prii has to do with getting it approved by the EPA, and not about whether it will cause damage.

As far as the part about voiding the warranty, that doesn't prove Toyota actually believes use of the EV mode would actually cause harm, but rather they may see it as an 'out' when confronted with footing the bill for a repair. I read many of the discussions regarding that, and felt I was taking a minimal risk (which is also why I went the CT route, and didn't install an overt switch.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bear68 @ Aug 9 2007, 08:24 PM) [snapback]493311[/snapback]</div>

I don't understand how the EV switch can damage the car. The car already has been programmed to use the EV switch from Toyota. And the ECU will NOT let you discharge the traction battery below a safe level set by Toyota.

In my case, I have noticed an INCREASE in MPG with the EV switch. You just have to know when to use the EV switch.

 

Like others have said you have to know when to use it to benefit from it. I use it for the last 1/8 mile into work each morning and use it for about another 1/2-1 mile each evening when entering into my housing plan. I just use it to do the normal pulse and glide just replacing the ICE/electric pulse with just electric.