The Volt has a mode called "mountain" that keeps the battery at least 40% full at all times. Does the Prius Plugin have a mode to keep its EV-mode battery a minimum percentage?
View 19 RepliesOn a recent 3k plus trip where I pulsed and glided a ton, when the PIP was in HV mode but gliding in the sweet spot where I had thought the engine would stop turning, no matter how I tweaked the glide, the ICE always turned at a minimum of 998 RPM per my torque app. The display was always showing 999 mpg in that situation so I assume it wasn't using fuel but just rotating freely. Is that the default behavior for HV mode? I,e, always rotating at 998 minimum rpm perhaps so it can kick in quickly if need be without vibration?? If so, the 10k oil change interval seems dicey as the engine is technically turning all the time when in HV mode. I was planning to change at 5k anyway.
View 13 RepliesWondering if there is another factor involved here...such as the wrong gauge. I'm routinely seeing battery temps in the mid to low 90s even when it is pretty warm weather and I am in EV. Is this possible? On my old Gen3 even when I use the battery just a little bit on warm days it would go over 110. Does the lithium chemistry just keep it that much cooler? Or does the cooling system keep it that much cooler? Or both? What are other people seeing for battery temps?
View 19 RepliesI have noticed this, and thought it strange. I don’t see the charging arrows in the display.
View 1 RepliesDoes PIP have two different batteries for each mode (EV and Hybrid) or is it the same battery?
View 10 RepliesI don't plug my PiP in often due to the cost of electricity here, but what I have noticed that when it has a full charge, around 13Miles, it will quickly drop down to 7-8, even when not using EV. Meaning, I start up car, turn off EV and the motor gets warm. Engine shuts off and I drive normally using the ICE. Over the course of a few miles, I'd say about 10, that EV range slowly drops down to 7-8 and then maintains itself around there. Pretty much the whole time I would have been using the ICE to maintain ~70MPH on the highway, not climbing, just flat.
View 6 RepliesHeading out on 4 week 3k mile road trip. Have 12v adaptors for a very efficient laptop and smartphone.
It seems that in "Accessory" mode the PIP is using only the dinky 12V battery so this is not a healthy solution. Is there a recommended strategy to put the car in semi-ready mode and reduce all possible drain so that utilizing the 12V will not be draining the traction battery reserves much at all?
I'm thinking that perhaps trying to put the car in "ready" mode with the FOOT OFF the brake indeed fires up access to the traction battery without firing up other things that require the full power monty that Ready mode with the FOOT ON the brake requires. Seems to me the PIP is a great mobile office solution if we could gain access to traction battery reserves without running much else.
When I drive the PiP in EV Boost mode, the gas engine rpm stays very low, so is the engine sound. It sounds like it is just idling since it revs at 1,000 rpm.
When I am going 75 mph, the engine revs at very low rpm and I had a hard time keeping it below 80 mph. My mind is tricked into believing I am going slower than the actual speed. I think I am using the sound of the engine to judge the speed or something.
It felt like I am driving a different car, one with two more cylinders.
EV Boost is when you are in EV and go above 65 mph. ICE comes on and blend gas with electricity.
Is it just me? What are your experience in the EV Boost / Blended mode?
I have noticed that when driving in EV mode when the car switches over to HV mode the Eco icon always lights up! Of course you can select Eco, or Power mode manually, but when it does this automatically, after the EV battery charge is used up, it keeps showing the Eco icon being lite not HV.
View 1 RepliesCan you drive in EV mode with the A/C or heater running to keep you cool in summer and warm in winter? If so, how much does it change the range from the normal 13-14 miles of EV?
I'm trying to determine how short of a commute I would need to have to not use gas while still driving normally and not giving up climate control use.
You can put your car in drive, but also, you can put it in the "B" position. What does that do? How do you best use it? And what does "B" stand for anyway?
View 7 RepliesOn a long downhill, with EV mode selected, the car goes out of EV mode when one surpasses 65. When slowing down from 70, the car will not go into EV mode until one is down to 62. THen it stays there until one exceeds 65. I wonder if there is any difference in what is happening when one is going downhill at 66 vs 61? Both are using 0 gas. But one counts as an EV mile and the other does not. Here in high Colorado, this sort of thing makes the EV ratio somewhat meaningless.
View 17 RepliesOn occasion - not frequently - I'll notice the gasoline engine kicking in when I'm in ECO/EV mode with plenty of EV battery left. Today it happened on a relatively flat street, going maybe 30 mph, without the a/c or anything else on, and about 7 miles left on the EV battery indicator. In less than 30 seconds it went back to pure EV and the gasoline engine never kicked in again.
View 2 RepliesToday I drove my Prius Plug-in from my home almost to the highway in EV mode. When about one minute from the highway, I pushed the PWR mode button twice, on and off, and the ice came on for warmup. All the green symbols above the speedometer were cleared. I then again pressed ECO to bring back that mode.
I believe the vehicle was in what I think of as blended HV mode. This mode blends the extra battery capacity of the Plug in with the ICE. After a 40 mile trip, the available EV miles dropped from 13.9 to 1.2, and the trip meter registered 76 MPG. I went up and down a serious hill which probably reduced the mileage.
Is there a difference between full EV mode and the early HV mode where you are in EV (left half of the indicator on the HSI screen)? Aren't you in full electric in both situations? If so, then why would you need to manually toggle between the two modes?
View 3 RepliesI've noticed occasionally my music goes silent for a second or so when the iPod is plugged into the USB port. But then it will play without missing a beat for long periods. what could be wrong? No skips when using the aux plug.
View 19 RepliesI'm convinced this is a real problem with my 3-month-old 2013. When I bring it in for the 5K service, soon, this will be my No.1 issue. When running in EV mode, if you happen to start the ICE it will continue to run when you stop. In fact, it races - it doesn't just idle. I've tested this by being stationery for up to 5 minutes. This occurs not just the first time the ICE cycles on and off - it's every time. It only stops while driving (or by powering off).
View 17 RepliesI had my brand new plug in prius for 6 whole days before my house was hit by lightening, while the car was charging. The car has been in the shop for 3 weeks since that has happened and they eventually replaced the "electric vehicle recharge unit". But it still doesn't seem right to me. one of the things that is happening is that the EV switch is not operating while I'm driving.
For instance: I'm driving locally on EV and then get on the highway and when I get to the point that the engine kicks on, I hit the EV switch to turn it off and move to hybrid mode. However, even though the EV light is off, the battery continues to discharge and will eventually completely discharge. To prevent this I do a number of maneuvers like hit the brakes repeatedly or hit every button the dash (EV, ECO) until it stops!
This cannot be normal but then again I only drove the car for 6 days before lightening struck. It also happens the other way. If I'm driving on the highway and get off and then hit the EV switch to turn the electric back on, the electric motor doesn't kick in.Am I imagining this? Is there some fancy way to switch EV and back on the fly?
I was wondering if the ICE spins (without fuel) when you go over 43mph in the Toyota PHEV Prius while in EV mode?
I think the only way to be able to tell would be with a SGII... I know I cannot feel the ICE start to spin when coasting downhill and crossing the threshold. I just see the RPM on my SG to go ~975...
Look at the AMP readings while in EV mode. Seen more than 120-130amps?
PiP or traditional Prius users could tell me the quickest way to accelerate when in EV mode of HV ONLY mode? So I find acceleration is good in TRUE EV mode where I can keep up with regular traffic from a dead stop, however after I have used that batteries resources up I try to use EV of the HV only mode as much as possible.
I find that in EV of HV only mode to be so slow from a dead stop. I try to press the pedal so that the I go to the halfway bar or max of EV mode. However it barely gets the car moving. I figure this is how the traditional Prius works. I think if I was to try to use this EV power to get to 25 mph it would take 15 seconds!
I just purchased a '12 PIP advanced a couple days ago. Love it so far, but I'm confused about why it keeps on switching out of EV mode before the charge is used up. My commute is 6 miles, so I assumed that I would be able to get to my office with no problem, using only electric. Without accelerating quickly or going above 62 mph, the car still switches into hybrid mode numerous times, for no apparent reason, resulting in an average of about 90 mpg by the time I get to work, still with a lot of juice left in the battery.
Why this is happening? My dreams of going for months without filling up with gas are starting to fade away.