My Prius needs a battery, Toyota denies warranty due to EV button

Qlara

Got $4500 worth of parts by trading in (or ditching) a $40 non-US-equipped EV button....it's definitely a good deal. Actually if this EV button is not even appear in the frist place, the $4500 is a Cash-for-Clunker-battery from Toyota anyway....LOL

Floyd2

You’ve got a point there. I heard about your $4500 Cash for Clunkers trade in, very nice deal. In this neck of the woods we have a similar ‘Demolition-discount’ (for lack of a better translation) of only € 1000 (around $1430). The amount varies per country all over Europe.
Conditions are the new bought car can be used one but has to be newer than the old one, even if it’s only by a month.
The amount is not that much but I’m not complaining, it gave me a nice extra discount on the Prius.

Floyd2

I think you’re right Vertex. I commute three days a week from my small home village to a nearby town, about 20 miles in between. I work in the outskirts of the town but getting home from work in the afternoon I still have to pass three traffic lights and finally a drawbridge to get out.

The bridge keeps opening and closing all day, even during rush hour. Depending on the amount of traffic on the water I have to wait somewhere between 3 and 7 minutes before I can cross. For some reason the Prius keeps running for 1 to 2 minutes on it’s gas engine, even if the battery is almost completely full.
This is where the EV button comes in very handy. The Prius can calculate fuel consumption very accurate but it can’t anticipate. I know that right after the bridge there is a stretch of 12 miles of highway and time enough to recharge the battery. So while waiting at the bridge there is absolutely no need to use gas. I always press the EV button there.

For some reason the gas engine (sometimes) stays on for a while at traffic lights as well. Even when the battery is full or mostly full. I can’t figure out why this happens in some cases and not in others. But I’ve been driving the Prius for only a short while, maybe there’s some logic to it.

wfolta

Perhaps it's more useful on an ornery Gen II, but it's standard on Gen III and I have to say I've not used it since I got the car and can't see using it more than once a year -- if I remember to use it in that special situation.

mgb4tim

my kids think it's fun when I sneak in on "golfcart" mode when I get home. Sometimes I drive right through the yard to the back door and sneak in.

Floyd2

From what I know the Gen I series does not have an EV possibility on the ECU, so it only seems possible on the Gen II series: 2004-2009.
If you expect not to use it much I wouldn't bother going thru the hassle. In my case I use it frequently, several times a day. But I guess it's different for every one.

And driving in 'golfcart mode' is also neighborhood-friendly when you have to leave very early in the morning and don't want to wake up the little ones (including your own) in the street.

I can even leave the village (entirely 30 km/h zone) in stealth mode. After about 1.2 miles I take the on ramp to the freeway and at exactly 50 km/h the system overrides the EV button and the gas engine kicks in.