The manual says that the car will go out of EVO mode if the engine is not warm. This combined with the 1 mile EVO range makes this setting useless. Today I drove in EVO up to 25 MPH once the engine was hot, when it was cold it was switching out at 9 MPH. For me the ideal use of EVO mode would be to make short trips to the grocery store. This cannot be done because the ICE has to warm up and I'll arrive before this happens.
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... Sort of like your new car being advertised as a convertible - only to find out it's really only a sunroof which only opens if it's raining...
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... Sigh...no sneaking out to the liquor store in the middle of the night. Yeah, I noticed this shortcoming while pulling the car out of the garage to wash it. Oh, well. At least I can switch to EV and sneak in late.
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... So you can't select EV immediately after powering up the car to avoid the ICE starting? That's how the factory fitted EV switch works in my 2004 and I would have thought the EV in the G III would work the same. Always remember the Prius is a hybrid not an electric car so it will run on its primary power source most of the time. I find EV useful for sneaking out my driveway at 6AM and crawling around car parks. I also use EV when I'm leaving work on a late shift. I need to get my car out of a lock-up garage, lock the garage, drive 150 metres to a locked gate, unlock and open it, drive through the gate then close and lock the gate. I do all this on EV, then the car comes out of EV mode as I drive down the street. My next stop is about 2 kilometres away by which time the engine is warm enough to shut down 80% of the time if I need to stop at the light. If I don't need to stop at the light my scan-gauge tells me the ICE shuts down on a glide another kilometre up the road.
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... Why are people calling EV mode "EVO" ? Why are they not seeing that STEALTH also offers +100 MPG driving, but up to 45 MPH ? The new misconceptions really have me wondering what their perspective is. Hopefully, some newbies will sound off... since that's where the older Prius educational materials came from. Please contribute your thoughts. .
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... I think - nope, know - I'm confused as well. Simple question. I'm in my garage. I power up the '10. Press EV button. Want to back it out of the driveway and drive to a friend's home 10 blocks away. The battery is fully charged. The ICE is.... cold. I stay at 25MPH and light throttle. A/C off. Does the ICE start up at any time? If the answer is 'yes', I thought that's what EV was all about. Huh? If 'no', good!
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... Maybe that's why Toyota left the EV Drive Mode switch out of the Gen II lol... I mean, I have it installed but I never expected to be able to drive to the corner store and back in EV. Heck, I'd never do it cause that'll ruin my mileage!
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... Maybe they are trying to tell us that if we are not going to drive far enough to warm up the egine that we should walk or ride a bike. lol
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... Emissions have always been the highest priority for Prius. Efficiency takes a very close second... but it's still second. EV is for creeping, like in a drive-thru or on-ramp. STEALTH is automatic, since that's actually what you'll use most of the time instead. .
Re: EVO up to 25 MPH only if ICE is hot which defeats purpose... The A/C is not an issue here, the fact that the ICE is cold is what matters. If the ICE is cold, you are able to start up in EV mode, but you will only be able to inch up to 9mph before the ICE kicks in. If the ICE already is warmed and you are re-starting the HSD, then you will be able to utilize the EV mode up to 25mph. I can understand the excitement of EV mode, because it is so different from our normal travel. The thing to keep in mind, though, is that the electicity behind the EV mode comes from only one real source -- the ICE. (Yes, there is regeneration, but you only get that by getting the car up to speed and then decelerating it. This energy comes the ICE.) I like the novelty of the EV button, but I really struggle to find the best place to use it. It makes sense to me for very short-term use at times where ICE use would be exceptionally poor fuel ecenomy. I also will use it for the last couple of blocks before I return home. This seems valuable only because the stored electricity I'll use will be restored first thing in the morning as the ICE goes though its morning wake-up and work-out.
yep i t sucks... probably looking to install another after market EV switch just like the other two Pri's
yep i t sucks... probably looking to install another after market EV switch just like the other two Pri's
Dave, the aftermarket switch won't do anything the stock EV switch doesn't already accomplish. Toyota simply did us the favor of placing it on all cars, not just EU/JP models. The ECU logic is simply different between the two generations. Folks, EV is for very short distances at low speeds. Good uses of EV: * Reposition the car in the drive way * Move from one parking space to another * Quick trip around a large building * First minute or two of a longer trip if that leg is significantly down hill and you want use the ICE once needed * Help with glide or down hill pulse during P&G driving technique. Bad uses of EV (or misaligned expectations): * Trips to the store * First 5 minutes of a long drive (on flat or uphill) * Any other 'round town short trip * Continue driving after running out of gas
How about using it to accelerate (albeit slowly) from a traffic light? wouldn't that help with the fuel econ numbers of moving a stationary car? I was thinking it could help get you up to 40km/h and from there the gas would kick in, thus saving fuel between 0 - 40kph. Is this is totally out of whack or is it doable with the 2010?
bummer. the thought of HAVING to run the engine just to reposition it (rarely) or load and unload (FREQUENTLY which requires moving car from street to alley to access garage) this is a total of like 2 blocks maybe. its nice to be able to prepare for a trip by simply stacking up what we need in the garage. then when its all together, pull the car around back load it up and off we go. and that situation is not so bad since we will be driving anyway, but some times (with woman and child involved it happens!!) it may take an hour or more. before i set EV and frequently would be back there the whole time and never run the engine. granted the battery would be low (no lower than what the 2010 seems to do rather easily on its own) but at least the car does not run to warm up just to cool back down again. so the "legacy" EV switch does not work. ok, then... we just need a "new" EV switch that does... let me know when its available
That's a pretty silly retrograde step. I hope the UK logic remains the same as on the 2G since we did after all have a factory-fit EV switch before. Our EV limit is up to 31mph, from 29, in the new car, and that is an advertised limit in the brochure that I would expect to be achieved.
Perhaps ECU logic differs between locales. Toyota does have a battery warranty to protect. In the Gen II, the EV switch was simply a contact to an ECU pin that triggers a "hidden feature". The switch had nothing to do with how long it lasted or how far you could go. That's all programming. Keep in mind whatever energy you use in EV has to be regenerated or recharged later and that ultimately comes from the combustion of gasoline. The EV switch simply allows us to choose *in specific cases* to delay this generation where going through the gasoline "expensive" warmup cycle (which is less so in the 2010+) would be undesirable. Using the EV switch to creep from a light is not really a good use - you're really not saving gas in this case, just delaying it's usage. Hope this helps.
No, that will hurt your mileage, not help it. Think about what you would be doing: 1) Drawing energy from the battery to move the vehicle, 2) At a later time, running the engine to replace the energy drawn from the battery, while suffering losses from electrical generation and battery recharging. A better approach is to reduce it to one step: 1) Move the vehicle with the engine. This avoids all of the charging losses from the system. While it may seem counter-intuitive, you get the best mileage by using the least amount of electric power. All of the electrical stuff is there only because we drive in a non-ideal world. Tom
It's a control issue. And I'm a control freak. The computer obviously makes all the important decisions on this vehicle--and the results seem to be outstanding. However, as a 60+ male, surrendering all control to the silicon mind is indeed difficult for me, as well. My other car is a 5 speed stick shift Mazda Miata. When I want to be in control, that's what I drive! It gets 30mpg, pedal to the metal! When in the wife's 2010 Prius, I simply relax and let the chip do the thinking...
Sorry I'm a hybrid newbie in all of this so please forgive my stupid questions/thinking! I'm just trying to understand how best to use EV mode in my future hybrid. - You mentioned drawing energy to move the car and later paying for it by running the engine. My question: wouldn't the engine be running at a later point anyway and thus run the generator anyway (especially in highway driving)? - The reason I mention the EV to creep from a light is that I notice on my scangauge for my Honda Accord, the worst hit I take is during acceleration from stop (usually in the range of 15-20 L/100) with lightfooted acceleration. Wouldn't an electric motor with torque from 0 rpm do a better job of accelerating the car from a stationary position? Also, when the engine generator kicks in, wouldn't it burn less gas to regen the energy than it would to accelerate a car from a stationary position? Again just asking to figure how hybrids work, no intention of being a wise-guy!
