Green battery bars = gas motor in town?

In regards to a fully charged battery(green) it has no effect on how the car operates, especially when the weather is cold. If ice is cold car will run on ice until ice warms up. In florida where it is hot if ice is warm and outside is warm and battery fully charged, ice wont come on as often as long as u are easy on gas. Same also applies if ice is cold and outside is warm ice will stay on until temps are up.

 

It sounds like your car isn't reaching the required operating temperature for the gas engine to shut off.

Check out this thread:
http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...perating-mode-availability-reference-aid.html

 

you won't get there in one mile trips. take her out for a 20 mile ride in the back woods and see what happens!

 

Sometimes when I have the heater on the ice will run more than normal. If I turn the heat off the ice will act normal.

 

absolutely. you can't make much heat with an electric motor.

 

As others have pointed out, this is too short to warm up, so you can't get to electric-only operation.

Is your cabin heater on? This robs heat from the engine, possibly causing it to fall below the minimum electric-only temperature. This would be easier to diagnose with a ScanGauge or other engine monitor.

As a test, turn climate control OFF as you exit the highway. Then see if the car can return to electric mode after the stop sign. If this works, then consider (1) reducing or stopping the use of cabin heat when you have opportunity to run electric, (2) try some grill blocking to reduce heat loss, or (3) just accept the greater ICE run time as a standard cost of winter.

If this doesn't work, we may need more clues.

But also remember that all-electric operation doesn't necessarily improve efficiency, and in many cases will slightly increase total fuel consumption.

 

Have you thought about putting in the EV button? Once you get up to speed with the ICE, hit EV mode. I don't think most people realize that the EV button is a toggle, where you can cancel as well as engage, to prevent deep cycling. When my phev pack is depleted, I still use EV mode for longer downhill, low speed stretches. The way I see it, I am preventing the engine from idling unnecessarily, and the battery depletion is minimal due to the conversion of potential energy with the elevation change.

 

Really? Last time when I tried it did not cancel.

 

Hi tjhoy. This is referred to as the dreaded "hybrid stage 3" operation, where the engine wont cut out unless you're going over 34 MPH. To get it into the much exalted "hybrid stage 4" you need to come to a complete stop with your foot on the brake for 7 to 10 seconds until the engine cuts out. After that the engine will continue to cut out every time you glide no matter what speed you're going.

 

I have a suggestion, since one of my main commutes is over 12 miles, though it takes me 30 minutes due to the one-lane, small New England town sort of roads. Thus an average speed of 24 mph.

There is one section of very narrow "in the city" road where police like to patrol. It's so tight and there are so many people getting in and out of cars on the sides of the road that it's common for everyone to drive under the speed limit of 25 mph.

Assuming, original poster, that you are not going up too steep of a hill when you want EV at the end of your trip, here's my suggestion to avoid terrible ICE on mpg at slower speeds. I've found that I can drastically improve the mileage in this section of my trip by keeping at a constant speed. It sounds obvious, but wait

At 25 mph, I had tried gunning it (relatively speaking) to try to get the engine off after, but that never worked, and it just lowers mileage more. What does work is keeping the foot on the pedal so that you stay the exact same speed. At 25 mph, your engine lights on giving you the abysmal 25 mpg - but hold it there! After about 5 seconds of this mileage, on my 2007 without moving my foot I get a sudden mpg "pop" into high 30s or 40s. It then gradually moves up to 50 mpg over the next several seconds, all while I'm only travelling a very steady 25 mph and my foot has not moved on the pedal. The 50 mpg at 25 mph then suddenly turns to electric only by itself without me moving my foot on the pedal.

It's clearly a built-in in mode, almost like a lower speed SHM, since it works reliably at all speeds I've tried it on, but I really only have use for it at steady slow speeds like that, otherwise I'd just P&G or do something else. Let me know how it goes if you try.

EDIT: this is meant for your post-highway jaunt through town, it won't work on the one-mile trip.

 

Hi Mike, normally it will only behave like that if you are already in hybrid stage 4 operation. In hybrid stage 3 the engine usually stays running at low speed until you stop completely.

http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/five-stages.txt

 

Yeah, I knew it had to be nice and toasty under the hood - even with cold weather though isn't it surprising that so quickly off the highway his engine is knocked down a stage or two? Maybe it's cause I grill block partially that this doesn't happen to me...I'm honestly not sure.

About the way I described, though, I find that it gets me into S4 when I'm not yet there without the mpg wasting revving or heavy accelerating. I don't have a Scangauge, just the fact that the car won't glide anymore but then switches to stealth shortly after I do this is how I know it works, at least in my case.

The situation I described is what happens just after I go a *wonderful* 2.0 miles of mostly pure glide (ahh...), so in this relatively cold weather (I did this ride the other day at night temps reading between 27°F and 30°F, overall 20 miles was 67.6 mpg on the display), my engine easily cools off during that time. Basically, from my limited experience, it seems this gentle steady speed approach may work under certain circumstances as a transition technique from S3 to S4.

 

In a 25mph zone, it is easier to just put in CC. Then you attain highest mileage possible for that short period without working the ICE much. One of the things most OP's forget is to separate city traffic from trip. Any short trip 2-10 miles requires intense concentration in the traffic and the position of your car, just to sustain your present mpg. Now trip is quite different, even CC will give you improved mpg, unless it is consistently uphill. Yesterday I took a short trip, basically a slow uphill climb with short downhill stretches. I exceeded the speedlimit by about 10mph and then let it slow to about 5mph below the limit while maintaining my position within traffic. Since I out accelerated all the traffic, they were left far behind me, so there was no interferance on my part. The whole time I drove briskly with long slowdowns and always seeking P&G or stealth. At the end of the going portion I attained about 1 mpg more! That was a victory! On the way back I boosted it anothe 2.5 mpg. Don't be afraid to drive briskly,especially during the first 5-10 minute warm-up ( depending on temperature ) Around town, 5-10 minute trips you are probably not going to get great mileage. If you can just sustain mpg, you're doing good!

 

Yeah the "stage3 / stage4" thing is really weird when you first encounter it. I found it the most irritating thing about the prius when I first got it. Have you tried the "stop for 7 to 10 seconds until the engine cuts out" trick (car must be fully warmed up). After that it will glide at any speed.