First bad traffic jam

When battery charge level gets too low, ICE starts. Same thing if you put the car in park (say listening to the radio waiting for somebody) for too long.

 

At one bar, the car quietly pulls to the side of the road, rolls over, and shuts down with the wheels pointed toward the sky. Either that, or the ICE kicks in and MPG go down as the traction battery begins to recharge. It recharges pretty quickly, once you get up to speed again.

 

i was in the same traffic today. to keep the battery from fropping that low, i allow the guy in front of me to pull away for awhile, then i hit the gas hard enough to start the engine. then i glide until i have to hit the brakes again. of course, the guy behind me thinks i'm crazy.

 

Just a reminder of what your owners manual says: Don't sit in Neutral, either stay in Drive or shift to Park. The hybrid system won't charge the battery while in Neutral. You didn't say you were waiting in Neutral, I'm just pointing this out just in case you left out this detail. So long as you stay in any other gear, the ICE should start by itself if the hybrid battery gets too low, you shouldn't have to do anything to make it start.

 

When I saw the title of this thread, I knew EXACTLY what the worry would be. After reading the same worry for about seven years... I was right on the money again!

Yeah well... he's not the only who who thinks you're crazy for doing that. Why waste the gas to leap forward? Just let the battery get low, and let the ICE recharge it when needed. Letting the battery get low doesn't do anything bad to the car. I agree with Paradox - if the battery display were not shown, nobody would get stranded OR upset.

 

i knew that was coming.

 

The car really is wonderful at doing its own thing, just driving it there's no need to give it a second thought in that situation.

That said, allow me to share the hypermiling perspective on traffic jams I suppose this is only valid with Scangauge or something to monitor state of charge, in case it gets too low, to allow the engine to start up and help out - but that's what I try to avoid.

Gary, I do actually use neutral quite a bit, since if you're gliding (engine off) anyway, neutral will use the least power, and at such slow speeds you don't need the extra push of the battery since you'll likely be stopping in a few seconds anyway. The saved amps really add up over a long traffic jam.

I use very gentle EV to keep the car moving, as smooth as possible, preferably avoiding stop and go, but leaving a buffer and progressing evenly along.

Any braking over 7 mph should be done gradually, lightly, and smoothly for best regen. As soon as I feel the the switch to friction, neutral saves the amps the car will put out to mimic "the creep".

Bisco, surprisingly, that way of turning on the engine doesn't work well in terms of maintaining SOC. I didn't figure that out for awhile, but the reason is every time you turn on the engine, there's a surge of EV just beforehand, and state of charge goes down a half a percent or so, maybe more if your SOC is higher, and the big surge isn't made up with the recharging of the ICE, so you end up lower than before. Doesn't sound like much, but the half a percents add up quickly. Actually better to just progress gently. On the other hand, if it's only once in awhile, you have room to keep it going, then a light one for awhile is good.

All of this only slows the bleeding, the SOC will march on downwards until you can get moving again, then the system works its magic to make everything better.

 

Silly idea, unless you let the guy in front pull away for about a quarter mile. I suspect that wouldn't be popular with the people behind you.

Tom

 

Actually, I kind of like traffic jambs.

It's fun to watch the average mileage climb, up and up the longer you bump along.

Drive like you have no brakes and resist the urge to race to catch up when traffic begins to move. Drive it slow and steady, slow to start up and slow again to stop. I've seen mileage on our '06 go from 48 or so to over 60 in an extended jamb. That's where the car shines.

As far as the battery charge? The car will take care of itself. Enjoy!

 

It's not just the guy behind you!

 

You guys have traffic jams where you can leave more than a 1/4 length of car between you and it doesn't get eaten up by the front fender of an escalade trying to bully in the get that 1/4 length advantage?

Wow.

 

Haha... my thoughts exactly. Must be some kind of utopian traffic jam.

 

In this case, if you are driving a Leaf, you will game over.
Not for any Prius. Enjoy. No Panic.

 

ya, the escalade (s) are a problem. but sometimes, you just gotta do your thang.

 

I'm not sure I understand. You're saying that running out of battery in a Leaf means you're stuck, but that running out of battery in the Prius is no problem? I suppose that's true... but let's compare running out of the fuel for both of them - electricity in the Leaf and gas in the Prius. Surprise... you're both stuck.

 

On hot days my engine seems to cycle on and off in an in effiecient way. Does it make sense to force charge the battery in this situation?

These are very strange points. Let us take case 1, you are using little or no AC or heat. In this case the leaf is much more efficient than the prius, and you do not really use any more electricity than you would have unless you use the brakes a great deal. advantage leaf.

Now lets say its a very hot day. Both the prius and volt will suck more electricity for the AC. The prius will use gas to charge the battery. I can't say this is done well, in a hot day last summer with a bad traffic jam, my engine kept switching on and off. I got 17mpg on the display. If you have enough juice on this hot day advantage leaf.

Now the leaf will suck more energy so it does take more planning than the prius, so I would think leaf drivers would get into the unlikely situation of running out of juice more often than prius drivers on a very hot long traffic jam. When the prius ran out of gas you might be able to walk to a service station and get a gallon then drive it there. In the leaf you need to wait for a flatbed tow truck. Unlikely scenario, but advantage prius. But seriously, if you get in this situation often, you should not have bought a leaf.