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First day with my Prius Plug-in

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by Tracksyde, Mar 2, 2012.

  1. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I agree that in your situation, the Leaf is not a good fit. But cheap gas got us into a mindset where living 86 miles from work (or 43 if you meant round trip) seemed acceptable. Now we are in an economy where living so far from work forces us to burn more gas than is good for national security, the national balance of trade, or our own pocktbooks. We've made decisions which are now having unintended consequences. The long-term solution will have to include reducing our commute distances, either through telecommuting, or living closer to work.

    Not necessarily. HSD requires the battery in order to function properly. I don't think it's an issue, because I expect the PiP's battery to last the life of the car. But a PiP with a dead battery will probably be a dead car, same as the Gens II and III.

    Yes, I know someone whose concern is exactly that: I believe he's less concerned with eliminating gas use than with eliminating those very short trips that are so hard on an ICE. Under 15 miles he'll be able to go electric, and over 15 miles he'll probably choose HV blended, to avoid having a short ICE run at the end of a trip that's just a little over 15 miles.

    I assure you, you would not be disappointed. :cool:
     
  2. LenP

    LenP Member

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    I assure you, you would not be disappointed. :cool:[/QUOTE]

    I KNOW
    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
  3. ukr2

    ukr2 Senior Member

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    Track,
    As you go to work with the drop in elevation, in EV mode you should GAIN Miles-to-go and get many more miles than the drive home. Check it out on the slower route.
     
  4. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    I'm not able to move, nor is it possible for me to change jobs. Sometimes we need to leave Utopia and just accept what life offers us. I could PM you and explain the particulars if you really want, or you can take my word for it that sometimes you can't change your situation, which is about 85 miles roundtrip for me.
     
  5. drinnovation

    drinnovation EREV for EVER!

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    Nope.. While down-hill will help EV, it will never equal the loss from uphill side. Regen/charge/drive is not 100% efficient let alone > 100% (which is what it would take to get more miles than coming home).

    His situation can inflate the EV milage and depress the gas MPG, a bit as the down hill is in EV but the uphill is in gas. (Mine is the similar with 800' net elevation to work, and 2000 to the airport, so any time I run errands and exceed the 40m I get in EV, the only "ICE" usage for me is always on the uphill section. ).
     
  6. ksstathead

    ksstathead Active Member

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    Consider less than fully charging at home to the point that the downhill regen the 1st 2 miles from home completes the charge. Otherwise, there will be wasted regen potential and you are buying too many kwh.
     
  7. drinnovation

    drinnovation EREV for EVER!

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    Don't know about the OP, but I drive 1-2 miles of surface roads before the hill, so no need. Its not that fast a hill so I don't waste regen. (I monitor my SOC via torque so I know). Never see the 100% after I start, not even 99%. But I can drive 17miles to work, leave with 100% charge and get there with 75-80% charge (depending on temp and style). . Coming home, I leave work and return home with about 5%-15% charge (unless I need to run errands).
    Battery usage is about 20% to work, 70% on the way home.

    But you are right that if one had a very big hill is right-away then it might be an issue. (The Volt does some interesting things to burn the excess energy. I presume the Prius PHV, would slow using un-fueled ICE RPMs. )
     
  8. JamesBurke

    JamesBurke Senior Member

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    Toyota/Lexus hybrids have battery capacity overhead to store this excess regen. Fully charged doesn't mean 100% battery SoC.
     
  9. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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    Is the PiP eligible for the $7500 ... soon to be $10,000 rebate from the fed for electric cars ?


    REV
     
  10. Paradox

    Paradox Prius Enthusiast / Moderator
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    Yes, but it gets $2500, not the $7500.
     
  11. ukr2

    ukr2 Senior Member

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  12. drinnovation

    drinnovation EREV for EVER!

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    All PHEV's have room beyond full charge.. but the question is how much they will let you go above it (since overcharging full charge can damage a battery). I monitor both actual SOC and % of a full charge (which I defined via the max SOC I'd ever recorded after a week of charges).


    Nice thread on this at gm-volt.com
    What happens when the battery is full but you're decelerating in low?
     
  13. drinnovation

    drinnovation EREV for EVER!

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    Bigger batter -> larger tax credit. Up to the 16kw in the Volt, then its flat.

    Conspiracy theorists on PC say GM pushed it to max out on the Volt's battery. Personally I think the number came out fo reports from Argonne, some of the same reports that lead to the Volt goals of 40m EV range.
     
  14. mozdzen

    mozdzen Active Member

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    With my 2006 model Prius, I always wished that I could recharge the battery because it would run low all the time as I used EV mode (add on kit) to get into the neighborhood. Now with my 2010 Prius, the battery hardly ever gets below 1/2 way, and the desire to charge decreases.

    But, having 10-15 miles of EV available at decent speeds seems like a natural evolution of the Prius.

    The one point that I keep thinking about is that if I can't charge at work, then I can only save 15 miles of gas usage per day. If I were to say that it was 15 miles getting 45 mpg, then that would be 1/3 gallon per day, or 120 gallons per year )-:
    Even if it were at a crummy 25 mpg, then that is 365*15/25 ~220 gallons per year.

    25,000 cars per year (very roughly) gives 25,000 * ~200 gals/yr ~ 5 million gallons of gas saved per year. Even though 100-200 gallons saved per year due to the plug seems like it may be a small number, when you do the numbers, it actually adds up.
     
  15. Tracksyde

    Tracksyde Member

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    Friday was my first time EV'ing so I'll definitely be a bit more perceptive this Monday. But I do think the down hill section does help. I'm sure my Monday morning commute is going to be on all electric.
     
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  16. Tracksyde

    Tracksyde Member

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    The battery indication does not differ from HV to EV mode. It only differs from how much charge you have left. Anything over 0.5 miles of EV range shows the more "solid" battery. Once it reaches 0.5 miles of EV, the battery indicator becomes "bars", like the non-plug Prius. (before I said I thought the battery indicator changed from solid to bars at 1 mile left.. I noticed today it changed at 0.5)

    With a charge remaining and switching to HV, it seems to act the same as a non-plug Prius (I say seems because I've only ridden in a Gen 3 a handful of times). In fact I noticed when I switched to HV, the HSI changes (the line in the middle appears and if I go past it, the ICE kicks on, just like if I had no EV range left). However, when in EV and I exceed 62mph or thereabouts OR I push the HSI into the PWR section, the ICE comes on, but it seems to try its hardest to get back into EV as soon as possible.

    I don't understand the "glide" range question. If it regens, I see the range go up. I'm not sure if I've ever glided before, I guess?

    Which screen is the ENERGY screen? Also, I've never ever even ridden in a Gen 2 so I wouldn't be able to compare even if I knew which screen you were referring to.
     
  17. Tracksyde

    Tracksyde Member

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    That sounds like a fun experiment. If someone else doesn't beat me to it, I'll try it sometime this coming week. :)
     
  18. 9G-man

    9G-man Senior Member

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    Thanks for the reply, very interesting info...

    I should have said "Glide" ability in EV mode. Meaning, while driving in EV mode can you lift your foot off the gas pedal(causing re-gen) then reapply just enough gas pedal pressure to cancel regen, but not use electric pwr to propel the car. Basically no arrow power flow on the ENERGY screen.....

    OK, the ENERGY screen....On your Display Audio MFD you have a button the says CAR. Push it and you get the ENERGY or CONSUMPTION screens. either is accessible from the other. The ENERGY screen shows power flow to/from the battery while you are driving. In a GEN2 prius we would use this screen to establish a no-arrow(no energy flow) "glide" once up to speed, by lifting off the gas pedal and lightly reapplying just enough pressure to cancel the regen.
     
  19. Tracksyde

    Tracksyde Member

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    Thanks for the explanation. I had read something about gliding before and I have tried it a couple of times. But I was never watching the energy screen, just the HSI. And every time I lifted off, I saw it regen a bit, but I don't think I ever saw it gliding on the HSI when I got back on the accelerator. I guess I wouldn't be able to see it there? I'll try the energy screen tomorrow to see if I notice it gliding at all.
     
  20. 9G-man

    9G-man Senior Member

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    It can be done using the HSI also, by lifting off and then lightly reapplying just enough gas pedal pressure to cancel any regen , and have just the first little bit of HSI bar in the center-part of the HSI. The cool thing with a 2012 is you can have both the HSI and ENERGY screens up at once!

    I'm curious if it works in EV mode, and its a 'must-know' technique in HV mode to maximize gas mileage, IMHO.

    [​IMG]Ken1784, a longtime Japanese participant at Priuschat, suggests a slightly more moderate range for gliding with gentle electric use.