ICE in EV Mode

i think the ultimate issue here is that (a) you are more hung up on the concept of "freedom" than having any actual issue with the way the car performs and (b) you are presuming that you can outsmart the people who actually designed this car.
at this point, this thread has effectively run its course, because i don't think there are many people on the forum who will agree with either of those points, much less both of them.

 

There is a huge difference between a cheap consumer electronic device that has a built in life span that is around 2 or 3 years and a moderately expensive car that is designed to last for at least 10 to 15 years if not longer. If you modify the programming of a router, and it doesn't work, the worst thing you've done is bricked a $50 electronic item that can easily be replaced. If you screw up the programming of the hybrid system, you've potentially bricked a $30K car, or compromised it's overall safety. If you do that, you can bet your sweet nice person the manufacturer is not gonna honor the warranty because you deliberately screwed around and modified things. This is not the same as changing out a carburetor to get a bit more power, or changing the points to modify the timing, or putting in a different air filter to get a bit more air flow and power, or going to better brake pads, etc. All of those things can be put back to stock if a problem arises.

 

what's worse is that if a problem in your super-duper-awesome custom ROM causes you to have an accident and kill someone. forget warranty, you just killed someone.
what happens if your router breaks? you won't have internet for a few hours? lol.

 

In which case you won't go as fast as you want to or need to. Or you'll melt the battery and electric motor. And void your warranty. Or you'll deplete your EV miles a lot more quickly and end up using the ICE just as much as before if not more.

Believe me, I understand the urge to want more control and be able to push the performance boundaries. I just don't think the marginal improvements you might get are enough to overcome the major downsides. There are plenty of MPG improvements to be made by modifying your use of the car rather than modifying the car to suit what you perceive as your needs.

 

*Everything* in is this car is controlled by the onboard software. They're pretty much all tied together. Look at the stability control system. It has the ability to modify your steering control, throttle control and brakes. Or the radar cruise control which talks to and controls the brakes and throttle. Traction control also talks to and controls the brakes and throttle. The Pre-collision system takes it even further than the stability control system since it is now controlling the air bags, seat belts and windows. The level of sophistication and complexity in these systems is mind boggling. And the level of liability on the part of the manufacturers is huge if they get something wrong. Which is why they test and test and test things to make it as reliable and stable as possible. There are design factors that we're not aware of that may make some of things we want impossible to achieve.

 

No, they designed the system so that if you need more than about 40 kW of power from the traction motor, the ICE comes on to supply the necessary extra power. But you seem to be arguing for the ability to keep the ICE off to maximize MPG. In which case you need to either be content with less acceleration than the situation may demand, or demanding more power from the traction motor and battery pack and possibly damaging them.

If the fuel pump broke, you'd probably get the Triangle of Doom, the dashboard would lite up, you'd lose power and eventually end up on the shoulder needing a tow to the mechanic.

 

when i ran out of gas in my 08, i was able to drive almost a mile on a nearly full battery. i don't recall reading where anyone has documented what happens if the pip runs out of gas with a partly charged battery. hopefully, you can keep driving.

 

+1^

 

its been done.. I remember reading about it here somewhere

EDIT: Here it is : Running out of Gas | PriusChat

 

Good way to destroy your HV battery if you have no EV range left

 

At least in the Gen II's, it won't let you continue to run on battery past a certain point. I ran out of gas at least 4 times. I was able to go about a mile or so on battery. As the battery ran down, I went slower and slower until it got to the point where the car was basically telling me "pull over and get some gas, we're not going any further on just battery". It was smart enough to leave enough charge in the battery to be able to start the engine again, etc. I still had 1 battery bar left at that point.

 

Sadly, this is true. And if the traction battery dies, yer stuck as well. Both fuel sources need to be present and working for the car to work. The two systems are permanently connected to eachother.