EV Mode european instructions

Following is the 2004 UK manual EV section which was posted sometime ago at Yahoo groups...

Enjoy,
Ken@Japan

 

Note one difference between European cars and US cars retrofitted with the EV button - our EV mode cuts out at 45km/h (28mph) - in a US car (at least the 2005s) it cuts out at 55km/h (34mph).

And European cars have a green EV light in the dashboard indicating when it's enabled. It flashes a couple of times and triple(?)-beeps when it cuts out automatically.

 

I use it mainly to get the car out of the garage, or parking lots.

I also use it when ICE refuses to swich off at traffic light due to the heater switched on. But I switch it off at 20 km/h (12 mph).

 

This difference in EV mode speed limit cutoff must be tied in with the decsion to leave out the EV mode switch in the US. Because, why would you go through all the trouble to change the EV button operation in the US when you don't intend on installing the EV switch in the US.

So here's my theory. If you've ever tried to drive in EV mode from a cold start in cold weather and accelerating into fast moving traffic, you will be met by very awkward and possibly dangerous performance. I've done this and you get the sensation that your car is about to stall, and then after a couple seconds of lag your gas engine races on and you surge forward harder than expected, and then your battery gets drained as your electric engine picks up the slack as your gas engine struggles to get up to full power from a cold start. I could see plenty of accidents happening this way. So for the US market the downsides of the potential bad press from the EV switch outweight the limited benefits.

So once Toyota decided to eliminate the EV switch, they probably also thought about tuning up the automatic EV mode. Doing this would better allow a US driver to trigger EV mode driving through light acceleration. So in normal driving the US models might stand a chance for better gas mileage because it's electric engines will try to take up more burden than the European and Japanese models. So far in my driving, I'm finding that when in normal city and surburban driving I get better mileage cruising at about 30 mph for as long as I can in pure electric than trying to do pulse and glide techniques. I've even got up to 50 mph in a 45 mph zone in pure electric because the road was perfectly flat.

So I'd tend to believe that on average one could get better mileage in a US version Prius than a European one because the car is tuned to allow a bit more use of the electric. Toyota, however, would not want to release this tuning in Europe or Japan because they already offer the EV switch. This tuning to emphasize more electric in conjunction with an EV switch is more dangerous because it means that an attempt to accelerate hard with the EV switch on is going to be met by a greater delay before the gas engine gets turned on.

So my conclusion is that for the US Toyota decided to make a stab on tuning the hybrid system for best overall gas mileage and as a trade off drop the EV switch which would tend to increase liabilities and get bad press in the US. I know the when the 2004 Prius got first reviewed, it got poor marks because it's SKS system was considered a minus for being different rather than a plus, it's stealth mode was considered a minus because it was too quiet, and it failed to get fantastic gas mileage when driven hard. So I could imagine the flak the Prius would get from this EV switch if they installed it in the US.

 

Can anyone from UK confirm following value (45km/h) on the UK manual?
- The vehicle speed is about 45 km/h (28 mph) or over

The Japanese manual says it is 55 km/h.

Ken@Japan

 

The UK manual says "45km/h (28MPH) or over"

 

Hey, Ken!
You wouldn't happen to have the wiring schematic that shows the wiring to the EV Mode indicator on the "instrument cluster", would you???

 

I think this portion here is exactly why it's not available in the 'Let's sue everyone for anything, even if it's my damn fault for being an idiot US'.

<_<

 

Note the only fuel the Prius uses is gasoline. EV mode does not change this fact.

U.S. models have a different instrument cluster which lacks an EV indicator. It is not just a wiring issue.

 

Clearly, that seems to be the case.

Still, there might be an unused pin...

 

So what does that beautiful green EV light look like?
Anyone care to upload a picture so we in the Americas can ogle and be envious?

 

The EV Mode indicator as well as other lamps and gauges are integrated to a combination meter assembly, then I believe the wiring is done as printed circuit board.

Ken@Japan

 

Thank you for your confirmation.

The Japanese manual says 55km/h and the speedometer reading is 61km/h which is 6km/h higher than the actual speed to meet the "ECE Regulation No. 39".
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs/39rv1e.pdf

What is the speedometer reading on UK model when EV mode is canceled?

Ken@Japan

 

31mph. In other words, EV mode will operate while 30mph is indicated, but it appears to go off the instant 31mph is indicated. This is consistent with the speedo overread.

 

Only a couple of days ago, I posted a picture in this thread: http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=15455