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EV range indicator always resets to 11 after a charge

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by Pluggo, Jun 4, 2016.

  1. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    Just like you can beat the EPA fuel economy ratings, you can get more than the suggested 11 mile EV range on a plug-in, yet the range indicator on my 2012 always seems to reset itself to 11 after a charge. I am wondering if 11 is built-in, or if it can maybe learn to reset itself to a higher number, like 13 or 14.
     
  2. drash

    drash Senior Member

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    It resets to what was learned previously. Mine read 11.9 when I left for an errand this evening. It read 11.6 on an earlier errand run this morning. Far cry from the 9.6 it showed on a late February day. My EV range seems to rise more when I make multiple trips in a day. Not sure why yet but I do know batteries like being used more than being left at the same state.
     
  3. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    The EV range finally went up by itself. It was 12.0 this morning, and after driving 6.3 miles it still said 6.8 left to go.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how long have you owned it? it should fluctuate mostly with the weather. i was down to 11.9 over the winter, and i just cracked 14.
     
  5. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    Just one month. I went into the stats and deleted the history. The last owner did mostly long-distance driving, and the car showed only 3% electric use over the past 20,000 miles. That number is going to change in a hurry!
     
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  6. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    I've only had mine a couple of months, but I find it pretty consistent when doing the same trip regularly. With my daily commute it nearly always shows 9.2 miles (sometimes +/- 0.1) after a full charge, but it seems a more unpredictable (usually on the pessimistic side) when doing any irregular driving. I've also noticed turning on the A/C will instantly chop 0.2-0.3 miles off the range.
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    that's just programming to let you know the potential loss. over here, it's not the a/c but the fan, and it's more like 10-15%.
     
  8. CaliforniaBear

    CaliforniaBear Clearwater Blue Metallic

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    How did you get the stats? Or had the previous owner just never reset the A or B trip info?
     
  9. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    Yes I see it is more like 10-15% after further experimentation.

    They probably never reset at least one of the EV Driving Ratio meters.
     
  10. drash

    drash Senior Member

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    Hmm, makes you wonder why Toyota doesn't come up with a more efficient fan or fan design. They've managed to make everything else smaller and/or more efficient. Although some of the info seems like they've done just that for the Prius Prime by making airflow available for only seated occupants.


    Unsupervised!
     
  11. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    I suspect it's a rather crude and probably pessimistic estimation, as it seems to reduce the EV range by the same amount regardless of fan speed setting or whether the AC is on or not. I can't imagine the fan at a low speed would use more than 30-50W.
     
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  12. drash

    drash Senior Member

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    I'd have to agree. A standard 12V Panasonic Panaflo 120mm (5 inches) fan that can move 114 CFM uses about 6 Watts. So an entire subsystem must be activated which is why we're seeing such a noticeable EV loss. The seat heaters use about 50 Watts but I don't notice any significant loss of EV. I've always thought about slipping a Panaflo with a toggle switch in my PiP's ducts just to drag some outside air in since they operate on 12V just fine.


    Unsupervised!
     
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i gues it's just a warning. crude is the correct term. how hard would it be to adjust when the a/c is actually on.
     
  14. drash

    drash Senior Member

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    I guess a lot of people don't realize there's an A and B on the EV Driving Ratio indicator screen as well. I think everybody assumes there's only an A and B on the Hybrid System Indicator screen.


    Unsupervised!
     
  15. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    It's the KISS approach, which has been used for Prius since the very beginning... a proven winning formula.

    More info is readily available for anyone to access. Any ODB-II device well show it.
     
  16. drash

    drash Senior Member

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    I perused many of the EV sites that cater to the likes of the Mercedes Benz B-Class electric, BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla. In almost every case the EV Range indicator is not entirely accurate and many cars it is shortened to GOM (or Guess-O-Meter). For instance users of the MB B-class electric typically use the kWh remaining indicator and not the EV Range indicator. If you are using EV at a rate of 3.5 miles for every kWh , it's rather trivial to calculate how much range you've really got. If I had my wish for an indicator that Toyota should include on one of their screens, it would be a kWh remaining or miles per kWh being used instead of looking at 999 miles per gallon.

    I use an ODB-II reader and have an SOC indicator visible most of the time (along with other indicators running like MG2 RPMs, numerous temperature indicators, and battery/system current).


    Unsupervised!
     
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  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    sorry guys, i was responding to quantum fireballs post about the range estimate decrease when you turn on the fan, instead of the a/c. that's not simple, it's stupid. still kiss though, keep it stupid, simple.
     
  18. devprius

    devprius /dev/geek

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    Fan on low, no A/C draws 100 watts. Fan on medium, no A/C is 200W. Fan on Max, no A/C is 300W. Adding in use of the A/C adds 300W to 400W depending upon temperature setpoint.
     
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  19. devprius

    devprius /dev/geek

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    The EV driving ratio meters have nothing to do with the EV range estimation. I've had one meter that has never been reset, and another I reset after each fillup. In the winter my EV range drops to 10.3. By the time summer rolls back around, I'm up to 11.2. It's been this way for 4+ years.
     
  20. QuantumFireball

    QuantumFireball Active Member

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    Did you get this from some OBD port scanner?

    I was responding to how Pluggo was able to see the previous owner's EV driving ratio.