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Consistently getting 35/36 charged miles

Discussion in 'Prime Fuel Economy & EV Range' started by Storm88000, Oct 27, 2021.

  1. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    Hi everyone again. Own a 2020 Prime LE. 26k miles, still running fantastic. According to Toyota the main battery is at 91% - and I am consistently getting 35/36 - one time even 37, all electric miles per charge. It’s a regular charge from the house outlet. The usual “6 hours 10 minutes” on the dash shows when it’s depleted after I plug it in.

    It went down a bit last winter (26-28 miles) but even as cooler weather has hit the Northeast (as it tends to do in October & November) the electric range has remained in the mid 30s. Anyone else? It’s charging up higher than it ever has, even more than the summer following my purchase in Feb 2020.

    Here’s all I’ve been doing differently for about 8-9 months:

    1) With a full charge I only drive in “EV Auto” mode. Never “EV” mode. The moment you start the car, as you all know it will be in “EV” mode. I immediately hit the button to change it from “EV” to “EV Auto”.

    2) I also drive exclusively in “B” mode. It’s nice to go down a long, long mountain on the interstate in “B” mode and watch the 18.0 elec miles left climb to 19.6 or whatever while coasting.

    3) I do what I can to get my climate control rating to every square filled in. Sometimes if I need to use the front defroster that’s not possible, or if it’s extremely cold or hot. I always have the far passenger vent closed as well.

    4) I now only drive in “Normal Mode.” When I first got the car new, I figured it made sense to keep it in “ECO Mode” - but was displeased with the poor throttle response so I switched. I will occasionally switch to “Power Mode” for a tricky highway merge but maybe 3-4 times per month.

    I have no idea if any of these things relate to my relatively high electric miles greeting me each day, but I believe I really began to notice higher charging miles once I swapped from Eco to Normal and regular D to B mode. I admit I don’t know how those would effect the charging capacity. Still using plain 87 octane gasoline as I always have.

    As of now the charging miles are the highest they have ever been, on a consistent basis. So it makes me wonder - why now after 26k miles on the odometer? And if it is accurate, why did and does Toyota list the Prime at only 25 plug in miles? It’s rare that I’m even *under* 30 elec miles unless it’s really really cold (say, 18 degrees F or below).

    Anyways, food for thought. Hope you are all doing well, I think you are wonderful and I truly love this vehicle and hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season.
     
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  2. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    What you have been doing for the last 8-9 months is all contributing to the higher overall EV efficiency. The number you are indicating is 35-36 miles shown on the GOM (Guess-O-Meter) isn't it? If so, it is not the real EV range, but it is the estimate the car makes from your recent EV mode drives. It is not an accurate EV range, especially if your EV Auto is constantly switching EV and HV all the time.

    For a reference point, GOM on my then 2.5 years old 2017PP was constantly showing above 45miles EV range even in the middle of winter. At one time, it reached 48.7miles. This is the middle of winter at 16F temperature with over 38Kmiles on the odometer. But I was not getting that EV miles on a consecutive EV mode drive. There was a lot of switching EV/HV to achieve that high EV range on the GOM. In essence, I was using a gasoline engine to generate electricity during HV mode without using CHG mode. That being said, in my climate, if I drove the car all EV mode from a full charge in 16F temperature with heat on, the actual EV range was something like 18 miles.

    upload_2021-10-27_7-49-11.png

    Toyota's EPA rating is done under some constant testing conditions. In that conditions, the car was able to run an average of 25 miles or ~4.1miles/kWh EV efficiency. Your driving condition allows your PP to get better EV efficiency than that, but I am sure there are many in this forum whose EV efficiency does not get as high as the EPA rating. Just like your mileage may vary, for all PP (or any EV drivers) your EV range may vary.

    One question I have is that you say you keep the car in B gear all that time, is that mean you don't have time when you have to go faster than say 40mph on a long stretch? It would be very difficult to drive in B gear if the traffic is not slow and congested. That brings the next question, if you are always in B gear, does EV Auto starts the engine under high demands, like uphill or quick acceleration?

    The reason I ask is that under my usual driving condition, I can not keep the car in B gear all the time. Our road is almost always light traffic and very little stop and go. And for my driving condition in D gear, the EV Auto almost never fires the engine, thus it behaves exactly the same as EV mode. I am wondering by having the car in B gear, maybe the EV Auto mode starts the engine more frequently at a lower load. If so, that may contribute very frequent HV/EV switches which benefit EV range, by sacrificing overall gas mileage.
     
    #2 Salamander_King, Oct 27, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2021
  3. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    Earlier today, and it said on the dash I still had 16 minutes left to charge but I had an appointment and had to leave, 33.6 miles. Attached file photo couldn’t seem to get it to just show in this post.
     

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  4. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    ^ Is the number up there, the 33.6 the guess o’ meter? Or do you mean the one in the photo. Or are you saying that the one in your photo is the more accurate number. I am parked in the car now but the numbers listed to the right of the car / charging icons are way lower, says 4.4 miles/kWh top line, below it says 5.2 miles and then 4.9 miles third line. It may be my habit of always resetting the trip settings when I stop and shut the vehicle off completely (I had a few of those on the way down) and I am at my destination in the parking lot fooling with the screens.

    As for your other questions- I really am in B mode most of the time even if it’s a desolate highway with no traffic. At first I didn’t like it, my friend who has a 2012 Prius said he never used his, I tried it, got used to it and now I like it better - not sure why. Possibly because when in regular D mode I’ve found this vehicle will coast and coast and coast, and the B mode eliminates a percentage of physical braking - it’s nice because my other vehicle is a 6 speed manual (‘20 Mazda MX-5 Club) with a semi harsh ride so the Prime is the complete opposite of it and it feels like another nice amenity the Mazda doesn’t have..

    So really I don’t have a clue what’s going on, I am down to only a few elec miles left and then the half hour way back home will
    be the regular hybrid mode, so I suppose I won’t be able to check the numbers until I drive with a full charge without resetting the trip meters.

    One thing I do remember, when I first got the car brand new, a full charge would sometimes only give me 23.5 - 24.2 charging miles (I remember the numbers bc I wrote them down bc it was my first plug in) of course after a couple weeks I stopped keeping track as I got used to it.
     
    #4 Storm88000, Oct 27, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2021
  5. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Yes, it is the Guess-O-Meter EV range. It is the same number you will see in the Trip meter toggle (see the photo below) or Drive Monitor 2 (photo on my previous comment #2). They are all the same, and all estimate, not an accurate EV range you actually will be able to drive. I happen to use SoC % display in HSI, so I don't see the EV range at that location.

    DM2 EV efficiency number on the top is useful to know your lifetime efficiency if you have not reset the EV efficiency record in the setting in the MID. If you did not reset, it represents the entire ODO corresponding miles/kWh, but if you did reset, then it is the record since the last reset. The two numbers below are just the current GOM reading with the current traction battery charge level. The upper number is without the use of HVAC, and the lower number is with use of HVAC.

    upload_2021-10-27_14-33-44.png

    If you keep your car in B gear and EV-Auto, try to check if the engine is coming on frequently as I suggested. Maybe with that combination, the car is switching often between HV/EV. If the car switch to HV when it hit an uphill, then switch back to EV when it reaches the top and starts a descent, then, in essence, you are using HV mode to charge the traction battery which will inflate the EV efficiency and thus result in GOM displaying the higher EV range. As I said, with my road condition and keeping the car in D gear, EV-Auto does nothing. It will act simply as being in EV mode. It almost never starts the engine and goes into HV mode automatically.
     
    #5 Salamander_King, Oct 27, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2021
  6. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    Thanks for your reply & words of wisdom! Tomorrow when I drive on a full charge again I will try to determine if it does in fact switch between HV/EV while in B mode & EV auto. I know for certain it does switch when I have to floor it for some reason, or going up a really steep hill as you mentioned.

    Then the following day I should drive on a full charge again but this time only in D mode & regular EV mode - and see what happens? Hope I am making sense.. and then which screen(s) should I then check to compare with?

    Also I will not reset the trip settings of course.
     
  7. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Instead, you should try D mode with EV-Auto. As I said, under my driving conditions, EV-Auto never turns the engine on. If on the same steep uphill which you usually see the engine comes on with B mode and EV-Auto, if you don't see the engine coming on with D mode and EV-Auto, then as I suggested, the combination of B gear and EV-Auto is acting as HV-charge by letting EV mode gain regen energy during the downhill and conserving the battery during uphill by switching to HV. This usually results in higher EV efficiency thus a longer EV range in the GOM, but also results in an overall lower mpg.
     
  8. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    BTW, resetting the trip meter is different from resetting the EV efficiency record. The resetting the EV efficiency can be accomplished in the two places, one is in the history screen in the information of the 7" Headunit screen.
    upload_2021-10-27_15-36-19.png

    Another way is to reset the "Electricity Consumption Reset" in the MID display under the Setting page. Unlike resetting the trip meter, it is much harder to accidentally "reset" this data. However, you can rest the ODO corresponding MPG (fuel consumption data) by long-pressing the trip meter. So be careful if you want to preserve the lifetime average MPG under ODO meter.

    upload_2021-10-27_15-30-25.png
     
  9. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    Yesterday:

    [​IMG]

    34.3 miles ^

    I’ll try to get a pic when it’s even higher but now that I know it’s referred to as a “GOM” I guess it doesn’t mean that much. I’ve just found using the battery with percentage amount to be less… I’m not sure what the word is. Like less informative and more difficult to gauge when it’s going up in B Mode.
     
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  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i like to drive back roads and see how many miles i actually get
     
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  11. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    Same, highway speeds past 50mph the miles fall away like a sped up countdown.
     
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  12. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    I guess if you want to pump the GOM, your way is as good as any other I seen posted. not that I've seen to many wanting to do that. Although, it is one way to start learning about how the car works and that is always a good thing.
    If you can manage to keep the GOM showing above 30 through the winter, you should be in really good shape for beating the GOM's estimate by 5 - 10 miles next summer, in plane EV mode.
     
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  13. shebobg

    shebobg Junior Member

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    I'm confused...what is B gear and D gear?
     
  14. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    This.
    upload_2021-11-12_12-10-57.png
     
  15. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    When words just don't seem to fit
    youtu.be/3EH7QMVnSRI
    have my doubts this will help either.

    Instead, you should try D mode with EV-Auto.
    pictures instead of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    would have removed my confusing too.
     
  16. Storm88000

    Storm88000 Active Member

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    What kind of coating or layering is on your dash? Looks cool
     
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  17. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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