Let it warm up later technique?

Evan,

What temp. does the engine need to be (as seen on scangage) before the full stop and engine shut down will initiate S4 operation.

Thanks

 

forced EV mode for that long of a period couldnt be done anyway. you simply cant go that far even on 8 batt bars.

you can maybe go a mile with no lights, garaged car (temp of batteries affect storage to a degree), flat surface, now you say you fully charged when coming home... if its because you are descending, then you have even a smaller chance of making it.

then you have the double whammy of trying to do initial warmup at highway speeds. not good. your Pri needs the extra power that warmed up batteries can give you. in fact a gentle cruise first thing is the best thing for the Pri.

before i moved, i was on side of hill, so it was an immediate coast from garage for first 12 blocks, i always did it with Pri running... it was basically idling and still getting decent mileage since i had to brake lightly to keep within safe speeds.

the only thing i use EV mode for is if i need to move car a few blocks and park it again. because of my Zenn (which needs to be plugged in) and a lot of junk, partial conversion of garage space for recreation, etc... Pri sits on street in front of house. well when taking family trip, i will usually start up in EV mode and roll around to garage in back of house. total trip around 3 blocks, or maybe 200 yards or so. using for more distance than that i believe causes more harm than good.

 

Though what you're doing sounds logical, read Evan's post again. Just like Evan... I thought that saving the ICE running for when I really needed it was the best plan. But I have since leaned that when the ICE first fires, the car wants to just let the thing warm up without actually using it. If you allow the ICE to warm up while most of the motive force comes from the batteries, the car seems to more happily give you better gas mileage in the long run. Try it both ways without preconcieved ideas of how it "should" work best, and see what really happens. I think you'll find that letter the ICE run when it wants to at first is the best answer. But your situation may be different...

 

Everyone's situation is different. You should try both ways and see what works the best for you. Also, do you have an EBH? This will also help tremendously.

 

I used to do exactly this, but only because my first 1.5mi was entirely down-hill. I put it in EV, descended most of the way (usually building up the SoC), and lit the ICE toward the end. The only thing is that I learned to start the engine early enough that it would be ready by the time I needed power. Running down the battery (either in EV or during the first minute of operation) usually resulted in worse FE than if I lit the ICE do the work. I also don't like the idea of taking a heavy draw from the battery every time I drive.

I don't have that hill anymore so I do what Evan describes.

 

I also wanted to add that I asked a similar question a while back, my question was if I were to pick up an EV switch if I could use it when I am exiting work until I got to the 55 MPH highway (< 1 mile from work) if it were to help me. Based on Evan's advice which was almost exactly what he posted above. I learned about the ICE wanting to sufficiently warm up by gently idling before being used so I changed my route when leaving work, I now take two slower country roads to get on the highway at the next on ramp to allow the ICE sufficient time to warm up. After doing this during the late summer / early Fall when it was warmer I started achieving several consecutive 60 MPG tanks.

 

And allowing the engine to complete its warmup procedure before accelerating very quickly or driving fast minimizes emissions.

 

Wow. Who peed in your Cheerios? I didn't realize it was an option to "not care about the environment." How is that possible?

There are MANY here who get well over 60mpg on a tank. And they do it regularly. It is most definitely possible.

No, this is round trips on real roads.

Most Prius drivers I know (including me!) get better than 47 mpg at a steady 60mph. I personally get over 50. My last five tanks (and that's most of a year!) average 52.3 mpg. And 90% of that is 60mph freeway driving.

 

Most of my tanks are considerably better than 60 MPG. You can choose not to believe it; that's your right. The truth remains the truth still.

 

This past summer, I put in about 3500 miles driving up and down I-95, from
Maine to Florida -- actually pretty flat land along the coastal plain. At 60
MPH, I got 55-59 MPG. At 65, I got 50-52 MPG. Mostly on cruise control, but
sometimes on the right foot -- cramps in the calf being part of the game! I
REALLY wanted to get 60 MPG, but couldn't quite get there.

If I'm not mistaken, JimboK is driving mostly in warmish temps on the
flatish rolling country west of Norfolk, VA; perfect country for some serious
application of pulse & glide and Super Highway Mode as appropriate. I envy
him that. But it surely is not only possible, but very probable that he's
consistently getting 60+MPG...

If he says so, I believe him... lucky SOB.

 

Well, it's more warmish than Toronto ... even a tad more than Ballamer. That helps in the winter but it hurts in the summer when the AC's on. As for terrain, you're pretty close. More rolling hills than flat-land; I'm right outside of Richmond. Not well suited for SHM (I generally avoid the highway anyway), but ample P&G opportunities in urban and suburban driving, even with traffic and lights. For the benefit of the OP, I carefully plan my routes to exploit the car's fuel economy capabilties as fully as possible.

Lucky? Hmm, don't know. SOB? Probably.

 

i live in Olympia WA which is the southern tip of Puget Sound. so flat is simply not there. EVERY DIRECTION is either uphill away from the water, or downhill to the water... PERIOD. granted there are some places that are moving sideways to the water where slopes are gentle ups and downs, but very little flat here.

at 60 mph in summer, i average 57 mpg on freeway. yes, AVERAGE which means on certain conditions i get pretty close to 60 mpg. granted i do a lot of mixed driving, frequently in heavy traffic so great mileage is harder in those conditions than the freeway, but 60 mpg is VERY possible.

now EVERYONE can improve their techniques so work on that, but i think you probably need to look at some mechanical aspects as well, tire pressure, alignment, etc. something is wrong here. to get 47 mpg on the freeway in summer, i would have to have A/C at 60º and be driving 70 mph.

 

One of my best tank averages for everyday, around town driving was 61 MPG. I was able to acheive this average by taking slower roads to and from work on my ~18 mile drive (each way) going to work and home. I could drive 65~70 MPH on the freeway (I-35 N and Loop 1604) but instead I was driving on the backroads and other busy streets that paralleled the freeways avoiding as many stops as possible while maintaining speeds of 35~45 MPH and very long glides in some areas, nice flat roads here in Texas.

I also averaged 61.5 on a long distance trip from San Antonio to Houston at 60~65 MPH constant speed with no stops. I admit that I was able to defeat most wind resistance by drafting an oversized load 18-wheeler... but it was sooo tempting, the back end sat very low, I couldn't even see the tires on the back of the truck so it felt safe from rocks and the load was very large but hollow, but very aerodynamic shaped in the back and just perfect to cruise behind... there were two of the trucks with identical loads following eachother and the conditions were just perfect. It was fairly recently so air conditioning was not needed. On the return trip (same tank of gas) at ~65 MPH I was able to average the overall tank at about 57.5 MPG. Not bad. Without drafting the average may have been more like 55 MPG.

Now, to get back on topic... I've been using the EV button getting from my house to the main road which is about a 1/4 mile or less, then the main road is 55 MPH. I drain the battery before warmup almost every time, the main road starts off downhill then a long uphill climb, lots of up and down hill for about 3 or 4 miles until I get to the freeway which is fairly flat at 65~70. I think I'll start letting the ICE get any warmup it can before hitting the main road like Evan says, maybe that'll help.