Anyone actually ran out of gas?

Sure they do. A lot of people are really wacky when it comes to refilling the tank and they tempt fate and drive with the refill light blinking. Then they complain about Toyota lying to them about having an 11.9ga tank.

Depending on weather, altitude, slope, etc. youcould get a mile or so out of the EV battery but doing so could cause harm to the car. It is best to not temp fate by refilling at 2 "pips" and if you do run out, simply call someone to bring you at least 3gallons of fuel so you can restart the car and get to a fuel station.

 

It happened to me once, I remember it well. I knew I had been low on gas, but was trying to make it to a specific gas station with really low prices.

The engine abruptly turned off (going up a hill of moderate grade, which would normally never happen). Seeming like it lost some power (but still going), I noticed that all the panel lights light up like a Christmas Tree. I figured out what happened right away.

Based on reading previous posts in Priuschat, I knew the approximate EV driving range limit, thus I knew that I would easily reach the nearest gas station 1/2 mile away. If the gas station was more than 1.5 miles away, I would have stopped and gotten gas the hard way. So, I did a u-turn, drove back to the nearest gas station, refilled the gas tank, and car started with no problems.

I would say, based on anecdotal evidence from other PC posters, is that your EV range on an empty tank is about 1.5 miles on level terrain with the battery mid-charged (60%). That will take the battery down to about 40% (safe low limit for the battery). I don't know the actual battery state-of-charge cutoff point is at which the system will shut down cold. The factors affecting your distance will be, in order of importance: road slope, battery state-of-charge, speed, wind direction, use of A/C or heat, and outside air temperature. You could go for miles and miles if you're lucky to have nothing but down-hill slope in front of you!

Lot's of previous threads on this topic if you search. Welcome to PriusChat!

 

Im curious why you said 3 gallons. I used to keep about half a liter (one of those fuel additive bottles) full of gas in the car just in case, until it leaked. Would that little not be enough to prime the fuel pump or something?

 

In some cases a single gallon of fuel was not enough to register on the Prius computer and it would not allow you to restart the vehicle. The 2005 owners manual also states:

"It is a good idea to keep the tank over 1/4 full."

"When you refuel less than about 11.4L (3.0 gal., 2.5 Imp.gal.), the fuel indicator may not change."

A friend of mine ran out of fuel and her car would not start with the addition of only 1 gal. and she had her vehicle towed to the dealer where they simply added more fuel and off she went. :/

 

once I drove it near bone dry, the dash lit up like an xmas tree. I was still able to drive with the ICE though for 3 more miles until I was able to safely pull off the freeway. I found a station, the ice still ran even though it was saying I was out of gas. Best to not mess around with it, fill up at blinking or one solid pip, or whatever works best for you.

 

Yeah, I'll admit I've done it. :redface:

I was on a road trip from Boston, MA, to the middle of Oklahoma. I was on I-40 in east Arkansas.

I knew I was low on gas, only one pip left, but I missed an exit that had a couple gas stations. Being from the Boston area where civilization is so dense, with highway exits every half mile, I wasn't terribly concerned; I just figured I'd take the next one.

Well, I kept driving and driving and there was no exit in sight. Eventually the big red warning light came on and I lost engine power. I knew enough not to try driving on the battery so I just pulled off the road and glided for as long as I could.

I learned later that I truly was in the middle of nowhere (which is how it appeared from the highway). My cellphone reception was very poor. The map around my location was literally blank. It turns out that there was no exit for another 15 miles.

Lessons learned:

1) When the Prius says it needs gas, it's not kidding.
2) I will never again drive somewhere without a detailed map of the area and some thorough prior planning, to include where I'll be making my stops for gas. On this occasion I just knew I was going 500 miles on I-40 West. Not good.
3) In retrospect I was in a pretty crappy situation that only turned out OK because I managed to flag down another motorist before sunset. I will never again go on a long drive through the middle of nowhere without a few essential items for survival, in case I have to make a long trek on foot (lots of water, flashlight, signaling device, extra clothes to keep me warm and dry, etc.)

Tim

 

I've ran out twice. :-(

The first time I was about 100 feet from the station, so it was no big beal, as I pretty much coasted in. The 2nd time I was on the freeway and probably went about half a mile or so on inertia and battery power. I had to climb a slight incline, which made my nervous, but it was no problem. Filled her up and no problems at all.

I'd rather not repeat either time though, but I'm sure I will again at some point.

 

Running out of gas is truly a rookie mistake...in any car. I ran out in my Mustang when I was a 20 something idiot. There is absolutely no reason for a grown-up person to run out of gas. There is no reason to do it, only lame excuses if it should happen. OK, I'm done.

 

It's not a "rookie mistake" when the sender is actually broken or severely off calibration and you don't know it. Happened to me in two different vehicles long ago. One was the first time that I drove a company flatbed that I was told to pick something up in only a few miles away. When I ran out of gas a mile or two down the road with 1/4 tank showing I spent some time looking for a problem under the hood, then radioed in. Turns out they knew the sender would not register that low, but nobody bothered to tell me, and the person who used it before who was aware was in charge of the fuel truck and should have filled it. The other time it happened to me was when I was trying to diagnose an old rusted Caprice. Had put 5 gallons of gas in the tank the night before and the gauge initially seemed to be working. A few miles later it was out of gas with 1/4 tank indicated. Leaky fuel tank, sticking sender, and worse yet: leaky fuel line all the way along the frame. Had to change out the whole tank and the fuel line.

Folks that think they are safe at 2 pips are kidding themselves unless they've run down to the flashing pip a few times to verify the gauge. There have been several folks on PC that reported running out at 2 pips. The Japanese vehicles I've had all hit the bottom E line at ~1/8th tank. If memory serves Evan reported that the flashing pip comes on with the gauge indicating about 12% with CANVIEW.

When I first read the PC forums I came away very concerned about running out of gas--unduly concerned it appears. As I became more familiar with the car I realized that a lot of the concern was coming from folks who had not really thought this through and anticipated catastrophic traction battery damage. Unlike other cars, the Prius still has some capacity to move itself if it runs out. It wouldn't make sense to try driving long or hard on electric as that would be very hard on the traction battery. But an aware Prius driver should be able to manage this situation much better than a conventional gasoline vehicle.

The Prius variable bladder and chunky digital gauge indication are a bad combination though. While folks with the aforementioned scanner can see the actual indicated tank level, the rest of us cannot, we get only a few bands indicated within a limited range in the tank. So once we hit the flashing pip, we are flying blind and need to get gas within a very few miles.

The bladder makes the fills quite variable...I finally got in 9.95 gallons on Tuesday from a flashing pip. However, this was 18% more than the MFD mileage indicated it had used (453 miles @53.8 mpg or 8.42 gallons.) The previous two fills had only 2% error each, so maybe I'm finally getting the bladder stretched out properly.

 

my average fill in my 02 is probably about 400 miles/8 gallons, and this is usually at 3 or 2 pips

i can't stand the uncertainty of the bladder

 

When the light comes on, I drive in.

 

Perhaps some times it is a silly mistake. But other times, it is a calculated risk. My one experience was such a risk. I drive 4 miles to work, passing 6 gas stations along the way. I don't ever intentionally run out of gas, but I know that if I did, I wouldn't have far to go in EV mode to fill up.

 

I ran out of gas several times.

Once, during the oil embargo days, when there was alternate filling, depending on your plate number. I ran out of gas on the Belt Parkway in NYC. Everyone loved me.

The second time, I took a wrong turn in Arizona, which resulted in a LONG detour. I ran out of gas just before the exit ramp to the first gas station I came to.

Then, in my Prius, I ran out on the way up north to Portland. I misread the number of miles left in the tank (I had accidentally reset the trip mileage guage), and passed an exit with plenty of gas stations. Naturally the next ones did not have service stations. The experience was similar to other cars, as the engine stops, etc. I was able to pull over on battery, but I did not get very far.