Prius v gliding (not coasting)

If you take your foot entirely off the gas, it will go into regen mode and very gently slow you down.

If you have DRCC and you turn that on, based on the speed of cars in front of you and the desired cruising speed you set, it will coast or glide appropriately with your foot off the gas.

Peter+

 

yes. If you want to glide, GLIDE! No prius glides without some application of force to the accelerator pedal. That's true in the v as well.

Peter+

 

Coasting would be releasing your foot off the accelerator pedal and having some regeneration (engine braking) slowing you down.

Gliding is when you try to coast (as in neutral) by application of gentle force on the accelerator pedal such that there is no regeneration (engine braking). Sometimes, people will expand the definition to allow for a modest amount of electric usage (within 1/8 to 1/4 of the first "fat bar" on the Prius HSI) which extends the glide (no gas is being used, but a small amount of battery power).

 

If you shift to N and coast the ICE will shut down and there will be no regeneration (the ICE might run if it is warming up or you have the heater working hard).

In D, the car will glide on a gentle downslope and maintain its speed. In my neighborhood, there is a 1 mile long very gently sloping (hardly noticable) 30 mph road with no stop signs. I can glide along it by getting up to speed, letting my foot off the throttle and then barely pressing the throttle. The car shows no arrows on the energy monitor and I maintain 30 mph or speed up 1 or 2 mph. The ICE is off the whole time. I think what is happening is one motor generator ("MG") is producing a little electricity and the other is using that power to overcome friction and rolling resistence. I think this is what is known as "stealth gliding."

On a normal modest hill, in D, I take my foot off the throttle, the ICE turns off and I coast. The MGs generate and the battery stores electricity. The car speeds up even though there is a little drag from the MGs.

On long steep hills, even at highway speeds, the car speeds up so much while coasting (and regenerating) that you'll have to ride the "brakes." The actual friction brakes aren't used, though - the brake pedal just tells the MGs to regenerate electricity at a faster rate and the magnetic fields of the MGs provode the drag that slows the car down. That's why the brake components last so long on a Prius.

 

It's the same as the regular Prius.

So, when you shift to N at higher speeds the engine will continue to run. (I think that also applies while in a high-speed glide).

However, if you shift to N from a true glide (at 45mph or below) the Prius engine will stay off and remain off even if your speed increases above the normal 45 limit. This N-glide can allow you to glide downhill faster than 45mph. However, the normal 45 mph limit is there to protect a motor and even those who do use the N-glide make sure they don't go too much faster than 45mph; I've seen 60mph used as an upper limit.