Coastaltech EV-mode mod - observations

I am wondering just how the EV is useful. My impression is that it allows one to use the electric mode mostly.
I do a lot of starting and stopping running chores so the ability to use electric would increase milage.
If this is installed can I use electric alone and count on the computer to start recharge when battery needs it? or does one have to moniter the battery ones self...not a good prospect for me.
Is this easy to install ( I am female, 63 years, but did surgery so good with hands).
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
thanks...

 

It's good in limited applications, like moving a car across a parking lot. "Pure EV" mode is only good for a mile or two. I just used it today to chase down my mailman. He had knocked on my door, but I didn't answer quick enough. After he left I got dressed, put on my coat, and got in my car to go find him. Found him a few blocks away...

In my opinion, it isn't the easiest thing to install, but with a little patience you can do it.

The car will start the engine when required, like discharge of the battery, need for acceleration, or going above 30-35 MPH. It's all automatic. You can also manually disable it. It also will automatically switch to the battery screen so you always know the state of your battery. However, as I said, it will switch out of the mode when the battery starts getting drained, so you don't have to monitor anything.

The nice thing about the Coastal mod is it is relatively transparent. You just connect 3 wires, and then use the cruise control stalk to enable/disable it. The trick is getting to those 3 wires. You should be able to handle it, though...

 

I'll second that. I just installed mine today

My observations (in no particular order):
1) I really wish my hands were 25% smaller.
2) Patience is indeed the key when "negotiating" that blankity-blank connector to a position where you can work on it.
3) More patience while seating the pin. After reading several other threads, this seemed to be the critical part. My instructions included a picture of how deep the pin needed to go. I was constantly concerned that I was either going to pull other pins out or was going to ruin the connector with the adjoining pins (some open). Neither happened.... I was careful
4) The first step is the one where you're a bit uneasy... pulling the bottom plate off the dash. After that... you start to feel more like you're not gonna ruin the car.
5) If you have a nice big garage and have enough lighting... that would be my recommendation. Here in Massachusetts, it was mid 30s and the car had been outside for a bit while I cycled fall/winter junk to/from the garage/shed. I think it would have been easier to move the wires around if they'd been nice and warm... not to mention improve the feeling in my fingers.

Seems to be working like a champ though.

 

I am exploring more and more uses for the EV, like when I go into the Green bars, I evoke the EV mode until I am in the blue area the pump the gas and go on. My limiting factor is the Engine Temp that drops when I am in EV or Glide mode.

 

I'll let you know......I thought I would go with coastal....I am still a bit uncertain if I would use it or if it is worth it..why have you put one in? I am thinking that I could use EV for all my start and stop chore trips....am I mistaken?

 

Someone suggested a 'auto' EV switch that would engage until disrupted at every 'READY', but they were shot down... So there must be some problem with it!

 

I have not yet explored all the ways to make the EV useful (i.e., beyond the cool factor... which had some share in the reason behind my purchase).

That said, the main reason why I went EV was where I live. I live about on the top of a hill about a mile after the hill crests on locally flat terrain. I need very little oomph (other than my driveway) to get to the downslope so I can recharge there and start my morning commute at the bottom where I would need the ICE anyways to get up to speed, negotiate another hill, and merge onto the highway.

To make matters worse, the bloody ICE just loves to stay on on my way home after I crest the hill. Maybe I'm just goofy, but it kills me to have the ICE on as I drive past my neighbors on the flats. I'd brought this up in a thread I started and EV seemed to be "an ideal condition" per Dr. Fusco http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=12627

 

The brakes would not normally wear with the regen braking, however, Hi-bred has stated that he ran the car in neutral so the brakes he applies are the friction ones.

 

I look at it this way: as much as I wanted a battery-electric-vehicle, or a plug-in-hybrid, my Prius is still a gasoline car. Given that fact, what is the most efficient way to operate the gas engine? ICE engines like to be warm (hot) and avoid constant starting and stopping. Therefore, I try to maximize the run-time of the ICE each time it comes on.
So I use the EV switch to suppress the ICE when I'm quite sure that running it now would be less efficient than running it later.
For instance, I live at the top of a hill. When I leave the driveway, without having engaged EV, if the ICE has completed it's initial warmup cycle it shuts down for at least a minute and maybe two, before starting back up to get me up a little hill. At which point it shuts down again for another mile or so. So instead I pull the cruise control stalk to engage EVmode immediately when I start up the car in the driveway. The ICE never comes on, I glide down the hill and use gentle battery-only mode up the rise. Then I glide down the next hill and when I get near the stop at the bottom, I pull the stalk again and dis-engage EV mode. The ICE starts up and I can accelerate from the stop sign and merge with traffic on the main road.
Then after a bit I get to a point where there are 5 lights in a one-mile stretch, unsynchronized. As soon as I have to stop for one, I pull the stalk again and engage EV mode. I don't disengage EV until I'm through all the lights, since if I were to stop for another one (likely) the ICE would again shut down, and it would have been operating relatively inefficiently for the time between lights.
The other reason to use it is if you are only going a short distance (less than a mile) and you know you won't draw down the main battery far enough to have the computer override the EV mode and start the ICE during that drive.

 

I found a new use for the EV mode. I was in the parking lot of the Nursing Home my Mother is at, and when I came out a bunch of people where crowed around their car next to me and behind my car. One of the people was a little one about 4 or 5 and I told her to be very careful when I back up because my car does not make any noise. I got it hit the EV and pulled out and drove around the family as they gathered together. The kid took it great but the adults looked stunned, as I slowly pulled away at a slow speed to make as little tire noise as possible.

 

I recently ordered the EV kit, and I'm planning on having it professionally installed. Yet, I wonder about the implications on my warranty -- would it be totally void if I were to go through with the installation?

Perhaps this has already been brought up, but when I typed the owrds "Coastal" and "Warranty" into the forum search, no results came up.

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

Probably not because the switch is build into the car and just offered as a feature in Japan and Europe. Toyota would have to show that the EV mod was the cause of the damage. Also, the mod is REALLY easy to install. You could save a bit of money by doing it yourself. It took me 30 mins start to finish and I'd done anything like that before.

 

Thanks, Tripp. I simply don't have enough confidence in myself to do even the simplest work like this, and I'm happy to pay if only to spare myself constant worry about it having been done right.

I actually asked the service dept. at my local dealer, and while they couldn't give me an official answer, were very confident that this would void my warranty; their logic was: even if it's standard on foreign versions of the Prius, if you take it upon yourself to add a feature like this to the car, you're responsible for any problems with the hybrid system that may occur further down the road. I of course realize that they can't be objective about it, but the process still seems risky to me. Even if EV mode itself never causes any problems, I'd hardly be able to blame Toyota if it considered such a modification as so significantly altering the system they sold me that they can no longer be held responsible.

Which is why I ask, and why I'm still hestitant.

 

If I were you I would continue to ask around. Dealers have a lot of leeway here; I've read posts on PriusChat from Toyota Prius Technician who installs EV switches for his customers, on request, with the knowledge of the dealership management

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hi-Bred @ Dec 2 2005, 10:03 PM) [snapback]166772[/snapback]</div>

Since when is electric power required for braking?