Question About Prius Plug In, Some Expert Out There?

Welcome! And congrats on the cool car you found.

Its perfectly safe. Watch the instantaneous mileage indicator when the car transitions from EV to HV on the highway. You'll notice that when it first goes to HV mode, you'll be getting amazing gas mileage. That's because the battery is giving the ICE (internal combustion engine) a ton of help until the ICE warms up a little. You'll also see that your EV range continues to drop as the computer feeds battery energy into the drive train to help out the engine. Pretty soon the mpg indicator will go quite low, as the ICE takes on more of the load and eventually starts replenishing the energy it borrowed from the battery. Once it's fully warmed up and the powwowed electrons are securely tucked away in the big battery, you'll be back to getting about 50 mpg at 70 mph. It's an incredible machine!!

However, if you're only going 3 miles on the highway, it won't get very warmed up which means you might not be very happy with your hybrid fuel economy. Maybe there's an alternate route that she could drive in EV all the way?

 

To the greatest extent possible, Toyota designs the car not to hurt itself. (If you run out of gas, it may hurt itself as it has reduced choices about how to make power)

If no warning lights occur, it is fine.

If i was worrying, I would worry if the oil gets up to temperature, and if the exhaust ever gets hot enough to evaporate the water in the exhaust. But they won't hurt it soon, and Pasco is fairly dry anyway. I do hope she takes some longer trips.

 

Why not slow down a bit and do 60

 

welcome! is that pasco, fl? anyways, i would hit the hv button a mile before the highway. it's too bad, because, if she could go 60, you could do the whole round trip in ev.
any possibility of back roads all the way?

 

I'm guessing she would have a hard time making the 12 mile round trip in EV if half of that is highway at 60 mph. I did 12.5 miles with .5 miles left today and that took some effort— no highway, no traffic behind me, but some hills.

 

If she would go that back way, she'd never have to buy gas!! That would be quite a motivator for me, especially if gas prices continue upward as predicted. Otherwise, she'll only be getting about 20-30 mpg in hybrid mode for such short drives. BTW, does "Pasco" mean we're neighbors? I live in Pasco county.

 

We've got two routes into town: the freeway, or a secondary, coastal highway. The highway's actually more direct too. Haven't used that freeway in nearly a decade I think.

 

I was thinking Pasco WA, but there is a Pasco, OH and Pasco county FL.
Australia has the Pasco islands and Argentina and Peru have there own Pasco. (the Pasco in WA is named for the one in Peru)

Pasco - Wikipedia

 

LOL! I googled "pasco" and only got the pasco where I live. I guess their tracking can really mess up a search.

 

Lots of answers, but perhaps missing the simplest possibility. If it is cold enough to be concerned about getting the engine up to operating temperature, you probably will want to turn on the heat. The engine will start to run early to provide heat, so it will be up to operating temperature before you get to the highway.

 

Some people never plug in, just drive it. But many are concerned with maxing out EV use.
But the beauty is the car accommodates to whatever strategy the driver wants.
Except the PiP does not offer enough EV miles and speed for some due to smaller battery.
Good news is you got best cargo space in Plug-ins.

 

No heated seats on US models?

 

Mine has heated front seats. I'm guessing he is just wishing for heated air.

 

+1
It will be fine, and just drive the car like...well, a car. It will figure it out for you. But with that commute, don't let your wife come back on this forum to post "why isn't my MPG better?"