Best Mode for driving Prius Prime up Steep Hill for vehicle longevity not best mpg?

I thought that B mode disconnected the charging function? That's what I was told for my first two Priuses (2004 & 2012).

 

How long have you had your Prime, the smell could be cosmoline, a lubricant used during manufacture, burning off.

Charging still happens while in B. The net charge gained from regen will be lower because the car is spinning up the ICE to throw away excess energy.

 

Only N disconnects charging of the HV battery. (the 12 volt battery charges anytime you are in READY)

B 'wastes' more energy than D, but does not disconnect the electric motors entirely.

 

Don't worry about it. Either the electric motor or ICE can handle an incline without a problem. If they couldn't, Toyota wouldn't have made it as a car company. The Prius is one of their most dependable models. Unless your goal is to have the car for a million miles, there is no need to stress over how to baby the car.

 

With a regular Prius the main purpose for B is on steep, protracted downgrades, where there's a risk of the battery being fully charged, with a long downhill stretch STILL in to come, and braking now being handled solely by the friction brakes, possibly overheating them.

That said, I think B behaves differently in the Plug-In Prius and Prime??

 

You may like to read the manual concerning traction battery life and capacity reduction. My take on what it says, reading between lines is that using EV in a way that puts very heavy demands on the traction battery, may create more wear on the battery life and capacity, than normal driving.
My view is also that in some circumstances the ICE may be more efficient and economical on hills, if this allows saving EV power to be used in other parts of the journey where power demand is less.
But others may have more detailed knowledge on this matter than I.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

That sounds like more of a problem with the driver than the car.

I bet the burning smell you got was normal for a new engine, and you won't experience it again on that hill. The hybrid system has a plenty of self protection built into the software; it watches rpms and temperatures of the components.

If you need to ease your mind, use EV Auto on steep hills. The car will switch to ICE operation sooner than in EV mode if the systems feels it is warranted.

 

While I am writing this post my Prius is recharging for the third time only, so my experience with this car is very little. But since in my typical Sunday tour I have a couple of hills to climb (one on the way, another on the return) and, in terms of battery range, an uphill kilometer worth at least two flat - in my case let's say two and half - I do the hills in HV mode.

Now, since I do not believe that any ICE likes to be stressed while it is still warming up, I commute in HV mode just a couple of minutes before tackling the ascent. Here, I think this simple precaution can preserve the engine life long enough.

 

I got a 'burning smell' once when I first got the car, during hard driving (loaded, uphill, main road requiring some speed). Don't recall for sure what mode, but probably HV. It hasn't happened again, so I figure it was some drivetrain component's coating getting heated up for the first time.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Those were some nice smells to go with "new car" smell. When I test drove mine the odometer had 8 miles on it

 

Most likely the exhaust/cat converter burning off the new shine.

 

So, on my usual commute, one of the roads has been closed except to local traffic. So, I used the nearest road over, which is a steady, steep uphill. I decided to do an experiment in controlled conditions, like similar morning temps, heat turned off, from 0 mph at the traffic light to just cresting the hill at 40 mph and can get off gas, etc., to see how uphill acceleration affects range driving on electric.

Nov. 8: Maximum acceleration, using 180 A, average increase of around 6 mph per second. Available battery capacity dropped 5%.

Nov. 8: Reduced acceleration, using 60 A, average increase started 4 mph per second and dropped to 2 mph per second (don't worry, no vehicles followed behind me). Available battery capacity still dropped 5% even with reduced acceleration.

So, essentially not significantly better to go slow than to "just use the car."

 

Never had a burning smell from our new Prime. It could be as stated from the corrosion preventative cooking off. Cosmoline a term used generically for a waxy corrosion inhibitor.

I use EV Auto for steep hills. The engine will do fine. It's controls are smart. I like Gino's suggestion to run the engine on a easy section to warm it before it gets to the hill. I start off in EV Auto for a trip where I know I'll fully deplete the battery. I get lower total fuel consumption for the trip than if I started off in EV and let the engine automatically run after the battery was flat. The system knows when to run the engine up hill and save battery power.