Several technical questions: 1. What information is available for display to the driver regarding energy in the traction battery? (e.g. % charged, miles remaining in EV mode, etc.) 2. I’ve seen literature about minimum (20% and maximum (80%) as recommended range of charge or the battery - is that the guidance of Toyota as well? 3. Does the driver have any control over minimum and maximum charge allowed? If so how is that controlled? 4. Stated range of EV use is 45 miles - is that from 0% charged to 100% charged or? 5. How does the range of charge allowed/recommended impact the EV driving range in miles? 6. What is Toyota’s recommendation for how often the gasoline engine should be used? (and minimum number of minutes it runs each time?)
1) %charge and miles available 2) toyota limits the charge in the software so you don't have to 3) unsure if there is a user settable charge limit within toyotas allowable charge range 4) range 'guesstamit' is for 100% of the user allowable charge range 5) there is no visible impact, but toyota is limiting the top and bottom to protect the battery, so you don't get to use that charge, for howevermany miles you would get from it. 6) idk what the manual recommends, but running through a tankful each year would be a good practice 7) keep in mind, this is a phev, not a bev, and should be treated as such. 8) batteries don't hold miles, they hold energy. the number of miles you can travel in ev is limited by many factors
6) If the engine needs to start it will keep running long enough to warm up; which is just a few minutes. The engine will start when the EV battery range reaches 0 miles but if you start driving down a hill at that point the gas engine will continue to run for a while. I have also experienced the engine starting due to hard braking downhill with a full or almost full battery.
#6 - from the manual (pp 86,87) ■Notice about fuel ●For Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, fuel may remain in the tank for a long time and undergo changes in quality depending on the how the vehicle is used. Refuel at least 5.3 gal. (20 L, 4.4 Imp.gal.) of fuel every 12 months (refuel a total of at least 5.3 gal. [20 L, 4.4 Imp.gal.] over a 12-month period), as this may affect components of the fuel system or the gasoline engine. If the vehicle has not been refueled for a certain amount of time and it is possible that the quality of the fuel remaining in the tank has changed, “No New Fuel has been Added Recently Please refuel” is displayed on the multiinformation display when the power switch is turned to ON. If the message is displayed, refuel the vehicle immediately.
Here is some useful information about the high voltage battery of the Prius 2023 to 2026. Toyota keeps safety margins to protect the HV battery, the bottom margin is 15 % SOC and the top margin is 10 % SOC (SOC = State of Charge). This means that the SOC battery is used from 15% at SOC 90% when the dashboard indicator indicates 0% to 100%. So there are only 75% of the 13.6 kWh available, this gives 10.2 kWh usable. For maximum HV battery longevity, it is recommended to use it between a 20% SOC and an 80% SOC. A 20% SOC is obtained when the dashboard indicator gives 7% and an SOC of 80% when the indicator gives 87%. So, looking at the dashboard indicator in % mode (not in km mode), if you want to use the battery between 20% and 80% SOC, it must be used between 7% and 87%. Being a long below 7% damages the HV battery and being 87% long, especially when it is also hot, also damages the battery. It is still recommended to load the battery at 100% (90% SOC) from time to time for the balancing of cell voltages which is carried out by the HVB (BCM) when loading from 90% to 100%. This is why the last 10% load is longer because the controller will unload cells whose tension is too high for all cells to be at the same tension. For those who want to see the value of the HV battery SOC, you have to go through an OBD2 scanner or even an OBD2 dongle with software like Carista. It is possible to display on the infotainment system (Android Auto) in real time the value of the SOC using a combined dongle with the Torque Pro and AATorque and/or Performance Monitor software. When the thermal engine starts, it will be in heating mode until it reaches a temperature of the Prestone of 60 degree Celcius and it is at this time that it will be in hybrid mode. Noted that a temperature of 60 degrees Celcius is insufficient to prevent and evaporate condensation into winter oil (white oil), you have to reach 90 degrees Celcius for a few minutes.
