EV Mode - Dropping Out of EV at 21 mph!

Several of us have reported dropping out of EV mode at 9-11 mph, but that appears to be related more to the car needing to get up to operating temp and some other parameters I read but don't recall off hand. The way it was explained made it seem like normal behavior. Maybe this is similar.

 

In the US version there are two speed settings, 10 mph and 25 mph. When the car is cold (being warmed up or immediately after you push the power button and the ICE hasn't yet come on) you may not exceed 10 mph or EV mode will be cancelled. The 25 mph limit applies after the car is warm.

I imagine you are experiencing these two limits.

3PriusMike

 

This is rather disappointing that the car must be warmed up to get any reasonable use out of the EV mode. I live about 1/2 mile from my local grocery and a 7-11 and had hoped to be able to drive to/from them in EV mode as needed without the car being driven otherwise. (I did make it all the way to the grocery the other day in EV after I'd been running errands and just left again to go to the store, but it wouldn't even go into EV mode at all when I left the store to go back home.)

Other than the seeming lack of usability as a full electric car, I *love* my new 2010 (level IV package in Silver/Ash) after a whole 4 days of ownership!

 

Today I put the car in ready, pressed EV and a window popped up reading "EV mode not available" The car had been sitting in a parking lot for 6 hours and had 6 bars. Any thoughts?

 

Yeap - Thats what I get too. I think the the ICE has to warm up first. Wish it didn't have to. This would be cool to EV to the store and back.

--Mickey

 

No. If you press EV almost immediately after pressing Power then you get EV mode and the ICE doesn't start even if it's cold. Handy for moving about the drive/garage (but probably no more than that).

 

I gotta try this today when I leave for work here shortly. This sounds doable(and rememberable).

--Mickey

 

ICE = Internal Combustion Engine, which, when paired with an electric traction motor, creates a hybrid vehicle.

 

R U saying that your Prius came with an EV mode switch and it was purchase in the US? I want to put one on my Prius and I was told that it will void the warranty in the US. Anyone know about that? Thanks Paul

 

Almost every time I use use the car I push the EV button to leave quietly. Don't read anything into that, I just think it's cool. Anyway, yesterday I went to the dealer to have them do a couple of customizations and now EV is no where to be found.

Today when I left work I did the same thing at 6 bars. EV came on like normal and just like it should it kicked off at 12mph. But here's where it got weird; I drove about ½ mile to the post office and within that span of time, while using ICE, the bars dropped from 6 to 2 and remained there until I got home (about 1½ miles). the trip back to work (2 miles) and still 2 bars.

I noticed low battery yesterday when I left the dealer, but figured they had been using the a/c or something. I had completely avoided using the remote a/c to retain what little battery I have. It probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

I have had the car for almost 8 weeks and can only remember a handful of times that the bars were below 6. What happened?

 

This is true, but it should be noted that you also need to have the battery SOC at 4 bars or more. There may also be other conditions.

I find this feature useful in that when driving out of my driveway in the morning or company parking lot at night it delays the ICE starting for 50 feet...or 500 feet. This reduces the amount of warmup time with the car moving very slowly and replaces it with warmup time with the car going faster. My theory is that this results in greater mpg overall.

I am getting higher mpg than in my Gen I or Gen II, by at least 10 mpg so it might be a reason. But I have yet to get my second fillup (just a few days away) in my Gen III.

3PriusMike

 

I see the battery SOC go down to 2 or 3 bars and back up to 6 bars all the time. A lot of this might depend on the length and speed of your commute and how much EV mode you get just before the end of your commute.

In my case both to and from work I go the last 1/4 to 1/2 mile at 25 mph or less (~80% of the time) as traffic allows. This usually drops the battery SOC below 4 bars. But in the middle of my commute I am on a 50 mph road with few stops and the SOC is usually up at 6 bars.

3PriusMike

 

why the sudden change after a visit to the dealer? Typically, the battery stayed around 6/7 bars. Now all of a sudden it rarely gets over 3. If it does get to 4 bars it almost immediately drops back down to 2 after only ICE use. I have had only limited use of EV mode & no use of the remote a/c.

I had been using EV several times a day & remote a/c daily after leaving work in the afternoon. Now, I rarely have enough bars for EV and none for remote a/c. I haven't been able to use it in the past 3 days.

The only thing I had done at the dealer was changing the remote from 2 clicks to 1 click to open all the doors and lowering the delay for headlights off from 60 seconds to 0 seconds. Now, as soon as I open the drivers door, the lights go out. My own version of auto-headlights.

Neither of these changes should have made a difference to the battery charge, in fact, if anything the headlight change should have made it better.