Any way to get EV Auto to stick after power cycle?

No.

 

have you tried flooring it?

 

I have a similar problem: until recently, my 2013 plugin Prius always defaulted to HV-EV mode. Now it starts up in EV mode. I don't like the change since I prefer to switch on EV when driving slowly, not highway speeds. How to return to HV-EV by default? Am afraid that EV mode at highway speeds will shorten battery life.

 

it must have been broken and fixed itself. all pips start in ev mode.

btw, there's a little button to the right of the shifter that says HV. you don't have to drive on the freeway in ev mode, or anywhere for that matter.

 

I have 3 buttons: HV/EV, ECO, and PWR mode. Setting the HV/EV toggel to HV doesn't change the new "default" from EV default (which isn't what I want). Used to default to ECO mode.

 

i think you're confused. hv/ev have nothing to do with eco and power.

pip always defaults to ev on start up.

eco/normal/power will default to where you left it when shutting down.

hv/ev is hybrid vehicle mode (engine and small amount of battery like a regular prius) or electric vehicle mode (all battery unless engine is required)

power/normal/eco are just throttle pedal settings and hvac adjustments.

it's all in the manual.

 

If your batteries have enough, it will always starts at EV

 

Isn't that really conditional. Ev Auto is not more energy efficient if you won't ever need more power than EV could deliver for your day. I have driven the last 6 weeks exclusively in EV mode. EV Auto would have been far less efficient if it had started the engine at all. Admittedly for certain longer trips and such, it would have been good if I had switched sooner to EV Auto but I think which is more efficient depends on your usage pattern for that day.

That said, it is unfortunate that Toyota decided to be heavy handed and force a default on everyone rather than allowing it to be configured like 5 dozen other minor settings you can set.

 

Agreeing. I can understand how, based on focus groups, Toyota would make EV Mode the default startup mode. But what would be the harm in providing an option to make EV Auto the startup mode?

 

wouldn't the engine come on?

 

Ev auto is the one mode I've never once selected. Can't see the point. I use Ev when I know I'm going to make my destination without running out of range, and I select Hv on my own when I know I won't. Simple.

 

I drive on the highway up a monster hill to and from work. It takes just over a minute at 65 to clear the hill and then it is clear sailing the rest of the way in both directions (down the other side of the hill and such). I pay $0.083 per kwh for my electricity (solar panels estimated price) so for me doing a total of 20 miles of driving a day 100% EV mode, it is far more efficient to stay in EV mode than it would be to run the engine to get up the hill then for another 3 miles to complete the warmup of the engine while I am gliding down the hill. During the warmup the engine is far from efficient, running at a pretty high clip even while I am essentially coasting down a hill.

Again it depends on driving pattern and dynamics of your path. For some folks EV Auto would be a good blend of efficiency and performance, but for others not so much. Not only that, EV tends to get me over the hill without feeling like I have to grind the pedal into the carpet, while HV feels like I really have to drive the pedal down.

Admittedly, overall vehicle efficiency may be higher if I had a longer drive and did the hill in HV mode, but given the distance I have to travel and the fact I arrive home with 10 miles left of EV, it just doesn't seem to be a good change for me. Come winter however, that will all change as I can't clear the hill in EV mode when it is cold outside. Knowing that, it would probably be more efficient overall if I started in HV mode or EV Auto and warmed up before I hit the hill.

 

so, when you press the power button to make the car ready, is it that much work to press hv, or ev auto if you want?

 

I think it comes down to the desire to get in and drive. I get in, I turn the car on and put it in gear to go. Adding extra buttons to push to make the car go in a special way doesn't tend to be right on the top of my list. I don't have to push the button for the car to work, just to make it as efficient as I would like it to be. That said, I would still advocate for Toyota to allow for defaults to be set that match common usage pattern for the owner, rather than dictating a specific default that has to be overridden every time you get into the car.

In some way I would equate it to the amount of screaming I do when I get into the car after having it serviced. Every single time, they turn off my auto headlights, reset every conceivable trip meter for no reason, adjust various other settings that I have to try to remember and put back. It is annoying that for me to get the car back to the function I want, I have to go through these steps. And that is just once every 6 months, so having to set something that seems like it should be able to be defaulted, every time I got into the car, would probably start to grate on my nerve after a while. Now if the EV Auto button would start the car, I would just push that button if I wanted that feature rather than some other start button. But how confusing would that be?

But for me it is perfect because the default is the one I want 98% of the time. And the 2% I tend to remember to unset it before I have burned too many EV miles.

 

some peeps tape a big sign to the steering wheel.

 

My problem is by the time I go back, I have stopped fuming about it . So I forget to again ask them to stop resetting things. I only had service done back in June so it is still fresh at the moment, but by the time I go back in December, I will be thinking more about Christmas than telling them not to touch my headlights or press every trip odometer button. I think that they have to reset from the main mileage meter to reset the service reminder, but still they need to stop resetting my trips. Maybe I will learn the secret sauce to reset the maintenance minder so I can reset that before having them service it.