Benefit of Prius Coolant Thermo Bottle and Grill Blocking

I made this video showcasing the magic of the Prius' Hot Coolant Thermo Bottle.

First, the car was parked for 20 hours. I parked it at around 9pm on Thur and worked from home on Fri. I started it up on Fri at 5:25pm at 39 deg F after work and headed into Manhattan. As seen in the video, once the Thermo opened up, the temp raised to 122 deg F. That's very good considering 20 hours was passed and it was around 190 deg F when I shut down. Thermo bottle lost 70 deg F in 20 hours.

Once the ICE kicked in (to heat up catalytic converter), the coolant temp dropped to 70 deg F. I guess it is due to the flow of the 3.5 US Quarts of engine oil and heating up the remaining parts of the ICE. That's not bad considering the outside temperature was 36 deg F and I was able to drive away with the ICE at room temp.

I also have both upper and lower grills blocked. After driving 3 blocks without any light, I entered the highway. The first 5 mins, I got around 40 MPG. That's very good considering that I had to accelerate from 0 MPH to ~50 MPH during that time. The summary of the estimated MPG from the MFD screen.

1st 5mins: 40 MPG
2nd 5mins: 60 MPG
3rd 5mins: 65 MPG
4th 5mins: 55 MPG (Due to going up the bridge)
5th 5mins: 80 MPG
6th 5mins: 90 MPG

After driving for 10 mins, the coolant temp was reading at 171 deg F. By 15 to 20 mins of driving, the temp stabilized at around 190 deg F.

One of the highlight in the video was maintaining around 30 MPG going up the Williamsburg bridge. This was an attempt to outclass some cars that advertised with 30 MPG on the flat surface highway. It is also important to note that the HV battery was being charged while climbing the bridge.

The last 10 mins covered only 1.6 miles and when I shut down the car, the battery still had 6 blue blocks. The whole trip was 15 miles long.

 

Hey, I am getting better at it. I did some editing and added background music as well.

Seeing is believing right? When non-believers say misinformed or even outright lies, I just need to reply with a link to the video. Plus, I enjoy making these videos.

 

Yea, the speed limit on the ramp is 30 MPH. I was doing 47 MPH on the bridge. Maybe I should edit it out.... I am not sure if the speed limit on the bridge remains at 30 MPH.... I was going slower than the other cars though... The Escape Hybrid yellow cab even passed me.

 

Dave,

Zero affect? Not even one deg C difference? I'll make more videos at different starting temp to see the affect at different temps.

From the video, the starting temp is at 36 deg F. The thermo bottle raised 34 degrees and I took off at 70 deg F.

I ran into traffic congestion (I-678 meets I-495) for 3-4 mins. I went through in EV mode. The coolant temp dropped and raised back up to 171 deg F by 10th minute of the drive.

 

I believe European Prii do not include the thermo bottle. I am not sure about the rest of the world.