Best Techniques to Drive the Prime

Yes just get in and go. The hybrid system controls ICE warmup as you drive if the ICE is needed. For cabin heat you have an electric heatpump that doesn't need a warm up. It works down to around 14f then you have ICE heat as in a non hybrid car. You can also preheat the cabin using pre-conditioning from the key fob. Also works while plugged in using your supplied electricity. This really the first winter for the Prime for even the most experienced Prius owners.

 

actually some of us got our Primes in November 2016

 

Welcome. The simple answer is - and it's almost a mantra here - just drive it.

The car's computer ensures that the engine warms up gently. If it runs out of EV at 60 mph, the system will continue to borrow energy from the HV portion of the battery to help it out and reduce the load on the engine as it warms up. Once the engine is warm enough, it runs a little harder than needed for propulsion so it can recharge the traction battery. You can see this by watching your mpg gauge during the transition. When the ICE comes on, mpg will be extremely high (almost 100 mpg on my PiP). Then, after a couple minutes, it will drop way down (about 30-35 on my PiP). And then it will settle in once temperatures and state of charge are all normal. In cold weather, it takes a little longer, but that's about it.

Enjoy your incredibly smart new car.

 

Thank you so much! I have really trying to research before I ask... One thing I just can't seem to get a straight answer for is the HV/EV button combined with the EV auto.
So as I understand it with my simple brain is there are basically three different driving modes ( let's assume I have a full charge). HV, which drives like a hybrid. In my prime premium, I know I am in this mode when there is no indicator light. If I press that middle HV/EV button the EV auto light comes on and I will be driving only electric ... But if I toggle the Auto EV button that same light indicator now has a box around it (or maybe the box was already around it and it it needed to be turned off) to be when I would call the third mode of driving EV auto that uses the electric and hybrid modes together. I have heard that this is the most efficient way to use it when charging from home. But I am not sure how I confirm I am in that EV auto mode...?? I feel a day course is needed. My dealer pushed me out the door without a tutorial!

 

That stinks! But then again, most dealers know so little about the Prius that their tutorial probably would have left you badly misinformed.

I'm not sure about the indicators, since I don't have a Prime and they totally revised the dash compared to my PiP. But I think you've got it figured out that in EV Auto, the ICE will run if you floor it. And in full EV the ICE won't come on until you run out of EV range. As for which is most economical, I think that will depend on a lot of variables and so folks are still debating that.

I'm sure someone with their own Prime will be here soon to provide info on the indicators.