Can you put a Prius in Neutral without turning it on?

why don't you just back it out in ev? the amount of energy use is negligible and the engine won't come on which is the goal, isn't it?

 

You could put it in IG-ON and push it out... and then the first time you forget to turn the car OFF and drain the traction battery you will not have a good day. Exercise your brain by forgetting a decades-old habit and do as bisco suggests.

 

Absolutely. As previously said, EV will only use the electric motor and is great for moving a cold car a short distance and keeping the engine from performing an unnecessary warmup cycle.

 

Not quite. You can't always put the car into EV mode from S0.

See Ken's post: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-discussion/76501-gen3-warming-up-stages.html

 

Not so fast. Mendel hails from the greater Vancouver area, which is essentially the same climate I have in the greater Seattle area, or even slightly cooler. Compared to your Texas, we are cold.

My car won't go into EV mode when the coolant temperature is below 68F / 20C, which happens about 360 mornings per year. Outside of EV mode, it will back most of the way out of the garage before starting the ICE, but I cannot reliably get it all the way out.

 

Thats right, the car won't enter EV mode if cold < 68 degrees I believe.

edit - like fuzzy said.

 

sorry for the bad info, the aftermarket unit in my gen II works perfectly for this. i didn't know the stock unit was different.

 

Reading the question, I related it to the gen II
Quote ----
[SIZE=+1] How to leave the car in Neutral
[/SIZE]2nd-gen is more difficult
Electric pawl actuator, special 3-phase drive motor
Shift to N, then pull the PCON MTR relay
That disables Park, but the car gets unhappy
Do what the screen says: set emergency brake
... then you can at least shut down
----from hobbits writeup -----
Prius tech training

relate to Gen III ?

I've used the above on my 04 prius to move it around without having to turn on the car , this is after I pulled out the relay when the car was in neutral.

 

There seems to be about 3-4 seconds between "READY" and when the ICE starts. Perhaps:

1. Set parking brake.
2. Press "POWER"
3. As soon as "READY" flashes, shift into "N" to disable ICE start

It worked twice this evening. Personally, this seems risky as an accidental shift into gear without being in the driver seat might result in 'bad things.'

Bob Wilson

 

It's been stated repeatedly - when you start a *cold* car, you have a window of time to press 'EV' where if the EV battery has 3+ bars, it will go into EV mode.

It is a limited EV - it will only allow speeds up to like 13 MPH (or whatever), and acceleration knocks it out more easily...

 

Correct. If the temp is below 68 and the engine/battery is stone cold, it will not go into EV. That has been my experience.

 

It has been stated repeatedly ... by folks who live in SoCal, SoTexas, Florida, and others who live within a stone's throw of the Equator.

For those of us living next to the home berths of Coast Guard icebreakers, this doesn't work. Our climate is too cold.

 

OK, just for you guys I braved the horrid weather here tonight (61f on house outdoor thermometer, 63f on car). Car has been sitting for 4+ hours in driveway, 3 bars on battery and no parking brake.

I was able to quickly shift into neutral after powering/starting up the car and after letting off the foot brake gravity rolled it down the entire length of the driveway and further into the street without ever starting the ICE. I even let it sit in the street for about :30secs (quiet street/no traffic) as I looked at all the warning lights and messages.

I had to "reboot" to get it into D and the electric motor powered it back up the driveway but the ICE came on just as I was about to stop.

Maybe the battery was still above 68f? Air temp was about 72f when it was parked about 4 hours earlier.

FWIW

 

^^ I don't see you mention pressing the EV button. The 68F cutoff doesn't apply to N.

 

Maybe you guys from the great white north could put a heater in your garage to raise the ambient temp... Also, who washes their car when it's below 40 degrees outside?