Comfort with Prius

We have had our 2015 Prius V for about 3 weeks now. Driving a hybrid is different than driving a typical ICE for me because each little lurch or shudder means something is happening and I am trying to figure out what it did and why.

I was really curious about how the transaxle works. The recommendations on this site to youtube video's from Weber State University was helpful. I know that the simple answer is that there are two motor generators, the battery and the ICE. After viewing what the components actually look like and how they are connected together and function makes it a lot clearer to me.

I installed a ScanGauge. The biggest problem with the ScanGauge was where I wanted to mount it. I was trying to attach it to the top of the steering column with the little pieces of velcro that were provided. The steering column is not a flat surface and the bottom of the ScanGauge is so there wasn't much surface area for the velcro to stick to. I got a piece of 3/4" x 3/4" hardwood the length of the ScanGauge and traced the contour of the top of the steering column onto it and cut that contour into the wood. I spray painted it black. I attached it to the steering column with a larger piece of velcro that I purchased from the local home improvement store. The last step was beveling the top of the bracket about 15 degrees down in the front so that the front of the screen was tilted down in line with my field of view. Now life is good.

I used the ScanGauge to monitor RPM, battery amps, water temperature and SOC. After reading the article here about the different stages the drive could be in based on coolant temperature, speed and throttle position etc. and then being able to monitor those parameters when it was happening, it is starting to make sense.

My wife is oblivious to all that stuff and just motors on. Maybe at some point in the future, I will be able to do that too.

Hats off to the engineers at Toyota that came up with this amazing Gen3 drivetrain.