Deplete EV miles in Prius PHV while driving over 65 MPH?

I think if you leave it in EV mode, it'll drain the battery above 65 MPH (blended with ICE). You switch to HV mode only when you want to hold the battery charge.

Can a Prius PHV owner confirm?

 

Oh, the torture! My PHV is about to begin its transport from the dealer to home. So close to being able to provide an answer...

Anywho, with the early model which did not offer a mode toggle, it did indeed blend. So, you'll get killer MPG at the faster higher speeds. On my 16.6-mile commute with a 9-mile segment at 70 mph, the result was 166 MPG.

Needless to say, I can't wait to try that same drive again with the 2012 PHV... with the video cameras capturing the detail, of course.
.

 

When I finally got on the freeway this morning, I had about 3 or 4 miles of EV range. Freeway cruising speeds were between 65 and 70 MPH. By the time I got to work, I had no EV range at all. I left the car in EV mode the entire way to work. So it appears that it will blend and use up the EV charge if you leave it in EV mode. Of note is that the HV battery indicator shows full after all of this.

 

Thanks for the confirmation.

 

Very Interesting, thanks for the post. I don't suppose you noticed your MPG at the end of the ride? I was wondering if you were seeing impressive numbers matching John's earlier comments.

Thanks again -

 

Do I get credit for discovering this yesterday through Tracksyde's posts?
Please, please. please....

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/104530-about-regen-braking-gliding-hybrid-electric-vehicle-battery-2.html#post1486619

 

Are you going to get it this weekend? Or are we talking about next week?

 

Do you know what your MPG was for that segment of driving?

The possibilities are extraordinary. It appears the Pip is going to be a really awesome car that will allow its EV charge to be used on any type of travel, automatically or manually. Those Toyota engineers never cease to amaze.

 

Total distance traveled was 30.8 miles with 72MPG. That commute normally for me is about 44 to 50MPG. I didn't think to reset the EV/HV screen before I left for work, so I don't know what the actual blending of EV & HV was. Tomorrow I will try to remember to do that. I started off with a full EV charge that showed 13.2 miles of EV range. It's about 8 miles or so from my house to the freeway, which includes a decent sized hill.

 

Per his other post, his commute (30.8 miles) is almost twice further than John's. He got 72 MPG with 13.2 miles on EV.

 

Thanks guys...very nice!

 

I agree, the flexibility to choose to save it or blend it is really nice; I'm jealous.

 

This was the result of that commute round-trip back then:



I drove to work, stopped to take lots of photos at the park, then headed back home.
.

 

I'm trying to drive the new Prius right now just as I would the old Prius to get a measure of what sort of immediate improvements I can expect with the Plugin. Then I'll start to change my driving behavior to see what sort of incremental improvements I can get.

The commute home tonight will be all HV mode since I currently don't have a place to charge at home. That commute is normally between 42 and 45MPG. I know that the Gen III offers better gas mileage over a Gen II, so I know I'm gonna see some minor improvements to begin with. Eventually work is supposed to install some additional chargers. There's 4 chargers right now, but they're usually occupied by either Leafs or Volts. I don't have to charge, but the Leaf owners do.

 

You can share with Volt owner. You only need 2.5 to 3 hours, sheesh!

 

I'm hoping they are at least level 2 chargers, Leafs won't get much range from 8 hrs on 110v. So its probably more like 1 hr he needs.

 

At work with the 4 Chargers, is it a 1st Come - 1st Connected policy?
Do they charge for the power?
Are the other cars expected to share the juice?

Isn't there also a 110 vac outlet on the power polls?
They may add them if you ask, since adding the outlet is Cheaper than installing a new power poll.

 

Even if they were 120V 15A outlets, it should be easy enough to share.

L1 charging is good for about 4 miles / hour. L2 charging is good for about 10 miles / hour (regardless of car, unless you've got a Focus EV, MiniE ActiveE or Telsa Roadster which can L2 charge at least twice as fast)

Some LEAF owners might need a full 8 hours of L1 plug time to make it back home, but then they'd be commuting over 100 miles/day. Not likely - they're probably just plugging in to take advantage of free electricity (speaking as a LEAF owner!). In fact - with the biggest battery pack they're the least likely to need a recharge to get home on electricity.

Some Volt owners might want a full 8 hours of L1 time to fully recharge. But not required since they have a range extender.

A system should be worked out so that everyone has equal opportunity to charge if they want. Set up a reservation scheme - perhaps schedule it so one can only park there half a day at most.

If you have 8 plug-ins and 4 charging stations, it's easy - everyone gets 4 hours (and PiP owners only really need a fraction of that, even if L1). If it's first come first-served - obviously the LEAF owners aren't counting on being able to plug in to make it home. Otherwise they'd be the first ones pushing for plug sharing.

And work to get the company to install both more L2 and plain old 120V 20A circuits. The 120V 20A circuits are more than enough for all day charging unless you are aiming for multiple charges a day.