Found a way to keep the engine running...

There's no point in using B mode except for long downhill stretches where the battery would get fully charged and then you'd be using the brakes only to decelerate the car. The point of B mode is to engage engine braking by adjusting the transaxel ratios to rev the engine.

The battery display for the Prius displays 1 bar when the battery is actually at ~40%, and 8 bars when it's at ~80%. This is because below 40 or above 80 percent reduces the life of the battery; it can cycle all day and be stored from 40 to 80% percent with hardly any degradation of the battery capacity. So the computer won't let you discharge the battery to a point where you'll really reduce its life. Therefore there's no a problem with shutting the car off with 2 bars displayed. The engineers thought of all of this, you can just get in the car and drive

If you're really worried, you can wait for the car to turn off the engine after you've arrived. I'm not as familiar with the C, but on a 2nd gen with the car in ready and not moving, it will generally charge the battery to 3 bars before the engine shuts off.

I don't think there's any harm that will happen from using B mode; you'll just get worse fuel economy. I notice too my battery getting down to 2 bars on dirt roads, and it has to do with the car using the electric motors to provide instant torque. If you press down the gas pedal it will first provide the power by the electric motors, until the the engine is able to rev up to provide the requested power (this is overly simplified but gets the point across). Therefore the frequent on the gas, off the gas, driving style that's needed on a dirt road drains the battery faster than the more constant gas pedal pressure from normal road driving.

 

No....except that you are wasting gas.
The battery is there to be USED. Use it.

I wish I could keep my C in EV mode when I want to.

 

If you really want to charge the HV battery, you could always hold the car stationary with the foot brake and apply some gas...

 

In my car that does exactly.......NOTHING.
The car ignores the gas pedal input.

 

It takes a couple of seconds. I've done this while at a light next to my friends 2014 GT Mustang. He was revving it up and we were both laughing. I pretended to rev it up and when I held it, it finally came on. I was in the process of telling him that the quiet was me revving when it kicked on. I had a full battery at the time, so I was surprised.

 

I'll start by saying I'm not a mechanic, but I've driven my C quite a bit since buying it.

B is for engine Braking. Long, downhill stretches where it's advantageous to use the engine to brake, rather than wearing the brake pads. By putting it in B you're telling the car "I want to slow down", and that's exactly what it's going to help you do.

You're causing unnecessary wear and tear on your vehicle, and operating it in a way that it wasn't designed to operate. I mean it's your car, treat it however you want, but keeping it in B when it's not needed is going to shorten its lifespan. Toyota put a lot of R&D into these cars, it'll charge itself when needed, and discharge when it's able. IMHO, just drive it and let the car do its thing.

 

Thanks vikisonline - I wanted an easy way to keep the engine on. Have tried this B-mode trick a couple of times now and it works just right for my needs. There's a traffic light on my way home where I often find myself watching the engine temp rise knowing the engine is going to shut off just seconds before I get green. And there's at least one other (traffic calming) spot in a regular trip where I can now avoid a needless <5 sec transition into and out of EV mode on a relatively cold engine.

 

@vikisonline, I suggest rethinking your conclusion. @Kevin_Denver is spot on. Not only is there no harm in parking the car with 2 bars showing, when you put the car in ready next time, the engine will start anyway, so it'll bring the charge up while it warms up. And as he said, the car's computer will not allow it to go below a safe state of charge. It's very nearly impossible to outthink a Prius.

 

People are going to try though, and then we'll hear "I was just driving it normally, and I got the Red Triangle of Death!"