How far will it go?

you have 2+ gallons when the last pip starts flashing, no problem going 50-75 miles. just remember, the further you stretch it, the less you have to find a gas station.

 

It won't shut off until you run out of gasoline...which, as you probably know, is a bad thing in a Prius. Someone might know how much of the 11.9 gallons is usable. I have put 10.5 in myself....which is a little too close for me. Unless I am pushing the tank for a certain mileage, I usually fill up a 1-2 bars.

 

Running out of gas could be better, the technical details are here: [WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III) | PriusChat

When running on flash, switch to the energy flow display. When the "arrows" go away, you are on traction battery power and need to find a safe place to park in the next half mile. Set your flashers; shift into "N" to coast down and steer to a safe place; when at 25-30 mph, shift into "D" and use remaining traction power to get to a safe place, and park.

Earlier model Prius had better alarming and there are reports of folks getting about a mile but to my knowledge, no one has reported a run to battery exhaustion test with the 2010. I've driven twice on just traction battery but only about 0.25 mile. Once the car was on 'flash', I put a one gallon spare can in the car and just needed to reach a safe place to add the gallon. Then I drive to the station I use in town.

My first couple of tests, the car would silently switch to battery and run it down. It would then set the power steering "PS" fault and become an inertial mass. I consider this 'silent switch' a safety hazard that should be signaled by a "Check Engine" light.

You don't have to fill the tank with E10 or undesirable gas. Put in a couple of gallons and continue hunting for the type of gas you prefer. A full tank of desired gas later will significantly dilute the undesirable gas to insignificance. Just use a trip meter to track the miles and calculate how much was burned.

Depending upon 'how pure' you want the gas to be, a second partial fill can accelerate the dilution . . . burn off the diluted so the next full tank complete the purge. Do the partial fractions with a spreadsheet to see what I mean.

Now my car will report "flash" with 2.1 gallons remaining. However, a sharp turn or steep grade will trigger flash early leading to more gas remaining than the 2.1 gallons. I measured this with about 7-8 fuel exhaustion tests.

I understand some EU countries have laws against running out of gas. But I treat it as just another aspect of the car . . . not handled as well in the 2010 as earlier models . . . but we don't have to be a 'drama queen' about it.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

IIRC, you get a low fuel warning when DTE=20.
As Bob has already pointed out, your car will run until it's empty......and even just a little bit more.

As stated above, you have most of 2-gallons of fuel remaining which for most folks is 80+ miles.
I always drive until I receive the first warning and then I go for 50 miles, stopping if convenient. After that....I make stopping a priority, which still gives me thirty plus miles to load fuel.

I usually wind up loading 10 gallons of fuel.

Usually somebody will chime in with a comment about how its bad to run your car low on fuel because the fuel pump is inside the tank and is cooled by the fuel itself.
That's not really going to be a problem as long as there is fuel in the tank, and if there isn't fuel in the tank then you've already run out of gas and your fuel pump won't be running.
It's like the old myth about sucking up all of the junk in the bottom of your tank (hint: that's where you get the fuel from whether the tank is full or empty! )
Condensation isn't going to be a problem either since your fuel tank isn't made out of metal, and its sealed.

It's always much better to be rolling a full tank than an MT one, but many Prius drivers like to leg their tanks out to 5-600 miles. Others (like me) just don't need to live their lives worrying about gas stations.

When the lite comes on and you hear a beeeeeeeeep.....load fuel in the next 50 miles or so.

Done.

 

And be a bit more proactive when traveling in areas like this:

 

I prefer testing the bottom reaches of the tank before it is needed, at a time and place of my choosing, when failure is not seriously inconvenient or embarrassing.

Having faced fuel shortages before (remote locations, OPEC embargo, rationing, regional power failure disabling area fuel stations, travel during weekend holiday in area without 24/7/365 service, profiteering, emergency road closures causing 100+ mile detours, etc.), I want to be well enough informed to optimize the choice the next time something similar happens. Pay a price gouger? Proceed? Turn around and go back? Find the most comfortable nearby place to camp out until the situation improves?

PS. My fuel range explorations began long ago in a car with considerably less than half the Prius' fuel range. Today's much greater fuel range and web access are now taken as better tools to optimize fuel cost, rather than to just turn the brain off and not think about fuel.