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Hybrid Assist Issue / Poor City MPG

Discussion in 'Prius v Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by s_e_a_n_s, Apr 15, 2023.

  1. s_e_a_n_s

    s_e_a_n_s New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2023
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    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    III
    Our 2013 Prius v III consistently gets poor in-city mileage (~30) and has sluggish performance. Highway mileage is fine (40+ mpg). No warnings or CEL. This is a long standing issue with this car, unchanged since the first day we owned it (purchased used w/ ~50k miles. now has ~90k). Car is stock. Previously was lease vehicle out of California.

    Charging / Regen and Electric-Only operation generally seems to work, but notably we don't see a significant battery drop when going up long hills.

    I purchased a OBD2/ELM327 'scanner' and am able to monitor and capture data. We can see the hybrid battery current drops to near zero when going up even short hills. There will be a spike in battery assist as we start but it drops and car uses basically all ICE. It seems like the hybrid drive/controller is deciding not to use the hybrid battery / electric motor.

    See (somewhat confusing) chart of ODB2 data - Throttle position (blue) + RPM (yellow) show engine load. Hybrid battery current (red) shows basically no electric assist after initial starting spike (and even some charging while climbing!). This is ~2-min drive up a local hill (< 25mph, w/ stop signs). Traction battery at about 60%.

    2013 Prius v - Uphill HV current.png

    This sound similar to the mystery 'trailer Prius' threads (which never seem to reach a conclusion.. or did I miss it?).

    Questions..
    * Are there other tests or ODB2 parameters I can check that might indicate why battery assist is not being used?
    * Has anyone encountered a similar issues? What has the resolution?

    Thanks!
    -Sean
     
    #1 s_e_a_n_s, Apr 15, 2023
  2. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    Location:
    New Yawk
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Five
    Was the TSB to re-flash the inverter-motor-generator accomplished?
     
    #2 Air_Boss, Apr 16, 2023
  3. s_e_a_n_s

    s_e_a_n_s New Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    III
    Thanks @Air_Boss.

    The 2015 "Hybrid propulsion system: Inverter" recall (15V-449) was applied but I discovered the 2018 update to that (18V-684) was not. I'll get that taken care of (but seems unrelated to normal operation).

    I spent some time reviewing the TSBs and didn't see anything directly related - a lot about procedures for updating ECU and inverter part availability but I didn't see anything related to operation of hybrid drive absent DTCs codes. If you had something specific please let me know.

    On a side note, I'll be checking my HV battery cooling fan - lots of TSB related to that fan.

    I'll keep digging. Thanks for the response.
     
    #3 s_e_a_n_s, Apr 16, 2023
  4. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    2012 Prius v wagon
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    Five
    As I postulated years ago, they issue with both of these flashes is whether anything at the board level was damaged before the flashes that was not identified as part of the TSB. I don’t recall anyone at PriusChat posting that there was, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t occurred in the full population.
     
    #4 Air_Boss, Apr 16, 2023
  5. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    That's the same way my car has always behaved on long uphills, so is perfectly normal, as far as I know.
     
    #5 CR94, Apr 17, 2023
  6. Tim Jones

    Tim Jones Senior Member

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    Location:
    SE Texas
    Vehicle:
    2011 Nissan LEAF
    Model:
    ----USA----
    I used to get 42 Highway.......and higher (45 or more) city..... 2013 v..................... very conservative driving habits
    Just by the very nature of the car you should be getting better mpg in city driving. And it had well over 200,000 miles
     
    #6 Tim Jones, Apr 21, 2023
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2023
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