PIP acceleration in EV mode compared to Gen 3 PHEV

1) you shouldn't try to stay on electric in your wife's car, it hurts gas mileage.
2) the pip has true ev button that allows you to accelerate all the way to the power zone before ice comes on. plenty of power for most situations.
3) ice comes on over 62 mph and you need it for most highway driving. i do 4 miles per day of 55 mph in ev no problem.
4) a/c button on fob only turns on a/c. not seat heaters or small electric heater. you're gonna need the ice for heat sooner or later, but it warms up fast and provides heat even after it shuts down until coolant temp drops below threshold. more efficient than non plug in.
5) i did a 15 mile r/t commute all summer with no ice. a/c is very efficient. but now with temps cooling and headlamps on at night, i'm down to about 13-14 miles max. some only getting 8-9 in cold weather. good news is, you can use the ice and still get over 100mpge.
6) all the best!

 

Germwise, I assume you mean your wife has a 2012 HEV (aka Prius Hatchback)?

The P is for plug-in which is the PIP.

 

The PIP is a type of PHEV. Does your wife have a Volt?

Plug-in hybrid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Yes. If it wasn't clear from the other posts you can go to 62 mph in EV mode.

I've had every model of Prius (except the new V and C).

The Plug-in Prius is equal or better than the 2012, driving/mpg/efficiency-wise.
There are a couple of minor downgrades...no spare tire, a bit less/smaller storage in the front (drinks, etc).
The upper trunk space is the same but the extra batteries take up most of the lower trunk and spare tire area.

Mike

 

No, it doesn't, but the electric motor is fairly powerful already.

Yes, the battery is able to supply more power to the electric motor, so the ICE doesn't have to kick in to generate electricity via MG1 to fully power MG2.

In EV Mode, the large center bar can be full while staying fully in EV under 62 MPH. My opinion is that in EV mode vs HV mode, for an equivalent bar on the HSI indicator, EV mode is noticeably more powerful than HV mode.

ECO Dashboard only in the Advanced Trim.

A charge timer is standard equipment. The Advanced trim also has Charge management.

No.

I don't think this is not strictly true. My experience is that if you can stay in EV to keep the engine off and recharge the battery when the engine would otherwise have to run, then you can get better gas mileage.

I would agree with this strategy.

Hard stops are not good. The most ideal stop would be coasting to a stop, so no energy is even lost to regenerative braking losses, but of course this is hard to do. If you have to regen brake, it should be kept slower for efficiency and also to avoid friction brakes. Ideal acceleration is to either keep the engine off to use no gas, or if the ICE must be used, all power should go to the wheels (no power to charging the battery which incurs battery charging losses). Of course, you don't want to speed to a red light.

Anyhow, I suspect what is going on with her driving is that she is able to hit fewer red lights driving a little faster. Reducing the number of start/stops has a very significant effect on mileage.

 

Comparing the battery power in the plugin EV mode vs. battery power in HV mode, it feels as if it is 4x more powerful.

 

if i use up all my EV miles in the PiP, wouldn't acceleration be worse than a Gen3 HEV because of the added weight of the Li batteries?

 

Yes, as if you have an extra 150 lbs passenger.

 

Not enough to matter, unless you are drag racing.

Also, the PiP EV acceleration is night and day from the HEV Prius EV. The PiP EV is about equal to being about 25% in to the power zone on the HEV.