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The one and only Prius Plug-in FAQ!

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by lensovet, Nov 24, 2012.

  1. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    alright, i updated this, take a look guys?
     
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    looks good, the faq's are getting more complicated than the threads!:p
     
  3. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    yeah i feel like we need three separate threads for these questions now, it's way too long lol
     
  4. CarmelPrius

    CarmelPrius At 1 mile.

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    Sorry, I must have had a brain fart.
     
  5. jimjohnson

    jimjohnson Junior Member

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    Lensovet,

    Regarding the B gear: Although I am no gear head, I'm fairly sure that use of this is not equivalent to overdrive. See the wiki page for overdrive (mechanics). Or perhaps I don't fully understand the issue.

    J.
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    right, it's more like d2 or d3, lower gear like manual tranny. generally used for long steep downhills to avoid brake overheating and wear.
     
  7. retired4999

    retired4999 Prius driver since 2005

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    +1 :)
     
  8. priuskitty

    priuskitty PIP FAN

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    like granny tranny?:whistle:
     
  9. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    Thanks for that. I now see that I meant to say that is like turning overdrive off. That was the terminology Nissan used for our 1999 Altima back in the day
     
  10. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    hey guys, just updated that answer a bit. let me know what you think.
     
  11. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    when will the "Idiot's Guide to the Prius PlugIn" hit the bookshelves?
     
  12. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    if you've got friends in the right places, just put them in touch with me ;)
     
  13. altdel

    altdel Member

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    I have a question which I couldn't find any answer to so far, not even from a co-worker who is a PiP owner.

    Here is the question:
    In regular Prius, the battery is normally kept at around 80% charged (or 8 bars) for optimal mileage (and maybe battery life). For the PiP, after the 15 miles in EV mode, is the battery completely drained, or does it still have some lower level of charge, e.g., 10%, ? Once out of EV mode, what level of charge does the computer tries to operate the battery at? I'm assuming that in HV mode, the computer acts like a regular Prius computer and will try to keep the battery charged at a certain level, maybe not 80%, but surely at some level to optimize the HV mileage.

    I ask this because it directly relates to how much additional EV mileage can be gained by charging the batter overnight. Let's say, the PiP in HV mode kept the steady-state charge level at X%, by charging it overnight, one only gets (100-X)% of equivalent EV mileage.
     
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    pip runs from around 25% to 80% the exact numbers are in a thread here somewhere. when ev runs out, the battery is treated like a regular prius. the advantage we have is that when we charge the pip, we bring the hv portion back up to 100%. so we always start hv from a full battery, instead of whatever level it was at when we stopped. so, when battery is fully charged, you always have the same amount of charge before it switches over to hv. disregarding other factors like ambient charging temps of course. so the battery is never 'full' and never 'empty'.
     
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  15. altdel

    altdel Member

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    Sure. I understand that perfectly. My point is that the PiP HV mode steady-state battery charge should be pretty low to realize a large gain in being "wall chargeable". I have an 2006 Prius with 142K on it and still going strong. I was wondering how much additional EV mileage I can get if I had a PiP. If a PiP has the same 80% steady-state charge, like the regular Prius, the additional benefits wouldn't be that much. It'll have to be like 10-20% to be useful.
     
  16. priuskitty

    priuskitty PIP FAN

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    On my ScanGaugeII the SOC (state of charge) when ICE kicks in 18% full charge when plugged in around 85.0%
     
  17. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    if i'm reading this correctly, you're asking about the pure EV range of the pip?
    In that case, this depends on how you drive the car, but generally, it is anywhere from 9 to 13 miles in the winter and 10 to 15 miles in the summer.
    the pip doesn't have separate HV and EV batteries, it's all one large battery. when you charge the battery from the wall, it charges to "full" (85% as mentioned earlier). I believe the cutover from EV to HV is around 20-22%. In addition, if you live in a hilly region, the pip can accept additional regeneration through braking due to its larger battery. so, for example, near my parents' house in Torrance, there is a road that I can take which regenerates about 2 miles worth of EV when you descend the hill.

    So, to add, the percent charge is a fairly useless metric to compare here, because the total capacity of the pip battery is much larger than the total capacity of the regular prius battery.
     
  18. altdel

    altdel Member

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    Thanks. Now, I fully understand how it works. Essentially, around two-thirds (67%) of the much larger pip battery can be used in EV mode (9-13 or 10-15 miles) to supplement the HV mode mileage.
     
  19. lensovet

    lensovet former BP Brigade 207

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    Right, I believe it's actually 75%.
     
  20. Johnny C

    Johnny C Member

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    What are the stock PIP wheel specs? Is it 15x6.5 or 15x7?