Does anyone find it challenging to accelerate within the eco zone?

I ran into the same problem when I bought mine. The battery was depleted to the point where it was HV mode only. The salesman knew almost nothing about the car. If he had knowledge of the car he would have put in into HV CHARGE mode for a couple minutes in order to get a few miles of EV mode.

If you want to test drive it in EV mode, you can probably go back to the dealer today and charge it yourself.

Dan

 

Nope, you're not doing anything wrong, that's just how the engineers programmed that gauge.

There's nothing wrong with going into the power area of that gauge. Sure, it would be nice to be able to hypermile all the time and get super high gas mileage, but it takes power to move the car. How much power just depends on the driving conditions.

 

No. That's just the nature of the beast.
For most people, I think, it is not often possible to really maximize your fuel savings.......because it won't be safe.

 

Exactly.
Drive safely
Drive courteously
Drive economically (in this order)

 

And, getting a high Eco Score does not always equal better efficiency. This is especially true for PP with EV mode drive. Also, it is almost impossible to get a 100/100 scores even when you just coast your car without using any energy.

 

True dat!! I mostly ignore the score. Many times my best mile/kWh or mpg comes with a score in the 70s. I accelerate with the traffic. If there's no traffic, I accelerate a little more moderately, but spending all day accelerating won't do your economy a whole lot of good. In fact, stops here are so frequent that it's better to accelerate somewhat briskly and then, when you see the inevitable red light, start gliding with no regen or power to the wheels if traffic allows. I rarely leave a stop without going into the PWR zone. I still get 60-70 mpg in HV and 4.5- 5.5 m/kWh at 50-60 mph speeds with frequent stops.

All the getting into the PWR zone means is that, while you're there, the engine is outside of the range where it gets the most power per unit of fuel. It's a boundary that's kind of arbitrary and isn't like you suddenly go from really efficient to prodigious waste. Judicious use of the brake pedal makes way more difference than staying out of the PWR zone.

 

Totally agree. In fact, in an emergency, I'd think it would be easier to push a single pedal the wrong way than to not make the deliberate movement to a different pedal. Especially the first couple (hundred?) times. The decision making probably takes a lot longer than the moving of the foot.

 

@Tideland - the coast and/or glide in Neutral (if that is what your referring to), doesn't seem to gain any EV advantage in the Prime, from what I've seen.
Initially, (right after the glide in Neutral) it appears to have a gain, but by the end of the all EV trip the Prime appears to compensate and penalize the EV range.

I've only recently started to look at pulse and glide in the Prime. Pulse and Glide appears to offer a tiny improvement to EV, but it also takes a lot of practice to get it right.
The Primes regen is tuned really well, so much so, it's hard to find gains to EV range. besides slowing down.
At least from what I've experienced.

 

If you're more interested in the Eco Score, after you turn the car off, it offers hints on the MID (Multi-Informational Display) on ways to improve the Eco Score.

The Hints are not usually easy to follow during a normal drive, but are much easier to try when there is very little traffic or other driving distractions.

 

With the blended braking system, you might not get maximum regen braking if you go too heavy on the brakes early or late in the braking, or if you press the pedal too quickly (it engages the friction brakes early if it thinks you might be about to stop quickly). With one pedal driving you can eliminate the friction brakes completely (I think, unless it's still blended). And you can still coast, you just always need light pressure on the accelerator pedal. If you're driving to maintain a constant speed, I'm not convinced pure coasting is really any more useful than slight acceleration or deceleration.

 

My salesman didn’t even know the prime was chargeable. Not the one who sold it to me but someone else. They said it was called “Prime” because it was “the best Prius”

lol

 

@Tideland Prius is right about P&G being designed for best use of the ICE in HV driving as most people who've been around the Prius for a while are aware.

Still, most of my daily commute consists of accelerating from a stop to 50-55 mph and then stopping again in one mile -- in EV mode. When I am able to accelerate from the stop to 55 mph or so fairly quickly (not flooring it, but definitely in the PWR zone), and then gliding with no regen or motive force from the battery, I get at least one mile/kWh better efficiency over that mile than if I spend more time cruising. It's something like 4.5 m/kWh if I drive at a steady 55 and then use mostly regen braking to stop versus 5.5+ m/kWh if I get up to speed and then glide till it's time to brake gently when there's no one pushing me.

And it should stand to reason. Over that mile, I spend roughly the first 1/4 getting maybe 1-2 m/kWh. I spend about half of it getting nearly infinite m/kWh, and the last 1/4 getting better than infinite as it puts back part of what got used in the 1st 1/4 mile. In fact, I'm surprised it doesn't make more of a difference than it does.

The part of my commute that is a non stop 50-52 mph generally gets me a whisker under 5 m/kWh plus or minus a couple tenths depending on wind and temperature.

 

Well, I also think it's the best Prius. It's the best because it's so efficient, which is why it's the Prime and it's so efficient mostly because we can plug it in. So he knows why it's the Prime but not why it's the best.

After paying more attention this morning, I guess I don't go into the power zone when not being pushed as I had thought. But I do push it harder than the HSI guide would like me to. PWR zone happens mostly on hills, which we don't have, or when being pushed, which we have in abundance.

 

I know it’s very common to have sales reps who are simply not very knowledgeable, but that’s terrible and inexcusable. If you are selling certain products, it is your responsibility to know them inside out, at least if you care about being good at your job... or at very least, don’t expose that you’re an idiot.

I work in software sales and I have a lot of products in my portfolio I am expected to be an expert in; of course I don’t know everything, but I know my products well enough that the likelihood of a customer knowing more than me about it is extremely low, because I have pride in what I do and I am detail oriented. How hard is it to learn the general specs and benefits of a dozen or so vehicles? Much less something as basic as Prime = plug-in. Embarrassing.

Anyway, I digress....