EV mode

The term EV Mode can be confusing because it can refer to two different thing, both of which have EV icons
I assume you are referring to using the EV Mode button? I know, from experience,

it can only be used if it is warm enough. I once saw a Gen 2 Prius leave the parking lot without the engine running. I thought I would try EV mode but it was not warm enough. A Gen 2 could leave without the engine running, but the Gen 4 insisted on starting up almost immediately.

From what I can tell, its main purpose is for when you are moving the vehicle a very short distance in a driveway, for instance, where running the engine through a complete warmup cycle makes little sense.
We are all learning. I have only had my Prius since October although my son is on his second one. I'll check the manual later for any additional information.

 

There is also the PriusChat glossary for definitions...

PriusChat Glossary | PriusChat

 

The owner's manuals are online here.
2017 Toyota Prius Owners Manual and Warranty - Toyota Owners

Here is the official purpose:



Here are the restrictions




And a caution:

 

Finally, a warning

 

In my opinion, pretty much NEVER.
I think that button is there mostly for show.
But I have a C, in which the EV mode is restricted even more.

I have been able to use mine exactly once......when stuck in a traffic jam doing about 5 MPH.
Of course, the battery was eventually used up and the engine started to recharge it.......so I really doubt that much or anything was really saved.

 

I'd concur with @Prodigyplace : use EV mode (selected with the EV button) only for shuttling a car around, say from garage to driveway or street. And the time you most would want it, when the engine is cold, is the time it is least likely to be "available".

One thing I've found for those short shifts, regardless of "EV mode" available, you always have a few seconds of EV, after start-up. In gen 3 it's around 15 seconds, perhaps someone can comment if that's still the case with 4th gen, and how long the interval is?

So if I for example want to move our cold-engine Prius out to the driveway from garage, I'll start up, quickly shift to reverse, and back out, all in one shot, counting seconds in my head, with a limit of 10. If I've got to go further, say put it on the street, I'll do it in two or three 10 second bits.

Maybe 4th gen has increased that, to say 1 minute grace time. That would be so much easier to work with.

 

I just love this.
Even people who KNOW about energy usage, or who should know.......still do stuff like this when the energy expended has to be replaced from SOMEPLACE and the odds are great that it will come from burning gasoline in the engine.

Forcing EV operation is just as likely to cost you overall energy as it is to save any.

 

Glad I've entertained you.

I'm trying to avoid running the stone-cold engine for 30 seconds. There's been reports that doing this leads to the hard-knock at subsequent start-up, and I've experience just that myself. Also, starting and shutting down like that tends to strip oil off the cylinder walls, due rich mixture at start-up.

 

you save energy, because the engine doesn't have to go through the warm up phase. making up the tiny bit of electricity used to move the car from the garage to the driveway or street is negligible, and will be done when the engine is needed for a longer period of time.

 

Man you're quick.

 

the only time i use it (in my wife's hybrid camry) is to move the car in or out of the garage, so as to avoid starting the engine, as mendel mentions above.
also, some people live at the top of a hill, and want to deplete the battery as much as possible, because it's going to get refilled in the morning on the way down.

 

He needs to get a life.

 

i'm thinking of reading a book, i can probably get a chapter in during each of the new 'bisco delay rule' posting time outs.

 

I installed an EV button in my Gen 2 because, when I leave work in the afternoon, I often sit for three to five minutes waiting for a break in traffic from both directions so I can turn left onto a road that should have been widened 15 years ago. So, the engine would start its warmup and sit there running while I'm not going anywhere. Usually, it would shut itself off just about the time I'm ready to punch the warp drive button to jump into an opening. If I hit the EV button as soon as I started the car, I could drive it out to the road and not start the ICE till I'm ready to go. Now, with a plugin, I run the engine even less.

 

In my limited 2014 Prius C driving experience if you want instant EV and have a long distance to coast just shift to neutral, shift back after you need to regen

 

I'm with Mendel. When I need to move the car a short distance, for example I'm cleaning out the car and I want to move it into the shade, I will put it into EV mode, and move it 15 feet. Little things like that.

Otherwise, as Mendel sort of mentioned, if you stay the car and allow enough time to go by, then the engine will start. At that point, you have to let it keep running until it shuts itself off to avoid possibly the engine knocking on the next startup.

This is what I do. Immediately after starting the car in EV mode, I turn off the daytime running lights and HVAC, defrosted, etc. This way, if the battery is getting near two bars, I dint have to worry about the accessories running down the battery to two bars and then the engine coming on. I can get a little more distance out of EV mode.

 

Personally I have never pushed the EV, ECO or POWER buttons on our 2016 Prius v Three. I simply let the car computer do its thing. That's what it's for IMHO...

 

When you are reversing your Prius will only use battery power, ever! The engine may have to fire up if the ambient air temperature is low enough to require the heater or bring the catalytic converter up to its optimal temp. May I suggest you use it off and when you feel you want to. You're the boss!

I bow to your wisdom, Sam, but any power in the HV battery has already come from burnt petrol, so it really makes negligible difference to a driver's fuel economy any more than any other idiosyncratic driving foible. Once you are driving any distance the car will work things out without human driver interference.