Out of interest, what's the record or the top end of how far testers have driven on a charge in the Prius PHV? I was wondering how far it can be pushed with hardcore hypermiling, would 30km/18miles be about the max?
One thing that will throw people off is that the ICE kicks in before the EV batteries are fully depleted. This is done to help the ICE and Catalytic Converter reach optimal operating temperatures in a no-load situation. So there might be, in the future, discrepancies between "when the ICE kicked in" versus "when EV was totally depleted." In my time with the PHV, I achieved trips of 15 miles, 16.4 miles, 16.2 miles, 15.8 miles and 15.66 miles. Of course, I also had trips in the 11s and 12s. I was driving the route to and from work that I take every day. I know it well and feel pretty comfortable working the lights and the traffic. I was also dropping the car into [N] because it has no glide like the Gen2. While I'll never say that I'm the best hypermiler out there, the best I could get was 16.something. I have no doubt that if someone set out to find 20+ miles of county road with no stops and pulsed and glided to lengthen the EV range, I'm sure better distances would be achieved.
I'm no expert in regards to Prius PHEV's, but in pure EV mode, pulsing and gliding wouldn't extend the range, would it?
It would extend the distance covered since there would be the distance of EV propulsion plus the distance of freewheeling covered. This is what I think I was doing when I had the car. There were downhill segments where I could slip into [N] and glide for a good distance. Then again, I'm totally guessing here. As far as I know, no one has tried a flat-out PNG run like I suggested above.
OK, thanks for the explanation. Conserving momentum and dealing with gravity and wind, yes, that makes sense. I was thinking all things equal such as a flat road with no other influences - like cranking up the volume on a battery powered radio and then lowering the volume the same amount over the same time to save battery power, wouldn't help with the power consumption to be lower.
Pardon my confusion, Tony, but at one point you say "it has no glide like the Gen2," but then go on to say that someone might find a country road and pulse and glide to extend the ev range. Huh?
I'm no doubt causing the confusion when I Interchange gliding with slipping it into neutral. In my Gen2, I glide naturally; in the PHV, I slipped into neutral. Both achieve the same effect of free-wheeling. Simple: MG1 grew.
My personal best I got was 25,4km. Then other Prius owners were involved in a 2 week test... But a very high new target was soon to be raised, and put the rest to "mediocrity" level: 1º - LuÃs Neves 36,2km 2º -Telmo Salgado 25,4km 3º - José Magalhães 25,1km (CO2 savings prize, due to solar charging) 4º - Tiago Conde 24,8km (single drive, first time with the PHV...) 36,2km is 22.4miles... Fantastic.
I concur. My 19.5 mile - 4am drive time to work - 3/4 of the drive being surface streets - would bare that out ... 17+ miles EV (out of 19.5 total 1-way trip): And that was just a few days of practice. Sub 40mph speeds really extend the EV range.
When driving in EV mode on the PHEV under full charge, will the ICE kick in if the acceleration demands it? If no, then I assume it will draw more current and reduce the EV range, right? Or will it limit acceleration in an attempt and not using the ICE?
Tony, I find the Gen2 Glide very hard to maintain. I feather the gas pedal from Regen to Glide and it's very hard to keep it there, bouncing between Regen and Gas. I wish Toyota would allow a wider pedal range to achieve Glide. You infer that the Gen3 and PHV have NO Glide? Is that true? That would be a Bad Decision to remove Glide.
I've really had no problems putting my 2005 into glide. Its basically a gas pedal position that to me seems easy to attain and keep there. Usually its really easy just after the converter is warm.
