Thank you for your agreement. Hopefully, the Toyota official term is better. Found one about "Electric-only mode ("stealth mode")". Electric-only mode, or stealth mode, is a unique feature of full hybrid vehicles that allows the vehicle to drive at low speeds without the engine turning on. This saves gas and produces less noise. http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/2005/prius/..._only_mode.html Ken@Japan
I could live with that stealth mode is a bit militaristic but I figured we are stuck with it so I use it. What we are talking about in this case is electric-only mode i.e. does not involve the EV button. I have only recently got the CAN View so I have not seen electric-only mode at highway speeds 50 mph to 75.
Yea, Stealth sounds like a kingon warship engaging its cloaking device! Too bad we don't have that too! Maybe we could use the term "EV Plus" or "Hyper EV" or even "Fast EV" or how about "EV 2"? Just some ideas.
I think it should be a self-explanation. EV plus, Hyper EV or EV 2 don't mean anything. Maybe, Fast EV does. How about Fast Fake EV? Ken@Japan
I personally call that forced EV-Mode. I am forcing the car NOT to use the engine. Good gor getting the car out of the garage and car parks but that's it. Then (as already seen here) there is stealth (it's always EV-Mode, but decided by the system and not forced by the driver) which is often seen below 42 mph (in USA) or 71 km/h (EU) and hyper-stealth when it does the same thing above those two respective speed limits, but with the aid of gravity, since it's impossible to achieve EV-mode at these speed on flat land. What I spent going up I'm gaining coming down.
i think i would call it "coasting in drive" or maybe "gravity EV" or maybe not EV at all since it can only happen if its in regen mode. for people who have said that they were in EV mode at 55 mph on an incline that would not support coasting at that speed may want to take another look at that. without a device that gives additional information, its very possible that your mileage was simply higher than 99.9 mpg and not infinite as they may want to think. another reason why i think CANVIEW is a must have
Thats what we are talking about.. it "is" possible on flat ground or even a slight uphill grade "if" you have attained 8 bars worth of charge from downhill kinetic charging, but only briefly.. long enough to bleed the excess charge off the battery.
This is an advantage of having an EU prius..... When yours says 0.0 MPG, mine sais 99.9 l*100 Km. When yours says 99.9 MPG, to me it corresponds to 2.3 l*100 Km. My indicator goes down ti 1.2 l*100 Km, then it cut's off at 0.0 l*100 Km and the orange arrows swith off. Even at high speeds, that is over the famous 42 mph.
Yes, and very delicate on the foot, too..... Here, in Olympic Turin, we have lots of ups & downs. Usually a strong down is followed my miles of really gentle downhill, so I get to hav an 8-bar SOC and then travel at 55-60 for 3-5 miles with my indicator at 0.0 l*100 Km and no orange arrows, only yellow. If I let go of the acceleror, I get my green arrows and lose speed. Therefore I have to slightly push on the accelerator to maintain speed , but the power required to keep the speed is too little for the ICE, therefore, EV-Mode (hyper, stealth, whatever) is used, provided that E-juice is available. (I get to 5 bars before ICE kicks in, but the downslope has also finished)
Ahh, very interesting. Answer me this, canview/scanguage folks: I can be going up a hill at 50 mph, and then press just enough on the gas pedal to deadband -- that is, no arrows on the MFD. Is the ICE turning ? Am I using petrol ? Am I using battery juice ?
Please explain yellow and orange arrows ? -> <- with HV, ICE, wheels, M/G at either end makes sense to me.
I hope you man down a hill.... not up! At that speeds, between green regen arrows and yellow electric arrows, there is a split second that you get no arrows. but it does not stay, like, below 42 mph. To tell you more, if gliding downhill and you happen to break the limit, the consumption goes from 0.0 l*100 Km to 1.2 and back to 0.0 while arrows flicker and steady to yellow arrows.
Yellow arrows: [Broken External Image]:http://john1701a.com/prius/photos/PriusEnergy_BatteryDrive_Green.jpg Orange arrows: [Broken External Image]:http://john1701a.com/prius/photos/PriusEnergy_MotorDriveEngineCharge_-13Fdegrees_02.jpg (thanks to john1701a.com)
It sounds like your using normal EV mode from the factory based on your statement about ICE kicking in at 5 bars. When you have a switch, the ICE does not kick in till 2 bars if you keep your speed under 34 and you don't punch the pedal too much. When using the switched EV.. the pedal does not have to be so delicate. Maybe yours in Italy all come switched EV available, but if it does, it sounds like it behaves different than ours?
What I see is the ICE on. Rapid oscillation between amps moving in and out of the battery at below 10 amps or so. It is not 0 but it is not stable. It takes very little for the MFD to show charging. So the positive amps need to be low the discharge amps or negative can range a bit higher before they show up as a arrow from the battery on the MFD. The error tends to be on emphasizing charging not discharging but the amounts are small a few amps.
I've wondered about that too... I see power going in the battery and then out of the battery and then back in again.. alternating back and forth as much as several times a second. Is that the cars way of having energy at stasis where nothing is in essence moving? If its really moving back and forth.. it seems inefficient, considering conversion losses and all.
You"re correct. It is not a good idea to use the battery heavily. The 1400 mile team did such a pulse-and-glide technique for good results. http://hybridcars.about.com/od/ownership/a/pulseandglide.htm Ken@Japan
True.. they went of of thier way to deadband and simply glide and in essence not even use the battery.. but they were in a situation where the engine was going to be needed in the next few minutes after gliding "over and over during the trip". Our real life scenario where we have to travel at higher speeds and start and stop during the day and deal with parking lots, stop lights etc. but the concepts they use are good to learn from for when we are in similar situations such as cruising down the boulevard etc. Running the battery down and then charging back up over and over is not the way to save energy unless there is a strategy to it whereas ther alternative would waste yet even more power. It fun to have that "control" to choose if nothing else, or you can just let the cars programming run it.
It'll be good idea to keep notes of your different driving styles and and record your mileage, then compare them between styles. You'll find the better style by yourself. It's you car and your gas. Ken@Japan