I was driving down the interstate running at 72 mph and I let off the accelerator to about 1/8 of pedal and the eng shut down.... and I was holding at 70mph running on EV alone for about 10 miles. The Prius would only do this coming off of a overpass for about 3 miles. B)
10 miles electric only? that doesn't sound right. I'm not smart enough to be able to calculate the actual energy requirements to sustain 70mph for that distance, but I'm pretty sure it would far exceed the capacity of the battery. It sounds like you were in a hyperstealth condition and probably had the ICE fire up at low rpm a few times to recharge and maintain speed. Sorry to sound so skeptical, but either your distance estimate is far off or you were missing something going on under the hood.
The battery to wheels was lit up only and the thing that looks like a tach the needle was in the blue ev area.. I was shocked that it held for so long .... I then asked my wife why she couldn't do it, (thats another story though)
Evan, the TCH is capable of up to 650V, does that help with anything? (i.e. does the convert into kW which is sent to the electric motors etc etc or am I waay off in my physics?)
Did you make it to the gas station in time? Seriously, I've never seen that happen anytime over about 45 mph, but I'm not on the freeway much either.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(amped @ May 23 2007, 08:22 PM) [snapback]448710[/snapback]</div> hahaha. So you didn't sell that one eh? I still haven't figured out what Eco Drive Level does. Care to explain?
I sold the Voodoo Blue but still have the TRD Special Edition. It's an all-black model with suspension tweaks, trick wheels and tires standard. They made 3,200 of them for US only and just 8% of those were manual trans. I have 1 of 9 manuals imported into my five state region. Versatile and fun SUV, but at 4,400 lbs. and a 4.0L engine, I have to work to break 20 mpg highway. About ECO, the manual says it affects both heating and cooling by reducing system efficiency while improving fuel economy through reduced electrical consumption. I guess that means the electrically driven compressor operates intermittently instead of continuously, like the old Toyota engine-driven systems that had a similar dash button. ECO is overridden when temp is set to either HI or LO, the air distribution is set to floor/ws or ws alone, or the switch is pushed again. Honestly, I never noticed any fuel economy improvement using it, but didn't notice any decrease in system efficiency either, so left it on all the time. I did manage a 0.5 mpg improvement by increasing tire pressures (almost wrote TP, ha) from factory 32 to 40 psi. HyCam is a very satisfying DD, as intriguing and entertaining as Prius. Both have their strong points, but as you know resale is important to me so HyCam is the current star in that department. If the rumor mill is accurate, next up will either be a new-gen Prius or FT-HS, although Toyota's recent rumblings about "studying" (meaning, it's coming) diesel applications perked me up, too.
I forgot about the TRD Special Edition (cause we didn't get it up here). Hmm, you're talking about the ECO mode for the climate control system. I was talking about the Eco Drive Level on the small display screen inset of the speedo. I would imagine. do not know whether to get that or the next Prius for dad's car (our Camry got totalled)
Sorry about your Camry, hope everyone is OK. Ah, that ECO. It's a stair stepped display of average fuel consumption. The lowest level on the left is 25 mpg (9.0L/100 km or more), next is 26-30 mpg (8.8 to 8.0L/100km), then 31-35 mpg (7.8 to 7.0L/100km) and 36+ mpg (6.8L/100 km or less). It works together with the brightness level of the arcs around the fuel economy and speedo gauges that illuminate from dark to three levels of brightness, with brightest corresponding to best economy. At shutdown, "EXCELLENT!" is momentarily displayed below the ECO DRIVE LEVEL display if you exceed 35 mpg. A little too cute for me, but more than the usual human feedback I get about my driving skills.
Only my dad was in the car at the time of the collision. So... do the steps get filled in or what? I'm guessing the ring illumination correspond to each of the steps?
Right on both, and it resets after every shutdown so it doesn't track tank average, only current trip average economy.
ohhhhhh. Jeez, and we thought the 14 buttons on the Prius steering wheel was redundancy to the max. In the TCH, there's a gazillion ways to tell you how you're doing - Consumption Screen, Tank Average, Eco Drive Level, Blue Rings... then there's the Instant FE gauge, Energy Monitor, Consumption Screen and the feedback after you shut off.
lol. I'll probably do the same if I had a TCH. Maybe on the cruising range from time to time. On our old (02) Camry, I had it at the instant FE. Dad preferred the avg FE gauge. One button switches between the trip computer readouts and the clock/temp readouts.
