As a Taxi driver in Dublin,Ireland,[2006 Prius from new,110,000mls]I get to listen to,be involved in many conversations with many interesting.....and many not so interesting people:blah: Recently i happened to have the pleasure of 1 male and 2 female passengers,as soon as they got in,the male passenger[lets call him John]said "I hate Prius drivers" and he was told by one of his female companions to "shut up!",bearing in mind we hadn't even left the kerb,he backtracked a little and said "well not you,but it always seems to be Professors or Doctors that drive these cars".By his own admission John said he drove an old Merc that was past it's sell-by date and spewing out more toxins than it should,he continued to quote all sorts of data in relation to the Prius, not being as economic or as environmentally friendly as Toyota claim.After i had nodded off and only to be woken by the blaring horns of oncoming traffic whose lane i strayed into[only joking] John had finished and i could get a word in edgeways, i said "Do you know what amazes me","What's that" came the reply,"People like yourself who neither own or have ever driven a Prius seem to know F***ING everything there is to know about them!"....You've heard the expressions.."a deafening silence" or "you could hear a pin drop"...they both applied in this instance!!.....I wonder if he got that Merc serviced yet
Yep,none of that watered down "feck" or PC [not PriusChat]crap If it doesn't end in silence it usually ends with punches 99% of folk just want to get home but there's always that 1% who want to p*ss on your parade!! On a completely different topic,I was bringing a guy from LA to the airport yesterday who drove a Prius as a Company car,traffic was heavy as usual,A/C was on and he was surprised the ICE didn't kick in,he told me that the ICE always kicks in if A/C is on in NA Prius,is this true?
No, it isn't the case. The A/C can run without the ICE. There are a couple of things likely at play here. First of all, you are driving your car all of the time, so you are likely to have a higher SOC on the battery. Second, with the miles you have, the SOC also is likely to be higher on a regular basis (see John1701a's thread on this). With a high SOC, you are less likely to have the ICE come on when there is a high drain on the battery (such as A/C use). Another thing to consider is that LA drivers are dealing with (most likely) higher demands on the A/C than you face in Dublin. The driver in LA may also not be used to being in the car as long or driven as hard (both of which will get and keep the SOC higher).
You're absolutely right,the SOC is always pretty high,i tend to use the "B" for slowing down especially when i have a full vehicle,i find i don't have to press the brake pedal as hard to stop plus it extends the life of the brake pads,my first set were changed at 90,000klm[56,000mls]I think that's pretty good especially for an automatic and it being a taxi.....aah, I love my Prius!!
This would be true if your customer's Prius is a Classic, whose air conditioner compressor is powered by the serpentine drive belt.
Ah,I see,he didn't say what model it was but i remember in the Toyota brochure[which i still have somewhere]that it was highlighed as one of their features..ELECTRIC A/C,and after driving my previous car for 4yrs,2000 Toyota Corolla [with just under 250,000mls on it the day i got my Prius]with no A/C,It was a big selling point for me,nice and cool on hot days without the fuel gauge disappearing into the instrument panel
Actually your gas mileage could improve a little if you don't use B mode and you'll still preserve the brakes as gentle braking will be pure regeneration. B-mode forces the ICE to spin at a higher RPM using some of the energy you'd otherwise fully recapture just using the regen braking. And you'll still get 100k miles out of your brakes.
Good article,as you don't really get a tutorial from Toyota personnel regarding regen braking......mainly because they don't have a full understanding of it themselves...I think!! As i said,i use it mainly when fully laden as it definitely does give extra stopping power without the feeling of "slamming" on the brakes,especially if the vehicle in front decides to "brake test" for no apparent reason,it's almost second nature for me to do this now.
I understand, and you've been doing it for a while and it certainly does no mechanical harm to use B-mode that way. That said, you can actually get more regen using the regular brakes once you learn to feel for the regen and just how fast and hard you can depress the brakes before regen quits and you get to friction braking.
By the way Evan,I see from your list of mods that you have the BT Stiffening plate,does it make a difference?I mailed Danny earlier to see if i could get items shipped to Ireland because it doesn't give that option on the shop site. Phil.
It does, and it's on sale now...but if you have to choose I'd do the strut tower brace first as it makes a much bigger impact.
So which did you do first..or both at the same time? I find when i have a full car it tends to have more "roll" than i'd prefer,when on my own or maybe 1 passenger it's fine,will either of those mods help overcome that or am i talking something completely different!!
The plate came out first and I got one pretty early on...2 or 3 years ago now I guess. Just put on the strut brace early this year. Both will help with your roll issue, but the strut tower brace much more noticeably so.
