|
A driver can run the gas and battery dry and the Prius system will do nothing to prevent it. When the tank has gas in it the battery is protected by the system with ICE-driven battery charging. Near 3 bars the ICE will begin sapping power to recharge the battery and below 3 bars the ICE is running to do this.
At/near/under 3 bars when this is occurring you will notice a heavy toll being taken on the horsepower of the car as the ICE splits its output between charging the battery and power to the wheels. If you're going uphill when this is occurring you will often get a revving of the engine (as high as 2500) when normally it is running at 2000-2100. This is the paradox with driving in EV mode as you cannot do it too much because eventually it will take ICE to recharge it (wasting fuel in the process).
On a side note...
Initially, I thought driving as much as possible in EV was the way to go. Why not...the less gas and more battery I use the better right? Wrong. Some EV driving is good but you have to make sure you know where you are going to recapture that energy to keep ICE running efficiently. If you have plenty of downhills with ICE or braking to recharge and not tax the battery that's fine. But, running EV all the time will eventually cost you FE.
This is particularly present with the EV switch. I recommend only using it at the end of a commute when the Prius start up cycle will recharge the battery for you the next time you start the car. Running EV and draining the battery in the middle of a commute will cost you FE if you run the battery too low and force ICE to recharge it for you. No doubt, the EV switch will help FE but only if used correctly. Daox should provide some good info. on this when he has some time to get the highest efficiency out of his.
|