Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuck.
On just starting a trip or driving slowly, the ICE is idling excessively compared to the 2000 Insight - I could kill the Insight's ICE in 2-3 ways to improve my fuel economy under those circumstances. I don't know the answer, but just maybe that extra idling the Prius does is what protects the traction pack - I'm not sure.
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My understanding is that the excessive idling is purely for emission reasons; to get the engine coolant and catalytic converter up to proper temperature. The ICE is programmed to come on to charge the battery when needed regardless of the other reasons the ICE is commanded on.
As DAOX suggests, you can install an engine coolant temperature spoofer in the Prius to reduce the occasions when the engine idles just to maintain a certain temperature. This does not affect the engine turning on to charge the traction battery when needed.
I wouldn't spend much on improving the Prius because the return on investment is not likely to ever come, the 2007 is 2 generations behind now, and it already gets fantastic fuel economy.
Save the money and put it towards replacing one of the vehicles in your household with an EV. I bet used Leafs will be a couple grand shortly after the new one is released.