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I'm getting the opportunity to drive the University of Manitoba's PHEV Prius on Wednesday. It's for a fuel economy rally and I want the car and technology to have a good showing so need to learn some basics on how to drive it. I got a quick demo of the car and it does not have any way to force the car into an EV mode. I figure I'll have to give the car a good warm-up before going out. How fast can I go before the ICE fires up? Any other tips the PHEV or Prius experts have to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Mike:

___Forced Charging to 70 + % SoC is a given so make sure you shove an SG-II in there. Let me know if you need X-Gauges. Press up the Integrity’s. An alignment and a fresh 0W-20 would not hurt either. Immediately before the start, force S4 with an idle check (warm-up will be good as you force charge the pack), reset the gauges and you are set to start.

___What is the distance, driving route (city/highway), time of day for traffic, what sized pack will you have available to you and does it have an EV Button? If its mostly highway, consider bringing her up to 40 under EV from the huge initial SoC, bring on the ICE and go into SHM at about 48 - 52 mph. IGN 14/TPS 18 and turn the PHEV pack on to take you down the down the road in Warp Stealth at 100 +. If its a small pack, save it for the stop light to stop light stuff. When the pack is dead, P&G your heart out below 40 but use Warp Neutral for the hills that will take you above 40 in a glide. And use N for your Glides after verifying the ICE goes to 0 RPM (when below 40 mph) before you place the selector in N.

___When coolant drops to 159, expect a warm-up cycle :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

What Wayne said and a few more comments. 157F and between 35 and 40MPH is the threshold for non-forced EV. When driving under 41 MPH, and you want to use up the pack, very slow acceleration will keep you in EV. If you need more power, let the ICE fire up but as soon as you hit 35 MPH, pull of the throttle quickly and completely. That will drop you into EV. You can go as high as 40mph and get the same results.

Out of curiosity, is there a guide to this (S4, SHM, Warp Stealth) similar to the guide tarabell put together for the HCHI/II? I've looked, but haven't found one yet.

Hi Wayne, X-gauges would be very helpful. I don't know the pack size. There is no EV button in the car. It's about a 10 mile drive in the city with lunch hour traffic. Should be able to keep it below 40mph the whole way.

Out of curiosity, is there a guide to this (S4, SHM, Warp Stealth) similar to the guide tarabell put together for the HCHI/II? I've looked, but haven't found one yet.

Most of it is in here (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1224), if something is not in there, let me know and I will find it for you. Make sure you read through the entire thread. There is a lot of good info after the initial article. Check out the links, there is a lot of info there also.

An update on how things went: When I got into the car, it was showing 4.2L/100km (56mpg) for the last 600 miles :( Somebody needs to teach them more about the car and get the car an EV button. I'm working on it ;)

I got a warmup drive run in before things started, but the car ended up sitting too long so it did a short warmup again once I started off. The ICE also kicked in about halfway through the course, maybe to warm up the engine again? I'm not really sure. Anyway, the car's FCD indicated 0.6L/100km (392mpg) for the short drive.

A few pics:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/IMG_2866.jpg

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/IMG_2867.jpg

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/IMG_2872.jpg

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/IMG_2875.jpg

Nice looking wrap. The car was covered in dust, otherwise it would have looked even better.

Way to go, Mike!!! :woot:

Hi Mike:

___Like you needed to be schooled ;)

___Good Luck and congrats on the fine skill shown to your compatriots!

___Wayne

Trust me Wayne, the advice that you and Dan provided definitely came in handy :)

Did the Hymo kit make the car think it got all that extra regen,
and if so how come the Enginer pilots haven't noted a similar
display?
.
_H*

The reason for the regen pic is because the scangauge was set to use the active AMP gauge. You can view the passive AMP gauge and this wont happen.

Thanks Jay, the SG was indeed set up in that way. Not sure if this is another Hymotion quirk, but most of the time the battery mimic would show the battery being 2-3 bars down from the top. About every second, for just a fraction of a second, the battery would flash with full bars, then go back to its previous reading.

Hi Mike;

Congrats on the nice showing !!! :D

I am really sorry I could not make it to the event... Some days are just a bit too busy. :(

Cheers;