How many kilometers are on my Car?

[tully]

Just bought a 2007 TCH with 100,000 km on the Odometer. My
guess is that the Gas engine has 70k and the traction motor has 30

Does Toyota know ?


Comments?

[andym1978]

It depends, but the figure would be more like 90 / 10 since the gas engine must spin for speeds past 42 MPH. The miles on the GAS engine will be much gentler than normal for 3 reasons:
1) The atkinson cycle reduces the max torque of the engine, reducing stress on the bearings and rods.
2) The electric motor assists the gas motor, thus reducing the typical load on the engine even further (unless you use WOT all the time).
3) The gas engine does not run when the car is stopped or moving slowly (unless cold or out of battery power). Idle engine speed is hard on gas engines due to the low oil pressure and the heat pockets generated from reduced air circulation.

A non-scientific, but decent indicator of how much use a gas engine gets is to monitor the brake pads. Why? Most of the energy that the engine puts out moving the car ends up being absorbed back into the brakes when the car must slow down. Of course, highway miles absorb a lot of energy due to wind resistance, but steady cruising at that speed is nicer to the drive line than frequent start/stops. I just checked my brakes on my 2007 TCH with 57,000 miles... I still have 8mm left, so have only used up 20% of my brake material. At this rate, I'll be hitting 200K miles before I need new brakes.

[andym1978]

Also, the traction motors (there are 2 motors, MG1 and MG2) RPMs vary from 0 to 14000 RPM (I believe) and are not hard coded to vehicle speed. It would be very hard to gauge "miles" on these motors. Fortunately, the motors do not experience the insane forces experienced from the explosions in a reciprocating gas engine, so these motors will not be effected much by miles.

Also, the electric motors aren't subjected to abrasive carbon deposits in their oil from combustion. I would expect a motor with 200,000 "miles" to sound and perform similarly to a new one (barring manufacturing defects), given the fluid is changed every 60k miles or so (to restore additives).

[tully]

What a nice informative reply. So many things I never considered....maybe thats why my rotors still look like new !

[ukrkoz]

welcome to the club, tully. curious am i - where does it show mileage separate for gas and MG2? or you are simply extrapolating based on roughly 70/30% ratio between engine and MG2?

but i have a treat for you. if you really into this, here's a invaluable link for you:
understanding hybrid drive

read through it. it's about the best, short of what they teach Hybrid techs, compilation on HSD. no worries it's for Prius. it's same drive, just larger ICE. if you will need in-depth tech stuff on a lot of HSD aspects - let me know, i have a technical link for you too.

[tully]

I was not extrapolating... more like guessing. It is quickly becoming apparent to me
that I made an excellent choice with this car. Even though I am a 'newbie', it is very
easy to see how to get better mpg by paying attention to the display.

[ukrkoz]

Originally Posted by tully

how to get better mpg by paying attention to the display.

"It is superiorly distracting from paying attention to the road"

Jeremy Clarkson