Eco zone on Fuel Economy Meter

[johnjan]

I do 120 miles every day. 80% of this is on a highway or freeway.

There are times when I go up a slope of around 15° for around 1 mile and then immediately go down another slope of around 15° for 2 miles. If I am in the eco zone on the way down with slow traffic, my mpg goes up significantly. However, there are times when I am not in the eco zone though the battery is fully charged. This is just because my speed prior to entering the downward slope zone was less than 38 mph. As we all know that 38 mph is the cutoff for the engine shutting off and the hybrid battery kicking if, provided the battery is fully charged.

Is there a way to switch to the hybrid battery when the hybrid battery is fully or near fully charged and you are doing less than 38mph with your gas engine on? This is when the traffic is slow and does not allow me to go above 38mph.

[ukrkoz]

1. like Dalai Lama once said - I do not quite understand the question, but I can answer it. cutoff speed is 42 mph, not 38. and this is under condition your speedo is true.

2. what is that you mean by "eco zone"? as it does not sound like having ECO mode engaged.

3. if you have HSD battery charged more than 4 bars, cat converters warmed up and all other powertrain components at normal operating temperatures, and you are NOT accelerating, your ICE should turn off automatically at speeds below 42mph.

4. WHAT IS YOUR AMBIENT TEMP NOW? as at temps below 54 degrees, she starts behaving odd and strange. if you bought your vehicle this year, and AFTER colds, then welcome to winter driving with TCH.

5. stop wasting your time - AND ATTENTION - on instant mpg readings. they are useless and very deceiving. if you have nav unit, reset all mpg data, and never touch reset button again. only then you will have true, long term mpg for your car. haven't touched mine in over a year. if you do not, hook yourself up with fuelly, and track your mpg there.

[Tideland Prius]

There's no EV Drive Mode button so no you can't control or "force" the engine to shut off. However, you can try coming to a complete stop instead of crawling in traffic and let the engine shut off on its own.

What I don't understand is the 38mph limit.. The engine is off below that (if all parameters are met) but yet you mention that you want to go above 38mph so that the engine will turn off (I'm guessing you're thinking because you never cross that threshold, the engine stay on and then turn off when you drop below the threshold again???)

Either way, with cooler weather, it'll take longer for the engine to shut off (longer warm up time and you requesting heat).

With the Gen 2 Prius, after a cold start and driving for a while, you'd have to come to a complete stop to let the engine shut off before the engine will shut off while in motion (even if it's already warmed by that time). In the Gen 3, the engine will shut off in motion once it's warmed up so they've changed the programming. Now the TCH was introduced somewhere in between so I don't know if it uses the old programming or not but if that's the case, follow what I said in the first paragraph. Come to a complete stop, let the engine shut off and then you shuld be good.

[acco20]

Originally Posted by johnjan

I do 120 miles every day. 80% of this is on a highway or freeway.

There are times when I go up a slope of around 15° for around 1 mile and then immediately go down another slope of around 15° for 2 miles. If I am in the eco zone on the way down with slow traffic, my mpg goes up significantly. However, there are times when I am not in the eco zone though the battery is fully charged. This is just because my speed prior to entering the downward slope zone was less than 38 mph. As we all know that 38 mph is the cutoff for the engine shutting off and the hybrid battery kicking if, provided the battery is fully charged.

Is there a way to switch to the hybrid battery when the hybrid battery is fully or near fully charged and you are doing less than 38mph with your gas engine on? This is when the traffic is slow and does not allow me to go above 38mph.

Take your foot off the gas pedal....the engine will shut down, if you return to the pedal litely, the engine could stay off for some time.