Money saved

[stevedebi]

I kind of attempt to do this myself. For most hills I just keep some pressure on the gas pedal so that the ICE stays on and charges the HVB. The lowest it goes is usually 15 kW, but it mostly stays at about 18 kW and charges the HVB. If the hill is really long I'll let the car go into EV mode and then I switch it to EV Auto for the descent. This way the kWh used from the battery on the hill don't count in the EV Later portion that must be recharged. Then when I start going back up I shift to EV Later again so that the ICE will come on but without working so hard to charge the HVB.

I should think that it might be useful to switch to EV Auto on the down hill portion, then leave it on auto for the uphill until the range indication (or voltage, if you are monitoring that with a SGII or something) returns to the same reserve % as before. This would ensure that excess kenetic energy from gravity is used on the uphill. This is assuming that there is enough downhill that the battery shows a power plus (^) indicator above it. Just a thought.

 

My experience indicates that if the vehicle has recharged to the maximum hybrid percentage, it will not put any additional energy back into the battery.

[Rexracer]

 

My experience indicates that if the vehicle has recharged to the maximum hybrid percentage, it will not put any additional energy back into the battery.

 

My daily commute use to take me down a 2-3 mile hill that was reasonably steep. Every day I would start the hill in Hybrid mode (having depleted all my battery through the day) and would always regen up to 2-3 miles EV range, which was just enough to make the last bit home.

 

So the car absolutely will regen out of hybrid mode back into EV mode.

[stevedebi]

My daily commute use to take me down a 2-3 mile hill that was reasonably steep. Every day I would start the hill in Hybrid mode (having depleted all my battery through the day) and would always regen up to 2-3 miles EV range, which was just enough to make the last bit home.

 

So the car absolutely will regen out of hybrid mode back into EV mode.

Yes, I've read that. Were you able to go back to EV Now?

 

EDIT: Read it, not experienced it.

Edited November 12, 2014 at 06:44 PM by stevedebi

[Rexracer]

I just leave it in Auto most of the time, but yes I could select EV Now if I wanted.

[stevedebi]

I just leave it in Auto most of the time, but yes I could select EV Now if I wanted.

OK, you folks have convinced me, I'll be careful to indicate that it CAN recharge some of the main battery. It makes sense, rather than forcing the engine on while there is excess SOC capacity that could store the downhill energy.

 

But in general, it won't when being driven on a normal flat road. And unfortunately, if you are in EV Now, it won't reset to a higher reserve if it does add to the main battery capacity.

[Rexracer]

Yes that is true. Thats why Raja cycles the EV button, to get out of "EV later" and then when it comes back to "EV later" its at the new higher battery level, and the car maintains that new higher level.

[stevedebi]

Yes that is true. Thats why Raja cycles the EV button, to get out of "EV later" and then when it comes back to "EV later" its at the new higher battery level, and the car maintains that new higher level.

I do that too, but only in special situations. Hopefully it has minimal impact on MPG. If you do it too often, MPG suffers.

[Rexracer]

I do that too, but only in special situations. Hopefully it has minimal impact on MPG. If you do it too often, MPG suffers.

Yes and no. The reason to reserve that extra power for later is to use it when it can be used more efficiently, i.e. on city streets at low speeds vs on the freeway at 70mph. If you are not going to use this saved power for later more efficient use, then yeah just let the car burn it up.

[stevedebi]

Yes and no. The reason to reserve that extra power for later is to use it when it can be used more efficiently, i.e. on city streets at low speeds vs on the freeway at 70mph. If you are not going to use this saved power for later more efficient use, then yeah just let the car burn it up.

I like to think there are times when it is better to use the Auto mode and let the HVB deplete (to increase MPG), and go back into Auto to recharge the HVB (energy capture, but without causing MPG decrease). I'm not quite sure exactly when to do either, but I'm working on it. It certainly involves hills, and wouldn't help at all on a flat plain. We have lots of hills here in LA.

 

I try and reserve a sufficient EV Later range when doing this, depending on what I expect to do at the end of the highway trip. So it depends on what is planned at the end as to how much there is to play with for increasing overall MPG.

 

I concur that there is no point in spending EV range (and not recovering it somehow) only to spend gasoline later on surface streets.