Auris Hybrid - When to use EV/Eco/Power modes?

[Tiger Cup]

I'm joining the Auris owners club this weekend with a 2011 hybrid. One thing I've been wondering about since my test drive was when do you switch to the various modes, EV, Eco and Power to get the most out of the car? 

I assume if you are bothered about MPG you'll be unlikely to use the Power mode. Is Eco the standard mode the car is in when you start it up and it switches between the electric and the petrol engines? 

In another thread someone said that the EV only mode will only get you 1/2 a mile, 1 mile at the very most. If I put it into EV will the car automatically switch to the petrol engine when the Battery runs out of power? What about speeding up over a certain speed? When at low speeds or in traffic or whatever, will the car automatically switch to full EV mode itself or will it always be making use of both engines unless I manually switch?

 

[Anthony Poli]

To be honest, the buttons don't do a lot.

ECO, ECO OFF (NORMAL) and PWR, Just alter the response to the accelerator. Personally I leave mine in ECO mode, I have only used PWR once for leaving a car park on a dual carriageway, where there wasn't any room to build up my speed.

Eco reduces the Aircon as well and is there to help you get the most out of electric and petrol.

PWR gives you mainly petrol and the electric is used to give a boost.

Normal, never tried it.

EV, I use in underground carparks or to sneek up on people

These buttons are like your preference and its up to the computer to decide what happens.

The car will drive on electric without the EV button , as long as the temperature and charge level are within the computers limits. As well how heavy your foot is.

The manual says electric range is 1/2 mile or 1Km, but you can extend this with practice.

 

Hope you have fun learning and have fun.

[eygo]

you cant be in the wrong mode so dont worry ,kath leaves her Auris in normal as the throttle response is better than in eco

and she finds it easier to drive,in my IS i leave it in eco,in both cars it will decide when to use electric and when to use petrol

or a mixture of both so just drive it normally ,with regards to only being able to travel a mile this will depend on how flat the road

is ,if you travel up an incline the petrol will most prbably cut in, to stay in ev mode keep the needle between charge and half way

as soon as you go past half way you will leave ev mode

[Anthony Poli]

The worst you can do is use more fuel, if you drive it like on a certain car show on the BBC 

I looked at a few videos on youtube, for tips on maximising mpg on a Prius before I picked up mine.

Probably the most important thing for hybrids, don't push your luck when reaching 0 miles range and then drive until you empty the reserve. As the car could easily become a road block and require recovery.

[Beekeeper D]

I'd say leave the buttons alone (use Normal mode) until you get the hang of the rest of the car. 

 

I now normally use Eco, but then I'm rarely in a hurry. I do use Power mode for going up hills (I have a couple of steep ones nearby), or waiting for an overtaking opportunity. 

Eco feels a bit gutless, but makes 'feather-footing' the throttle easier. That's important for keeping the thing in EV Drive (not EV mode, but the top centre green EV lit - which means the petrol engine is off.) You can keep it in EV Drive (once the light is lit) by keeping the Power Meter needle in the bottom half of the Eco range, up to about 50mph. Try and light the light by backing right off the throttle, once the engine is warm. Its very good for level to downhill cruising in speed limit areas. 

If you are in EV Mode, then you can use the whole of the Eco range of the Power Meter before the engine starts. But it will disengage at 30mph. I put it in EV Mode when I'm in a traffic snarl-up (and when just moving the car a few feet, showing off that its electric, etc ... ). 

 

Winter note - using the car heater takes heat out of the petrol engine ... which can mean that the computer keeps the engine running (using fuel) to maintain its temperature. Using heated seats seems the better Eco option. 

 

[A!_Frank]

Hi there!

I drive my Auris now for some 18 months. Mainly for 2x50 km distance commuting daily in heavy traffic, and of this distance only 12 km is within city limits. The allowed speed on the highway is 100-130 km/h. Trucks do 85-90 km/h, and there are quite a lot of them, So, the actual speed can be 100-110 km/h. I keep to the right lane as much as possible, and set my cruise control to 109 km/h when 130 is allowed, and to 104 km/h when 100 is allowed. Flowing speed, and the time difference to people trying to do 130 km/h is less than 1 minute.. The 50 km drive takes me 41-42 minutes on avarage.

I started out using the ECO selection, and my 'milage' was 18.4 km/ltr (some 43.7 mpg) which was a little disapointing. It improved to 18.6 when I was more accustomed to driving a hybrid or CTV car. Of course, in ECO the car is a little sluggish, but that was OK.

Just to test it, at some point I switched to NORMAL. The milage went up, to 18.7-18.8 km/liter. The acceleration was quite better.

Then I decided to also test PWR mode, and to my big surprise, the average went UP again! Now, I frequently touch average numbers better than 20.0 km/ltr (47.07 mpg).

I am wondering if I am the only one to experience this?

[Hicardo]

we pretty much leave the car in 'normal' ie its default on start up, unless we are manoeuvring in the driveway, where I force it into EV mode.  however, I do find power mode good in those situations that require hard acceleration.  eco in find a bit pointless, except when you want to keep the car in ev as much as possible, in traffic for example.  therefore we use normal 95 pct of the time, ev 4pct of the time, and the others the ramaining 1 pct.  

[chrisgeary]

On 11/30/2016 at 1:10 PM, Anthony Poli said:

To be honest, the buttons don't do a lot.

ECO, ECO OFF (NORMAL) and PWR, Just alter the response to the accelerator. Personally I leave mine in ECO mode, I have only used PWR once for leaving a car park on a dual carriageway, where there wasn't any room to build up my speed.

Eco reduces the Aircon as well and is there to help you get the most out of electric and petrol.

Initially, I thought the buttons just altered the throttle position map, but PWR mode does something else; it will keep the engine running above ~30mph rather than drop to EV mode if it can. This can improve overall response as well as making the throttle more sensitive. In theory I'd imagine that should also cause it to consume a tiny bit more fuel rather than be more fuel efficient.

Eco does reduce the climate control, but it appears to just preset the fan to 'soft'. A few weeks back when we had the 38c day, I took a trip to Leeds and tested eco vs normal/pwr and found that aside from the fan speed, the AC compressor output did not appear reduced in any way. I've also tested this in a normal day and again, it doesn't seem to have reduced cooling capacity. I should test with 'hybrid assist' to confirm power consumption but haven't gotten around to it.