Up to 70mph on EV in the 2.0 ... ?

[Extreme_One]

Not in my experience. 🤷‍♂️

Very rarely will the system stick with using EV at around 55mph, but not often and not for long, but never over 55, so "up to 70mph" seems a stretch to me.

Mine's the 2.0 ST Excel, done just under 4,000 miles, and I suppose I do drive it fairly hard, I'm often on the power to get up to speed so I suppose my driving style isn't ideal to achieve maximum gains from the hybrid system.

Still, to have seen it never using EV at over 55mph, is that strange?

[Cyker]

None of them will accelerate past maybe 40-odd mph on the electrics alone, but my Yaris Mk4 is capable of cruising at 70mph on just the electrics, albeit for a very short time (And preferably on a slight downhill with a tail wind  )

I'm tend to inadvertently pulse and glide a lot on the motorway, accelerating up to 70 to overtake a lorry or something then back into the left lane and ease off the power enough that the engine shuts off and the car rolls forwards on the electrics alone, bleeding off speed but slowly, so I'm coasting at fairly high speeds on just the electrics for a fair while before the speed drops too low and I have to push the accelerator harder and fire up the engine to start the cycle again.

If I want to get it to use the electrics more, I find it is much happier cruising around 60 or less, otherwise even a slight increase in accelerator will fire the engine back up...

 

[MarcusWatson]

It’s not strange to have never seen it at higher speeds. The higher the speed the more favourable the conditions have to be for the system to elect to drive the wheels with the electric motor alone.

Try setting the speed limiter to 70mph (it’s soft on the throttle when you hit the limiter) and you might see it go into electric drive only on flat sections of motorway, especially when the weather warms up.

[Gray86]

You only get EV mode at 70mph if you ease off, with a reasonable amount of Battery available. In reality the electric motor cannot sustain the speed, so it slowly drops off, drains the Battery and your back on ICE 

[Roy124]

Cyker, using your profile, as you ease off at 70 I expect the first thing you will see it the motor regeneration of the Battery before EV tweaks the speed. 

I wonder which works best for economy, manual throttle, ACC with manual override, or CC with manual override. Or even ACC with speed controlled +/- 5 mph variation on gradients? 

[TonyHSD]

3 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Cyker, using your profile, as you ease off at 70 I expect the first thing you will see it the motor regeneration of the battery before EV tweaks the speed. 

I wonder which works best for economy, manual throttle, ACC with manual override, or CC with manual override. Or even ACC with speed controlled +/- 5 mph variation on gradients? 

Manual throttle all the way, you need to be a sensible driver and use technique pulse and glide. 👍

[Red_Corolla]

It's more about workload than speed. If it's a downhill incline and only a small amount of power is needed to help gravity overcome air resistance, then it might go into EV at that speed, but not for very long. On paper, I think the MGU-2 probably does have the guts for it, but the hybrid Battery would deplete too quickly if asked to do all the work for a significant length of time. Heat might be an issue as well.

[Catlover]

In the Prius I can engage EV and do a max of 27mph then ICE kicks in. However there are many times when the Battery will be by itself at higher speeds ie pulse and glide, but that not EV mode.

[Extreme_One]

20 minutes ago, Catlover said:

In the Prius I can engage EV and do a max of 27mph then ICE kicks in

In the Corolla I can engage EV and do a max of 20mph then ICE kicks in.

[AndrueC]

I wouldn't have the patience to use electric power to get to 70 anyway, lol. However I've seen Battery only running at 70mph and higher. But I rarely drive faster than 60 anyway even on motorways and cruising at 60 it will often drop into Battery only mode for a while.

[Catlover]

13 minutes ago, AndrueC said:

I wouldn't have the patience to use electric power to get to 70 anyway, lol. However I've seen battery only running at 70mph and higher. But I rarely drive faster than 60 anyway even on motorways and cruising at 60 it will often drop into battery only mode for a while.

I have my doubts that you would ever get there in EV mode. Can you imagine with a cold engine and EV gives up and ICE kicks in. Not going to be good.

[TonyHSD]

There is no point trying to keep the car in ev as much as you can, this actually may reduce the overall efficiency because you gonna drain your Battery quickly. Best to accelerate moderate on both powers and then glide on electric only if situation permits, if you see the car needs extra power just use again the accelerator a bit more to gain speed and momentum and you can then after glide again longer in ev . That trick works on pretty much all speeds and when the car speed exceeds the mg1 rotation speeds the ice will kick in to help with rpm and it will run like generator at lower rpm around 1000rpm,  I was doing once an android app “hybrid assistant “ while driving on motorway and was so cool to watch all that happens. 

[Cyker]

Yeah, it pretty much does its own thing most of the time when just cruising - I find mine wants to constantly cycle between ICE and MG2, seemingly determined by the Battery charge - The more over 50%, the higher chance it will switches to MG2, the more under 50%, the more likely it fires up the ICE, so the Battery is constantly seesawing around 50%. If I'm not cruising tho' it tends to coast and decelerate on the electrics, but any acceleration above say 20mph usually causes the ICE to fire up.

 

[bigmarvloyal]

I've been 80 mph on ev before but never with foot on the gas... It will happily coast at 80 as long as Battery has sufficient charge. 

[frizzbee30]

On 1/27/2022 at 4:25 PM, AndrueC said:

I wouldn't have the patience to use electric power to get to 70 anyway, lol. However I've seen battery only running at 70mph and higher. But I rarely drive faster than 60 anyway even on motorways and cruising at 60 it will often drop into battery only mode for a while.

Same here!

[Spo2]

On 1/27/2022 at 1:51 PM, Catlover said:

In the Prius I can engage EV and do a max of 27mph then ICE kicks in. However there are many times when the battery will be by itself at higher speeds ie pulse and glide, but that not EV mode.

Noting something similar in 2 litre CHR. EV mode upto 25mph. They should have made 30mph for the British town roads! 

[Catlover]

6 hours ago, Spo2 said:

Noting something similar in 2 litre CHR. EV mode upto 25mph. They should have made 30mph for the British town roads! 

There is a lot now at 20mph, and will be more in the future. Perhaps Toyota knew what was coming. 😄

[DogDayz]

On 1/27/2022 at 12:59 PM, Red_Corolla said:

It's more about workload than speed. If it's a downhill incline and only a small amount of power is needed to help gravity overcome air resistance, then it might go into EV at that speed, but not for very long. On paper, I think the MGU-2 probably does have the guts for it, but the hybrid battery would deplete too quickly if asked to do all the work for a significant length of time. Heat might be an issue as well.

New here and to a hybrid. I drove on the motorway at the weekend. On my out journey I used the cruise control and the car never touched the Battery that I saw. On the return journey I ignored the cruise control and the car very regularly used the Battery instead at above 70. As others have said I imagine the conditions had to be right. Completely flat road or better a descent and the Battery was being used.