Running out of fuel.

[SJFH]

I went on a long journey recently and was getting quite anxious when the range was predicting 24 miles with just under 20 miles to my destination.

I checked some posts on the subject which suggested the the range under estimates the actual range left.

Made me wonder though - If one does run out of petrol, will the car carry on under electic power?

I noticed that the Battery level has to be over half full for it to go into EV mode when you hit the EV button.

I'd be interested to know of anybody's experiences.

 

Thanks

[Mojo1010]

When the low fuel light comes on there should be 5-6 litres left, check your manual book. Last summer I went -30 miles from 0 range and car probably had 2 litres or so left when it was filled up (Yaris hybrid), the Chr will have a different consumption. 

Just do not run out of fuel, HV Battery once depletes will require recovery to a Toyota dealer, they then need to hire a hV Battery charger from Toyota, this cost a lot of money. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

The low fuel light will illuminate when the reserve is reached. If you look in the owners manual index for 'warning lights', and 'low fuel light', the manual should state approx how may litres the reserve is.

Toyota hybrids are designed to operate in electric mode only whilst there is petrol in the tank. Not designed to run without petrol, and damage can be caused to the hybrid system - e.g. discharging the hybrid Battery. 

If the hybrid Battery is discharged, it would need recovery to a Toyota dealer, who would have to hire a hybrid Battery charger from Toyota. Expensive in time and money (yours).

[Cyker]

I think the first ones would run for a bit on electric power, but the new ones will shut down to save the Battery.

The problem is, if you ran the car just on the traction Battery with no fuel, the car wouldn't be able to charge the traction Battery when it got low, and if you ran it down too much, it would be too low to start the engine and thus wouldn't be able to charge itself.

The only way out of that predicament is for the car to be towed to a dealer and wait for the mythical hybrid battery charger to be delivered to the dealer. Or I guess a new battery charged be fitted.

[Paul john]

3 hours ago, SJFH said:

I went on a long journey recently and was getting quite anxious when the range was predicting 24 miles with just under 20 miles to my destination.

I checked some posts on the subject which suggested the the range under estimates the actual range left.

Made me wonder though - If one does run out of petrol, will the car carry on under electic power?

I noticed that the battery level has to be over half full for it to go into EV mode when you hit the EV button.

I'd be interested to know of anybody's experiences.

 

Thanks

I asked this question back in 2005 when i drove my first prius.

And yes i let it run out of fuel as a test.

and yes had to be towed by AA to a garage to refuel.

the short answer is….

if you  run out of fuel the car shuts down. No matter what level the ev Battery has. That has not changed over the years. Consider it a safety feature. The same as a pressure release valve on a steam engine that does nothing until a certain set of parameters is met…

 

 

[SJFH]

Thanks for the info.

My anxiety was driven from a previous car where the range went 41, 40, 39, 0 and then stopped out of fuel.

I can drive my CHR more confidently now when the fiel get low.

Cheers👍

[TonyHSD]

13 hours ago, SJFH said:

Thanks for the info.

My anxiety was driven from a previous car where the range went 41, 40, 39, 0 and then stopped out of fuel.

I can drive my CHR more confidently now when the fiel get low.

Cheers👍

When you have 1/3 tank of fuel left or 1/2 you can refill full again. It’s not good driving with very little fuel inside the tank. 

[RzrAzr]

On 7/21/2024 at 6:34 AM, TonyHSD said:

When you have 1/3 tank of fuel left or 1/2 you can refill full again. It’s not good driving with very little fuel inside the tank. 

Hi Tony. Is it for fuel pump cooling purposes? I usually run mine down pretty low so wondering if I should adjust my habits. 

[APS]

On 7/21/2024 at 5:34 AM, TonyHSD said:

When you have 1/3 tank of fuel left or 1/2 you can refill full again. It’s not good driving with very little fuel inside the tank. 

Tony - I'd question this. While it is certainly damaging to the pump to allow it to draw air I don't see any problem going close to empty. We have certainly always done this on our Prius+, Auris, CT and never had any issues. Typically we'd do 50-100  miles after the low fuel light comes on (8-10 litre reserve). That still leaves you with a few litres of margin. Filling up more often than you have to is a bit wasteful. What is your thinking about it being bad for the car to have less than half tank?

[Corolly Poly]

32 minutes ago, APS said:

Tony - I'd question this. While it is certainly damaging to the pump to allow it to draw air I don't see any problem going close to empty. We have certainly always done this on our Prius+, Auris, CT and never had any issues. Typically we'd do 50-100  miles after the low fuel light comes on (8-10 litre reserve). That still leaves you with a few litres of margin. Filling up more often than you have to is a bit wasteful. What is your thinking about it being bad for the car to have less than half tank?

It was always a good thing with old (and last century!) cars not to run them too low to avoid fuel filters getting blocked with crud in the tank. not sure how it applies to modern cars with ? plastic tanks.

Also, if you are obsessive about economy, keeping the level high will reduce economy due to the weight.

[APS]

6 minutes ago, Corolly Poly said:

not sure how it applies to modern cars with ?

As you mention - not really an issue with plastic tanks. Trust me, I've been there with rusty steel tanks 😉 But even then, you just do a bit of left and right turn to slosh the fuel around and you get going again. But keeping the level high is just a way of masking a problem. You take the tank down, clean out the mess and reseal it. 

 

9 minutes ago, Corolly Poly said:

keeping the level high will reduce economy due to the weight.

Right. Plus the unnecessary driving to and from the petrol station.

[TonyHSD]

Fuel tanks on uk cars are pretty clean inside so no need to worry about the crud blocking, plus the pump always sucks from the bottom no matter the quantity of fuel in. However keeping 1/3 and above provides extra cooling as the pump will be fully submerged and the fluid itself will hold lower temperature. Tanks are located under the car and they are always at least 10C° lower than outsiders the car, and in sunny days these could be even at higher amplitude , but even so more fuel means cooler work of the pump, electric fuel pumps gets very hot when operating and they need to be cooled off by the fuel. 
Fuel economy with full tank or half or empty will be very similar with spare tyre or not , with glass roof or without, these are only important variables when cars been tested for emissions and mpg in controlled environments, in real life fuel economy will be dependent more on weather, tyres pressures and sizes, brakes binding, car load ( higher difference than 50kg imo) speed , acceleration, rain, wind, those are important for mpg. 
It’s  never a problem to drive every time to empty, until the pump is gone one day and you find out it has been burned, as I have see these before. 

[Cyker]

On 7/20/2024 at 4:10 PM, SJFH said:

Thanks for the info.

My anxiety was driven from a previous car where the range went 41, 40, 39, 0 and then stopped out of fuel.

I can drive my CHR more confidently now when the fiel get low.

Cheers👍

Ah, Toyota designed their range meter just for people like you!!  

When it hits zero it will still have a bit of fuel in reserve to get to a petrol station. The reserve is quite ridiculous and can get you anything from 20 miles to a 100 depending on the car!   (Well, the only one that I got to a 100 before I chickened out was my Mk1 Yaris D4D   )

If the driver doesn't take the hint from the range counter and fuel gauge being zero, *and* all the messages popping up on the MFD telling them to refuel, and *still* manages to run out of fuel after that, well, as the saying goes you can't make anything totally idiot-proof because nature will just make a better idiot  

[forkingabout]

Shame the built in sat nav cant be programmed to show all the local filling stations & fuel prices when the low fuel warning light appears.

My previous 308 T9 as soon as I got the low fuel warning light, beep beep beep & FUEL LEVEL LOW warning message, the sat nav would automatically appear to display the nearest three filling stations & the prices for fuel. 

You could click one of the highlighted results & it would navigate you there. 

[Cyker]

I must admit I've never had that much issue finding fuel (Finding cheap fuel is another matter!). The massive forecourt sign with the prices helps  

It's deffo needed more for EVs - Charge points are extremely poorly signposted most of the time.

 

[Paul john]

1 hour ago, forkingabout said:

Shame the built in sat nav cant be programmed to show all the local filling stations & fuel prices when the low fuel warning light appears.

My previous 308 T9 as soon as I got the low fuel warning light, beep beep beep & FUEL LEVEL LOW warning message, the sat nav would automatically appear to display the nearest three filling stations & the prices for fuel. 

You could click one of the highlighted results & it would navigate you there. 

Its in the sat nav poe setting. Show permanent tho.