Issues with gentle keeping car in electric mode

[RJP91]

• Use the car’s Battery power whenever possible. For example, when driving in towns, accelerate to your required speed, then ease off the accelerator and then gently ease the accelerator on again. This should activate EV mode – indicated by a green light in the instrument display on a Toyota hybrid. This shows that the engine has switched off and you are using just the car’s electric motor.

Hi there

Recently bought a second hand Toyota CHR- was really enjoying the electric motor function as mentioned above- gently touching to accelerator to keep in electric mode. Worked well for about a month but no longer working.

It no longer seems to be working- Battery is pretty much being fully charged while I'm driving and only rarely using the electric mode. 

I've been having to use the EV button while stopped in traffic to get any use of the electric motor but once i accelerate past 40km/h it will switch off and i have the same problem. 

I'm wondering have I changed the default driving mode from normal or is there anything I'm missing?

[philip42h]

36 minutes ago, RJP91 said:

This should activate EV mode – indicated by a green light in the instrument display on a Toyota hybrid. This shows that the engine has switched off and you are using just the car’s electric motor.

This statement is, perhaps, misleading - it doesn't "activate EV mode", rather it "shows that the engine has switched off and you are using just the car’s electric motor" while still being in normal, hybrid mode. That is how the hybrid is supposed to work.

Pressing the EV button to force the car into EV mode can only make the situation worse - it effectively instructs the car to 'flatten' the traction Battery before switching back to normal hybrid mode. Your top speed in pure EV mode will be around 40 kph anyway - the car will use the ICE in order to accelerate above that sort of speed in any mode.

Our hybrids have a mind of their own and run the ICE when they think they should. This maybe because the traction Battery is a little low, you are using more 12V electrical power (e.g. the air-conditioning) or you are calling for a little more power. Just drive gently and it will do its best to run economically.

FWIW my RAV did exactly the same thing yesterday afternoon - it kept the ICE running when I didn't think it needed to. And then paid me back in the evening by running on electric motors only far longer than I expected it to! 😉

[Cyker]

I noticed something a bit like this with my Yaris Mk4 - If I only drive it in slow urban roads for weeks, it would start to run the engine much more than it normally did.

A few others experienced the same thing, and we suspect it's the GPF* trying to regenerate, but struggling to for some reason.

One way we've found to help speed it up is to run the car in B-mode for a bit and let it slow down with engine braking a few times; That seems to put it back to normal faster.

I'm not sure if the Corolla has a B-mode or if you need to do some shenanigans with paddles or if it even has a GPF so this may not be applicable.

 

*Gasoline Particulate Filter, boooo

 

[TonyHSD]

The OP has 2.0 hybrid without B mode but has manual mode with +/-

I am not sure any Toyota hybrids will enter into gpf regeneration and need to use B mode.  

My reasoning  is because we all are experiencing the same hybrid behaviour in so different cars in between.
My old Auris with nearly 300000 miles behave exactly the same like brand new Yaris hybrid with 400 miles on the clock. My car should not have gpf or if it does  and actually if the second cat along the exhaust indeed it’s a gpf?!  

The true reason why the hybrids use ev or avoiding to use ev is the batteries, both batteries in fact 200v and the 12v. 
When traction Battery is low or car been not used regularly and for long time the Battery needs to be conditioned by the system, the cells deviation needs to be equalised and voltage be similar in between. 
This is happening by charging and discharging cycles.
If we have a worn out hybrid Battery with one or more dead cells the car may locked itself into this process of charging and discharging the hybrid battery with engine constantly running for over 30 min and in some cases 1 hr or more. That’s why people without knowledge but with dead hybrid battery called their cars we’re running rough., but after replacing with new hybrid battery the car drives again smoothly like when it was new. 

Another reason is low 12v battery, then the engine will run longer to provide electricity.  
From personal experience - dead 12v battery, manage to jump start and off to the dealer to buy new battery the engine was almost constantly running for the entire time of 1hr , the hybrid battery was new at this time , therefore it was because of the dead 12v battery. 
And another reason is the weather, hot or very cold and the car will use its engine to reduce stress on the hybrid battery.  
The AC also take its toll and reduce a bit ev as it does use high voltage power directly from the traction battery. 

To the OP, 

don’t worry about your car . Just drive as used and it will sort itself and you gonna have your ev glides back. 👍

[Cyker]

When yours does that again, flick it into B for a bit and see if that makes it go away faster - I'm very curious if it makes any difference on yours!

The whole GPF theory is because the B-mode engine braking immediately makes it go back to normal, specifically on the Mk4s.

[Big_D]

I find that if I try to drive economically, by using the traction Battery, my fuel consumption decreases. Drive normally. The car will figure out what it needs to do. 

[TonyHSD]

8 hours ago, Cyker said:

When yours does that again, flick it into B for a bit and see if that makes it go away faster - I'm very curious if it makes any difference on yours!

The whole GPF theory is because the B-mode engine braking immediately makes it go back to normal, specifically on the Mk4s.

If that’s for me I don’t have any abnormalities since I replaced both batteries. Not even these engine high rpm to discharge the Battery after long downhill anymore. No unnecessary engine running in any circumstances., nothing. Actually the car drives very much like a new car. And you know I do high mileage every night so if anything needs to regenerate or burn there is plenty of time and high temperature to happen. 👍

[taxidriver50005]

Trying to run in ev is false economy, there will always be energy losses in converting energy from electric to mechanical and vice versa so by forcing your car to use ev your also forcing it to recharge Battery. 

Hybrid works so well because it recovers what would be wasted energy and by forcing it into ev your actually making it less efficient. 

[forkingabout]

Only times I'll use the EV button is for moving the car a very short distance in to / out of the garage to avoid the power unit starting.