Tech with a twist of lime! & FLHybrid Club.

Yesterday I installed an EV switch in my Prius, the EV switch/button, persuades the engine not to run when certain conditions are met.  The EV button will only work below 35mph and within certain environmental and performance envelopes.  The install took about 45 minutes of actual work, but much longer in gathering the parts and studying the installation method I chose (Evan Fusco's headlight flasher method).  The hardest part of the install was getting the new pin 27 seated fully, my brother and I took the Prius out for a spin and the mod worked flawlessly.  My first commute with the EV button was a success; I noticed several parts of all of my past commutes where my Prius does stupid stuff.  The most common thing my Prius does during a commute is running the engine when the battery is at an acceptable state of charge (S.O.C.) and the emissions system is already at operating temperatures, and I'm at a complete stop for some time.  Another time my Prius runs its engine needlessly is during some downhill stretches where doing so is unnecessary.  I understand most of this is because it doesn't know what the upcoming terrain might surprise it with.

The main reason for installing the EV mode on my car was that I wanted to be able to shuffle the car around its various parking arrangements without having a senseless engine start.  How does running the engine for 60 seconds, to move the car 75 feet at the most, benefit the environment or improve air quality?  My wallet also disagrees, seven seconds is barely enough time to get out of a garage, and is not enough time to back out of most parking stalls and start moving forward. (I know it's not much but costs add up over the Prius' 100,000-150,000 warranted period).  Now I can move across small parking lots and driveways without wasting gas or adding additional pollution to the air when shuffling my car.

I added three MPGs to my commute by cutting the engine at times where the Prius was being stupid.  I will mention more when I have had more time to get accustomed to the new functionality.

EV mode as with any aftermarket modification may void a portion of your warranty.  If you have any questions about my experience let me know so when I'm writing the next article I will cover your questions right here for all to benefit.

Today I finished a project I had been planning since the month after delivery of my Prius.  I will provide more details in tomorrow's post(s).  What I will say is that the project involved the high voltage ECU and less than $3 spent purchasing parts.  One more hint, I'm looking forward to some of the low speed, high congestion sections of my commutes to be a great deal more silent, assuming I don't need the heater set to crazy levels.

I came across several hybrid drivers while running errands today and all but two waved, thank you all for making my day a bit brighter.

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Today I struck the hybrid watcher's jackpot, two Prius at a gas station, lined up, both gassing up.  My Prius dropped down to three pips on the gas gauge after I'd dropped off the freeway to begin my 2 mile straight shot work is practically on the freeway after a 45 minute drive.  Yesterday's trip took me down to half a tank and driving home from work dropped me to four pips, I refuel at three pips when possible.  I do this because I refuse to become of the Prius owners who complain about the car suddenly stopping (because I was trying to drive without fuel) and wondering why.  NHW20 Prius have a message that pops up on the multi-function display (MFD) that says to add fuel immediately but it can be missed, though not easily. 

I had been at three pips for the latter half of my commute and the temperature was perfect for refueling, so I stopped at the nearest Top Tier gas station to work, a Shell.  The driver of a black 2006+ Prius(if anyone wants their 06 or new photographed alongside my 04 I will point out the differences) chose the same place and time to fill and the only available pump (facing the car's left) was right in front of this car and driver pair.  As I mentioned in an earlier post multiple Prius filling together are quite rare because of their fuel efficiency.

Extremely quick update today, I left home at 06:45 Eastern so that I could make my meeting on time.  First, I drove right off the map (it is time to get My Prius' maps updated) when I realized the road I wanted to take had changed paths slightly.  I turned around and got back on the right track, when a black Prius crossed me, we traveled together for about a mile when they left me as they ran a red light they thought they'd make before it changed.  I found out that my company will be getting a fleet of Prius next year!  Round trip, I used half an indicated tank, and got an ok 51.5 MPG over more than 375 miles.  The reason for the poor mileage was mostly excessive speed, the set of interstates I used have steep hills and I let people push me well over the speed limit today, it had very little to do with the unfamiliar terrain, speeding hurts mileage but doing it into an unfavorable wind will destroy any progress made toward great fuel economy.

Now I need to get some rest, tomorrow I have to get to work early.  Thanks for reading I will see you tomorrow, good night.

Kacey Green

Some other reasons worth discussing here against taking the company car follow.  First, I'm new to the area and the Prius knows its way better than I do, even with it having maps that are three years out of date.  I have not had them updated yet; old maps are better than no maps as long as one uses some common sense and does not blindly follow the computer's instructions. Fun fact some of the Prius geeks loaded their navigation DVDs on their computers and found the voice files are stored in a folder called Jill, so that is what we call the computer lady, Jill.  Another reason is my car can more readily play stuff I want to listen to through the sound system.  Next is my Prius is more comfortable than a Malibu, and lastly, I still have vivid memories of my little adventure.

Kacey Green
GRLT.com
"Tech with a twist of lime!"
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