My '06 takes at least a few minutes of idling, or even a few miles of light town driving before kicking into EV. I've read it should only take a few seconds to kick over. I bought the '06 a few weeks ago, so I am new to it; it has 50,000 miles. How long should it take to kick over to EV after ignition? Am I just impatient? It's summer here, hot temps at times, no cold weather yet this year.

 

It won't go into EV mode until the cylinder head temp (CHT) get up to 190. This will take between 1-2 miles depending on the temp outside.

 

I have an 08 and in the summer, it'll generally kick off within 5-10 minutes after everything warms up. In the winter, all bets are off and I often am either in EV for a very short time (because things cool down so quickly) or not at all because its simply so cold.

 

That's normal if starting with a cold engine. My 06 won't go into EV mode until water temperature hits 160-165 degrees.

 

Never... it's too old!

 

If you have the AC on the ICE will run whenever the AC compressor needs to run. In the winter, it will run to heat the cabin. In later model years the AC compressor was HV electric and the ICE didn't need to run.