I don't think I've ever found a speed where I cannot do it (well, below 80 at least--I've never had the car faster). It seems easier above 20 and below 50 though because the little 20 hp motor doesn't have a lot of strength at "higher" speeds. It is very dependent on the road condition though. I can only do it on flats and slight up hills. If you try it on a downhill you will kick in the ICE very easily. In fact, sometimes I can't even get to a true glide on steep downhills--the ICE kicks in before I am able to get rid of all the regen bars.

There are only a few times in my commute where I use EV Assist though. Based on other posts here, it's better to dip slightly into the gas than let your SOC drop below 4 bars because of forced regen hurting your milage. I generally only use EV Assist after long hills when I have electricity to spare.

 

You must have posted while I was typing my post

What happened to your SOC over that stretch? I have very few segments on my commute where I can use EV Assist for more than a 1000 feet or so because of hills. I generally don't bother with it, but maybe I should do more playing around.

 

I'm not going to say it doesn't drain the SoC. I don't always maximize EV Assist at 4 bars. I usually use 2 maybe 3. Over a 1 to 2 mile stretch the SoC will drop 1 or 2 bars. However I make up for it by watching the lights ahead. If I'm 1/2 mile away from a light and see it turn red, I drop out of EV Assist and coast to the light taking as many regen bars (ICE regen is better thank braking regen even though braking regen will show more regen bars) while timing my current speed and rate of mph drop to get me to the light even if I end up doing 15-20mph all the way to the light. Also, if I know the light timing and know the light will turn red before I can make it through, I will do the same thing. What does it matter... the light is red! I even do it when people are behind me... what are they going to say or do? Let them go around me and race to the red light to stop! 8 out of 10 times I don't even have to stop... the light turns green when approaching and I coast right in behind the person in front who is usually up to 15mph by the time I get behind them... thus saving more gas that would be used if I came to a complete stop!

If I do end up with SoC down to 4 bars and forced regen happens, I still watch my iFE and adjust my foot on the pedal to keep the mpg at 50 or above as much as I can while not worrying about my speed so I don't take any hard hits on the mpg.

I'm not sure how big the hills are in your area. Here in sacramento, the hills aren't large hills, but the road sure isn't flat. The elevation change of most of the not-so-flat roads are only about 20-40 feet difference, but it can get annoying because it's constant rolling hills. I can keep EV Assist on the up and downslope of these hills with no problem (speed fluctuates going up and down). I will take advantage of the downslopes and drop out of EV Assist to gain some speed quickly while keeping iFE above 50, then drop back into EV Assist.

 

There is no harm other than I was a bit aggravated when it very much seemed you were trying to take one word from my post out of context to try and give it a new meaning.

A few points here:

Concerning the "professional", I doubt he has had any experience with failed transmissions from such a new car--especially those as a result of people shifting from neutral to drive while moving. Also, I called the service department from one of, if not, the largest dealer of Toyotas in Colorado. I asked about getting an engine block heater installed in my new Toyota Highlander Hybrid. The "professional" head of service told me that Toyota does not make any engine block heaters for hybrids because they all leak. Anyway, I called another Toyota dealership and ordered my genuine Toyota engine block heater.

Do you seriously believe we are doing this over a few tenths of mpgs per gallon? Today, I did this technique at speeds low enough so that the transition between Neutral and Drive was very smooth. My two segments were 72.1 mpg over 7.1 miles and 112.9 mpg over 5.4 miles. This averages to 85.4 mpg over 12.5 miles. I can assure you that this technique resulted in an improvement of more than "a few tenths".

Well, I shouldn't have said that. I was just a bit annoyed at your post and quickly typed a response.

 

Noflash: Find yourself a road that is level and not too busy. Go out and practice. Get up to 45mph and release the throttle and watch the mpg bar hit 100mpg. Now you will notice you have two or three bars of regen.Push on the throttle untill one bar of assist, you are in EV mode, as long as the mpg shows 100mpg. You can feather the trottle up to 4 bars of assist, after that the ICE will kick on. If you practice this it becomes auto to you. Have fun, H

 

noflash, try this thread- Civic hybrid 06 driving technic summary by slajeune. He explains it well H

 

In the HCHII, do you guys really think using EV glide is beneficial for fuel economy? It provides such little power and really drains the battery. For me, there are rare occasions where I think it is OK to use. Mainly, when I am coming down mountains with a full charge and don't want the ICE to kick on in areas where the road levels out a bit.

 

John, how in earth do you get the kind of numbers you do without using this mode? That and coasting are the only ways I can do it , thus fare. I have only 6000 kil. on my car and have alot of technic to learn. I can manage #'s in the 70, 80 range, but only for short milage. 10 miles max.. H

 

I think there is a lot of confusion as to what is "glide" and what is "assist". In my opinion, glide is a fancy way of coasting where you aren't using assist, you aren't regening, and you aren't burning gas. I am not sure that my definition is the definition of the whole community though. Maybe we need a FAQ.

 

Your car is still quite new and its fuel economy will improve as it continues to break in.

One thing I have done is gradually up my tire pressures to 44 psi. Early on, I used the EV glide (with assist) a lot, but it seemed I was draining the battery and paying for it later with forced charging.