Another thing to consider - the majority of the time the ICE has to run to recharge the traction battery. If you run the traction battery low by extended runs in EV mode, the ICE has to run longer to recharge it. (Obvious exception is if there is a nice long downhill coast after your EV run!)

My experience is my MPG suffers if I try to be obsessive about keeping the TCH in EV mode. I find I get noticeably better mileage if I just accelerate normally using the ICE and reserve EV mode for coasting to lights or slow moving traffic.

Note: The TCH has to be in Stage 4 to freely switch between gas and EV mode anytime you coast. This thread talks about going into EV mode and how it relates to what "stage" the system is in.

 

nash,

You can also take advantage of EV mode at the end of a drive when you know the engine will completely cool off before your next trip. The warm up on the next trip will charge the battery while you are getting the engine up to temp without too much of a hit on mileage.

 

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. I am new to this thread but have had my Camry for about 2 years.

I just want to drive at a reasonable speed in town, but this system as designed doesn't allow it. I know that this desire, in the present design, can affect the charging system. I just want to move the computer system limit up a little and make it less sensitive to starting the gas motor. Ideally, I'd like to see a hard line EV acceleration to 35 mph (until the battery really needs to charge) and beyond that, the gas motor would start. I would like to see Toyota offer an optional "tune" to these older systems to make them a little more like the newer EV cars will be.

BTW, my other car is a C6 Corvette which gets excellent overall gas mileage when driven correctly. 6th gear @ 70 mph is at <1500 rpm and it isn't unusual at all for Corvette owners to consistently get over 30 mpg on the highway.

 

Nice thought, but those newer cars won't be running around at 60mph on EV just by changing some software parameters. They'll also be sporting the $10,000+ lithium battery packs to go with it. If your "hack" budget is at least 5 figures, well there is one for the Prius, maybe one will come for the TCH.

Sounds like you'll want a Volt though...

 

Maybe if you'd read what I actually said...
"Ideally, I'd like to see a hard line EV acceleration to 35 mph (until the battery really needs to charge) and beyond that, the gas motor would start." THAT would likely be a minor firmware or software change.

I am not asking to go 60 mph in EV mode my existing Camry Hybrid. I am asking to make the car that I have just a little better from a usability standpoint, not for a new car.

 

60mph or hard acceleration to 35mph, no diff. It's all about the battery. The TCH battery is only capable of about 40hp and if the computer actually let you use it to that extent all the time, you'd be replacing it every 2 or 3 years!

 

Well, 40 mph is 5 mph faster than 35, right? That means the system is capable of doing this at least until the battery needs more charging. I say it is the computer that holds it back, not the battery. My suspicion is that Toyota is being a bit overly cautious about this and that the system is capable of just a little more acceleration in this regard.

On my 4 mile overall daily commute, I do have a 1.5 mi. long downhill run in the morning, which I coast all the way. The batter gets plenty of charging there. On the way home I drive uphill but it is a different route which has less of a hill to go up. I just want adequate acceleration to get close to the in-town speed limit everywhere it is mostly level.

If there aren't any hacks for this, fine. I'm just asking.

 

Have you ever heard of Pulse and Glide technique?
Your EV acceleration worsens your milege.

Ken@Japan

 

I think you are only considering switching from E to gas, not the other way around. The scenario you aren't considering is when you switch back to E mode as you decelerate. This happens all the time, you might just not realize it or be capitalizing on it. For example, every time you come to a stop, the car shifts into E mode. If the battery is fully charged, and if the car isn't heating up (ECO mode also helps), this will happen as you start to decelerate, even at speeds upwards of 40 MPH. The trick is to coast at this speed without kicking the gas engine back on. Once in E, the gas pedal actually gives you some force feedback (gradually increasing resistance) so you can "feel" the limit of how much you can accelerate without switching to gas to maintain a high speed in E. This occasionally happens on its own when cruising at a steady speed around 40 MPH, however more often you have to let off the gas to kick it into E, then slowly accelerate back up to 40 or so (helps to be on a decline).

 

I must be doing an awful job of explaining this...I AM careful about accelerating. I FEEL the resistance but it almost NEVER gets over 20 mph without it shifting to gas operation.

I want a TECHNICAL way to make it carefully accelerate to 35 WITHOUT having to be hypercautious about the way I accelerate. I do get it that based on all the answers...there is no such thing...for now.