One thing I'm noticing is that I am hardly ever in EV mode. No matter how light I am on the accelerator. This is especially true when starting from a stop. The EV is only good till around 2-3 MPH then the ICE kicks in HARD...

If it's kicking in HARD then you must be goosing it pretty good. That is unless HARD simply means you feel the "shutter" that's been describes in various ways. From a start unless you're really babying the car you'll just about always have the ICE kick on. That's normal and if you read back from some of the tips here and on edmunds you'll see how to maximize the FE even though that occurs.

I have found that my battery seems to charge to green easier than it did on my first tank, not sure why.

To get the hang of running in EV, find a large down slope and get your battery charged up to the higher bars, hopefully even green. Or if you have the NAV system you will find a speed on roads where you can drive 55 that will have times where you can accelerate and still charge the battery. Just try to start the practice though with a nearly full charge. THEN find a level piece of road with little traffic (a 4 lane city street works well as people can pass you). Accelerate up to speed (35 to 38 mph and let off the gas quickyl and then immediately reapply the throttle when your FE needle drops to E. Touch the pedal as if there was an egg under your foot and you don't want to crush it. You will find with time you will gently and slowly lift your foot in order to keep the FE meter pegged at E (or near the 60 mark over 42 mph when the ICE will kick on anyway). Practice that.

Also when you're driving on any road and no one is behind you practice letting off the gas then gently reapplying the throttle. You'll eventually get the feel for just how much effort it takes to barely maintain speed without kicking in the ICE.

It does take practice, but it will become second nature if you stick with it.

The truly fanatical are allowing their cars to slow on grades rather than kick in the ICE. The economical driver will set the cruise OR just maintain excellent FE averages by practicing this "pulse and glide" when it's easy (flat or down grades) and still just take it easy on grade. The differences in these two drivers is probably 36.5 mpg and 39 mpg, at least in the terrain I am in. Basically once you're in the FE level the 2 to 3 mpg difference does not amount to that much gasoline savings (that improvement is less than 10%).

 

I remember on my test drive that the ICE didn't kick in until about 10 MPH's or so.

I'm guessing in your test drive that you took it easy. Unless you're in a city and just want to slowly accelerate on EV mode we've found that normal acceleration to speed and then letting off the gas yields excellent results.

 

Really? I didn't know that...

 

WV,

Thanks for your tips. I guess there is a bit of changes to my driving habbits that I need to get used to.

On my test drive, I basically drove the care the same as I am doing now, maybe even gunning it a bit more to see the response. The only thing I can say is that maybe the test-drive car was "broken in".

I usually have the lights on auto with the AC on and in economy mode. I am going to switch them off and see how that affects things.

 

I usually have the lights on auto with the AC on and in economy mode. I am going to switch them off and see how that affects things.

I don't run with my lights on but I have not had the A/C off since I bought it (in ECO mode though)

 

It is the same as in my HiHy. I use a scangauge (new version) so I can tell what is going on as to RPM and engine load (besides oher parameters that the scangauge is capable).

-The engine stays at about 1300 RPM while warming up.
-The engine load stays at about 15%
-When you step on the gas, the RPM stays but the engine load climbs to between 35-50%.
-If you step farther down, the RPM rises and the engine load stays above 50%.

Hope that helps.