[PA Prius]

I am considering installing Coastal Tech's EV Switch. Two questions--

1. Has anyone had experience of Toyota challenging the warranty of car in which this was installed. I have an '04 with 46,000 miles and the 100,000 Platinum warranty.

2. Can you increase your overall mpg by using the switch?

Okay, a third question - Assuming the battery will be used more with the switch, will the battery life be deminished, that is will I save a few cents only to have it cost me many dollars?

PA P

 

[efusco]

1)No
2)It is possible, but only with very careful and specific usage. I tell most people that they'll probably have a negative impact on FE with much use at all.
3)Probably not. With 'abuse' of the switch by running the battery to the lowest possible level frequently and using the battery as your primary means to accelerate from a stop it 'might' cause a noticable decrease in battery life. With occasional use allowing the SOC of the battery to stay well within it's usual operating levels there's no reason to believe it will cause any impact.

All that said, I always tell people that there is some chance that if you have a battery failure AND you have an EV button that Toyota 'may' refuse to replace it under warranty and you should be prepared to spend up to $4000 for a replacement. I don't believe that is likely to happen, but it would be silly to get this unnecessary button without understanding the potential for negative reprecussions.

 

[DaveT]

I put the EV mod on our '06. Wrote about it in my "5,000 mile" post in General.

Basically, it's a fun little toy but seems to have little practical value.

If you install one and have a warranty repair, just remove the mod. About a 15 minute job.

 

[dgstan]

Dr.,

Do you still notice the latency associated with EV usage we spoke about a while back? By this I mean the fact that the car still relies on the battery after exiting EV mode?

http://www.priusonline.com/viewtopic.php?t=5854&highlight=

I've found a way to "convince" the car that EV mode has really been disengaged. After exiting EV mode, if you step on the gas harder than usual, the engine with over-rev and start sending energy back to the battery. Once this happens, the system seems to revert to normal operation.

That said - yes, you can increase you MPG with limited use of the EV switch. Every morning, I leave my house down a slow downgrade that last about a mile. I engage EV mode every morning and drive for at least the first mile on battery alone. The SOC may decrease by 1 or 2 bars.
Otherwise, I use it for driving around parking lots, backing out of the driveway, etc. But if you really want to increase your MPG, drive 68 MPH on the freeway instead of 75.