[adeshell]

Has anyone ever driven up to this speed? Does the car stop accelerating when it reaches this speed or does it go over and above 100mph? I've never dared to see how fast I goes. I'm just curious in a juvenile kind of way :twisted:

 

[mrv]

Has anyone ever driven up to this speed? Does the car stop accelerating when it reaches this speed or does it go over and above 100mph? I've never dared to see how fast I goes. I'm just curious in a juvenile kind of way :twisted:

There's a guy in Germany that's taken
his Prius out onto the Autobahn (sp?).

The Prius tops out at around 101 MPH or so. Won't go any faster. As I recall, it's a transmission-limiter thing. But then again, I'm not a techie.

 

[T. S. Kimball]

It accelerates just fine after 60mph, thank you. 8)

I've found in recent experience that you MUST keep glancing at the speedometer like you're supposed to. Due to the constant acceleration I sometimes find myself driving much faster then expected (especially when passing SUVs on highway :wink.

 

[Henry]

Had my 2002 Silver in for its 15,000 maintenance this morning. Wandering around the showroom while waiting, I glanced up and there on the wall was a big beautiful Prius poster (wish I knew where to get one!). Among the data listed thereon was the assertion of 105 mph as maximum speed. Also, they listed the hybrid battery (!), if you please, with a horsepower value: 34 hp, to be exact. By this stratagem, adding up the ICE (70) + electric (44) + battery (34), they came up with 148 total hp! This is on an "official" Toyota poster, mind you. Comments?

 

[paul16451]

I don't see the problem here. Those three numbers add to 148 as far as I can tell. Where is the discrepancy?

 

[citicar1976]

Prius Horsepower

It's bad enough that the press seems to get the information about the Prius all messed up, but even worse when it's Toyota doing it! I hope that the poster was a misprint. As I understand it, the total horsepower available is around 98. That is 70 from the ICE and 28 from the electric motor. The electric motor can produce 40+ horsepower, but the computer limits the current draw to protect the battery pack. :!:

 

[Henry]

Paul: no discrepancy. My astonishment was due to seeing a horsepower value applied to a battery! Never saw this before, nor do I see the utility. See next message---

Citicar: Toyota's literature has consistently rated the electric motor as 33kW/44 hp @ 1,040-5,600 rpm, and torque 350 N-m/258 lb.-ft. @ 0-400 rpm. Electric motors exert maximum torque at starting, just when it's needed to overcome inertia, so torque is probably more important than horsepower as far as hybrids are concerned.

 

[RSnyder]

The gasoline engine tops out at 70 HP (but you have to be going over 60 MPH to get there). That one's easy for the ad guys to get right, their used to it. The larger electric motor can convert up to 33 kW (44 HP) of electric power to mechanical power (you have to be going over 18 MPH to get this much power conversion). But it doesn't create this power out of thin air, it receives the electric power from both the battery and from the gasoline engine (via the smaller electric motor/generator). Since it receives some of the power from the gasoline engine, this power does not go directly to the wheels, so you must be careful not to add the peak output of the gasoline engine and the electric motor to get total peak output. The battery can contribute at most 21 kW (28 HP) of electric power, so when the larger electric motor is converting 44 HP, at least 44-28 or 16 HP must come from the gasoline engine. The easiest way to get the real peak HP is to add the peak contributions from the gasoline engine and the battery so you get 70 + 28 or 98 HP. The electric motor peak doesn't enter in because its contribution is really coming from the other two. The ad guys really don't get this point.

In the U.S., electric power is usually measured in kW while mechanical power is usually measured in HP. But the two units really are measures of the same physical concept. You can easily convert by multiplying HP by .746 to get kW (or dividing kW by .746 to get HP).

 

[citicar1976]

RE: Horsepower and Torque

I was going to explain my reasoning for the 98 horsepower limit for the Prius, but I see that RSnyder did it for me. (And quite well!)
As to the importance of torque, I agree with Henry on that one. I owned a 1976 Citicar which had an electric motor that was only rated for 6 horsepower, but had a tremendous amount of torque. People would laugh at me when I told them what the horsepower was, but I could beat anything going from 0 to 25 mph!

 

[mwbueno]

Still mildly Juvenile @ 50

I too wondered where the Prius would "Top Out." As I crossed 36,000 miles on my odometer the other day, I decided to go find out. I asked my Blue Moon Pearl to show me what she could do. She got to 101 MPH quite easily and there is where her speedometer display "Topped Out." I actually have slightly over-size tires, 185/65/R14s so; I did the calculations and found that she was actually going closer to 102.7 MPH.

I was on a level highway at the time and kept her at that speed for about 2 minutes. The ICE stayed at its maximum of 4,500 RPM the whole time. She also engaged the HV battery for assist from time to time (possible wind gusts) but, for the most part the ICE was the main source of power. I did use a lot of HV to get up to speed as I didnt want to risk staying in the speeding ticket velocity range for very long.

My VFD indicated that I had an aerodynamic drag of 36.06 KW and a total of 41.77 KW drag overall which would include things such as mechanical and rolling resistances along with the aerodynamic drag. Translating all of this to American means I was using 48.34 HP to cut through the wind and a total of 56 HP overall to go that fast. The asphalt surface was slightly rough and was adding a little more rolling resistance than usual.

The only thing I noticed when I brought her back to sane speeds (70 MPH) was that she began recharging the HV with a steady 22 Amps for quite a while which had a pretty noticeable effect on the instantaneous mileage bar. After a few minutes of this rather healthy recharge mode, the HV Icon again showed full and the mileage went back to normal.

It was fun but it wasnt something I would have felt anywhere near as secure doing on my old Potenzas. I probably wont go do that again very soon but, while I was doing it all seemed quite secure and manageable. Again, the Michelins really added a sense of security and control over that which I had with my old Potenzas.

Wayne

 

[jdbower]

Ever try Dunlops on a Prius?

I love my SP9000 summer tires and my WinterSport M2 snowshoes. When the stock tires wear out I'm thinking of replacing them with Dunlop Sport A2 performance tires or SP40 all season tires. Dunlops traditionally handle VERY well in the rain, wonder how they'd compare with your Michelins.

 

[mwbueno]

Re: Ever try Dunlops on a Prius?

I love my SP9000 summer tires and my WinterSport M2 snowshoes. When the stock tires wear out I'm thinking of replacing them with Dunlop Sport A2 performance tires or SP40 all season tires. Dunlops traditionally handle VERY well in the rain, wonder how they'd compare with your Michelins.

I don't know! Where do you live? Maybe we can switch wheels and tire for a couple of weeks and I can get us some comparison data.

I am only kidding. The only data I could gather would be rolling resistance and mileage. I don't have accelerometers and etc and don't really plan on getting any.

Did you take the Prius up past 100 MPH on both the Potenzas and Dunlops? If so, any comments?

I had Dunlops on a 930s Stage II many years ago and they handled significantly better than the P7s they replaced; mostly they were more predictable and talked to you before you lost traction instantaneously and dangerously like those crazy P7s always did.

I am older now and senile enough to really believe that I am wiser so, I tend to putt around most of the time and am therefore very fond of the Prius!

Wayne
Pittsburg, TX

 

[tdonoughue]

I am on my 2nd Prius. In my first one (the 2001), I got it up to 113 mph with the benefit of a hill. I did not sustain the speed and have not been foolish enough to take my new baby up that fast again.

So, whatever limiter there is, it is certainly accelleration-limiting rather than truly speed-limiting.

Find a hill...