[rav4HorP]

Can anyone explain EV mode on the hybrid? How does it work? How far can I go ? Do you have to be super light on the gas?

 

[badankles]

It uses battery only, so depends on how much is charged is how long it will run on EV, and will only run under 19mph. From my experience.

 

[Scubanero]

Really only useful for early morning departures when you don't want to wake people up.

 

[mikefocke]

The Rav4 hybrid has a very small battery, not designed for high speeds or relatively long distances like a plug-in Prime. So think of using EV for backing out of a garage early in the morning and late at night and waiting to start the gas till you are at the end of the driveway because your significant other had a rough night or the baby is sleeping or you don't want the gas fumes to be left in the garage. Eco mode is the mode that uses the battery when it can, normal puts more priority on the ICE and Sport uses both ICE and battery for max power at the cost of efficiency.

I've gone maybe a mile at less than 25 MPH in EV with no HVAC. Once over that it must switch automatically to one of the other modes.

I've owned a Toyota hybrid since 2012 and probably 99% of the time it was in ECO mode.

 

[AlexRav4xse]

If you use manual EV mode you can go up to 25 MPH and you have to be light on the gas. It will continue until your battery starts getting low. I use it for drive though's all the time. If you go to the drive through with a fully charged battery then it can stay almost 1 hour purely in EV mode..which is as long as some drive throughs take lol and you don't waste any gas

Personally though every time I put it in manual EV mode it always finds a way to get out of it anyway. I've just been letting the car do it's own thing and it seems to be pretty good at it.

 

[badankles]

That's interesting, I use it pulling out driveway and through the neighborhood, and it reverts to ICE whenever it hits 19mph.

 

[NatureBoy]

... and if the HVAC is calling for heat, the ICE will engage.

 

[thefranchise713]

Some personal thoughts on the EV button….

I don’t use it for any motive strategy, more so to suppress the ICE when the car isn’t moving and I’m idling.

This will run the battery down to minimum before kicking out of EV and eventually the ICE to engage.

Interestingly, in the heating season, if there is enough HV battery charge at idle, eventually the coolant circuit will go cold and the HVAC will slowly wind down the fans as it switches over to blowing cold air from the lack of warmth from the coolant. It won’t let that engine run until that battery drains enough that it needs generation. Contrast that to non EV-button-mode where the need for heat will trigger the ICE even if the battery is adequately charged or even full.

 

[TZX4]

Can anyone explain EV mode on the hybrid? How does it work? How far can I go ? Do you have to be super light on the gas?

Here's my explanation.
I don't know why Toyota even puts this worthless feature on their hybrids. It hardly ever works as advertised, so much so that it's not even worth counting on it delivering on its promise. If the drive battery is not hundred percent, the temperatures are less than about 60, the gas motor is going to start up anyway.

 

[juniorkirk]

Really only useful for early morning departures when you don't want to wake people up.

I don't know about that. I think the engine is quieter than the noise generator when in EV mode. If you do the bypass with resistors, then EV mode would be quieter.

 

[juniorkirk]

Here's my explanation.
I don't know why Toyota even puts this worthless feature on their hybrids. It hardly ever works as advertised, so much so that it's not even worth counting on it delivering on its promise. If the drive battery is not hundred percent, the temperatures are less than about 60, the gas motor is going to start up anyway.

I've had my battery under 50% before and was able to put it in EV Mode. I think there are a lot of variables that the computer takes into account to allow EV Mode. I've had pretty much identical situations where I was able to engage EV Mode (driving through a parking lot), but then sometimes it wont let me engage EV Mode. Would be nice if it would say why it can't engage EV Mode instead of "EV Mode unavailable" and making wonder why not.

 

[dbkelly]

Can anyone explain EV mode on the hybrid? How does it work? How far can I go ? Do you have to be super light on the gas?

It is a good way to impress friends with your electric car, I use it on mine to keep the engine off while I climb a hill leaving home, I don't like it warming up going uphill.

 

[roadster-GB]

But don't forget that EV mode also cuts in automatically on almost every occasion where you are rolling forward with little or no throttle required. This is more relevant to overall fuel economy than the short period which is provided by the EV switch at low speed.

 

[badankles]

I want to clarify that my responses were keying on the use of the 'EV Mode' switch or EV drive mode per page 217 of the owner's manual. That's a somewhat more easily explained and controlled as the EV mode that the vehicle switches to automatically from the ICE based on a myriad of variables.