What's the difference between a Prius and a hacked Prius?
I saw a note of a "battery only" feature on European Prius hybrid in the Oct. 23rd edition of U.S. News and World Report's letters to the editor. One of the magazine's readers, Richard Rosenbaum, wrote in to ask why this feature, which allows the Prius to move solely on electric power, wasn't included in American versions of the world's most popular hybrid. I've never taken a ride in a European Prius, and I wanted to find out more about this button.
Turns out this EV button is standard on Asian and European Priuses. It's also available to American drivers if you're willing to hack into your Prius' wiring. Treehugger helps you figure out how. Once activated, the EV-only mode lets you drive up to 34 miles an hour off of the battery's power. The benefit is that the gasoline motor doesn't start up, and starting up is when emissions are highest. Since you're draining the battery in EV-only mode, it's really only useful when you want to move the Prius a really short distance (alternate side of the street parking, anyone?). If you want to hack your hybrid, you can read all the details in this PDF.
[Source: U.S. News and World Report, Treehugger]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
john1701a 7:58PM (10/17/2006)
STEALTH is included for all Prius, including the American models. This mode allows driving with electricity up to 42 MPH.
The basic difference between it and the EV mode is the amount of electricity supplied. EV is more generous. EV does also delay the engine from starting back up as often; however, it doesn't prevent it.
Note for both STEALTH & EV: If the emissions system, the heater, or the battery-pack require the engine to run, electric drive will temporarily be paused.
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MikeW 11:15PM (10/17/2006)
This can prevent coolant heat loss from draining the dewar flask, if you are not going to let the engine fully warm up.
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HappyPig 10:27AM (10/18/2006)
I have this installed on my Prius and it's not the energy saver that you might think it to be. It's fine for moving your car across the parking lot without having to start the engine, but in terms of driving across town (or further) on electric only, after a while it really puts the hybrid system into an energy deficit for a while that requires the engine to run and run and run even at those low speeds that normally would be electric-only.
It's neat, but not something I use more than once a month.
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