Hybrids and OCI's

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Just a question for the guru's out there:

How do owners of hybrid cars determine *when* to change the oil? Is there an onboard gadget that depicts battery time/gasoline time?

It seems that hybrid engines are going to put a new slant on extended OCI's. But how does one keep track of miles on the oil if part of the time its rolling around on electricity?

Anybody?
 
people who drive hybirds should demand super-extended OCIs if they really want to minimize their lifecycle cost and environmental impact...

JMH
 
I changed my hybrid Civic every 7500 per warranty requirements.
And when warranty expired, I went to 10,000 miles.

Actually hybrids use the engine 99.9% of the driven miles. The difference is not signifigant.
 
Honda hybrids probably use the gas engine a bit more than a Toyota hybrid. They both work on slightly different principals. I'm not sure exactly how the Honda system works but I think the gas engine is running most of the time when the car is moving. The Toyota runs a bit on electric power or coasting as part of it's normal operation. In the case of the Prius you could still use mileage as an indicator because all that starting and stopping of the gas engine is wear, too, and I don't know how you would figure the off time vs run time, anyhow. I'm doing 5k intervals because of the warranty. I could care less about the real running time of the engine. It's more fun to worry about playing the gas mileage game and not worry about the oil changes.
 
The Prius battery is small and only holds about 1 mile worth of juice (at low speeds). That means the engine is still running for 99.9% of the miles driven.
 
Quote:

The Prius battery is small and only holds about 1 mile worth of juice (at low speeds). That means the engine is still running for 99.9% of the miles driven.

Click to expand...


a surprising fact to many
the real fuel economy secret of the Prius is its overall efficient design much more than its hybridization
 
O/T - Back when I was "consumed" with all the "the world is coming to an end" undertones amongst all the tech talk in magazines concerning sustainability, I came across an article on the Honda Insight. It's been a few years as you know, and my memory is vague ...but A few things that I do remember the writer mentioning is the engine cutout when the stick was centered and the clutch was out (neutral position as if at a light). The engine would restart when a gear was selected, and the writer tried with no success to stall it by quickly shifting and popping the clutch. The electric motor that also served as the starter and regen., would also provide torque pulses to help smooth out that of the engine's at idle, giving the illusion of silky smooth operation. Some attention to details...
 
If your Prius gas engine is running 99% of the time you are doing freeway driving. If you are doing city driving you could not possibly keep the gas engine running that much, no matter how hard you try. To better understand the Prius you must drive or ride in one for a while. It's different.
 
You are mixing time and distance travelled.
In terms of distance travelled, yes engine is active for 99% or 98% OF THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED.
However, conventional engines spend a lot of time running when distance travelled is ZERO (at traffic lights, stuch on highway, etc.) Thus in terms of time, engine in a hybrid vehicle is active only 90% or 80% or even 30% OF THE TRAVEL TIME. Clearly it depends on city vs highway, etc.

Here is another example. During summer my commute one way using a car is about 45 min. During particularly bad weather in winter the same distance may require as much as 2 hours using my SUV. Therefore, the SUV has shorter OCIs as its distance travelled in fact represents longer run time than the same distance travelled in summer. Hence the Severe Schedule for winter has shorter OCI recommendations.

Between Civic Hybrid and Prius, clearly Prius has a more aggresive design and will spend more time with its ICE off. You cannot generalize "all hybrids" based on experience with a Civic Hybrid.
 
Has anyone checked out the GM Volt concept car? The car is entirely and always propelled by electric motors. The engine only turns a generator. If you lived close to work and plugged in the car at night you might go all week and never have the engine come on (40 mile all electric range). Someday we'll have cars like this. What if you ONLY drove the car to work and the gas in your tank got months old? They'll have to figure out how to deal with that as well as the oil issue. It seems like a lot of cars these days have oil life monitors so as the cars get more extreme and spend less time with the engine running it will be impossible to figure out when to change the oil other than using the OLM.
 
Quote:

You are mixing time and distance travelled.
In terms of distance travelled, yes engine is active for 99% or 98% OF THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED.

Click to expand...


NOPE.

If I'd have kept my foot buried, then yes it would have. But driving as a sane person (roughly) obeying the speed limits, and on winding/hilly roads, my recent experience would lead me to say that the petrol engine was off maybe 10% of the time that the car was moving.

I WAS driving the hybrid to maximise it's hybridness...engineers and toys.

(Met the same point to point time as most of my workmates do, and used nearly 10% less fuel than them...which I ususally do in non hybrid cars anyway)
 
The Volt is just a mock-up. There is nothing inside except for the passenger's interior. You can say the technology is here but batteries are a problem. The production ones are heavy and the good ones blow up and cost too much.
 
1990 Geo Metro got 55MPG HWY and consistently got over 50 in mixed driving. It cost 7K back then. Civic CRX HF versions were like 51 HWY. We did not need no stinkin Hybrid. Take the dame weight out and just leave the smaller 3 and 4 cylinder engines without all the weight and they'd be cheap and fuel efficient.

Ford is 10K or 1 YR on the Escape Hybrid....
 
Quote:

Quote:

The Prius battery is small and only holds about 1 mile worth of juice (at low speeds). That means the engine is still running for 99.9% of the miles driven.

Click to expand...


a surprising fact to many
the real fuel economy secret of the Prius is its overall efficient design much more than its hybridization

Click to expand...


While that's part of it, keep in mind that you also capture the energy normally thrown away during braking/deceleration. I imagine that's where hybrids really shine compared to a conventional design...stop&go driving.

You also gain some on the highway with the smaller engine operating more efficiently since it's under more load relative to a larger engine. The smaller engine in turn allows the same acceleration since it has the electric motor assisting it.

The complexity of such a system always concerned me. But it sure looks like Toyota can produce a very reliable design if they want to.
 
Cool...only they should of used something sexier like a Ferrari 308.
banana.gif


As an aside, I've wondered for some time now why someone hasn't come up with a similar design (4 electric motors in the wheels) working from a clean sheet. Seems to me that you could really optimize the location and the spaced used by the batteries in relation to the other functional parts of the car. 4 x 50hp in a aerodynamically efficent, lightweight yet strong structure, all electric, charged at home, would make an excellent commuter car. Maybe with a installable motor-generator pack for longer trips.
 
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