Raidin

Hello folks,

While I've tested running out of gas once in my 2012 Prius C that I had before, I never really planned to do the same with my 2014 CT. But it happened anyway.

After miscalculating my true range, I ran out of gas on the highway one night, driving 60 MPH. Here's what happened:

The car immediately shut the engine off. EV light came on and the car began to slow down. Throttle inputs were completely ignored. I knew that I was coming up on an exit that led to a gas station I go to often (lucky me), so I cruised into the exit lane and headed off the highway.

At this point the car was reaching 40 MPH, which is just about the max speed for EV mode. I checked the hybrid battery level, and it was around 70% or so, so I let the car slow down to about 20 MPH and then started to hold the speed (in an attempt to extend the range of the battery). At this point throttle inputs were working, but it worked just as it would in EV mode, except it wouldn't kick the engine back on if I tried to floor the pedal (did it as a test).

I was able to drive very slowly until I reached the gas station and pulled in. Luckily, this happened around 2am so all the lights were green and I never stopped, even when turning at a light. Didn't want to risk not being able to drive away after a stop.

Once at the pump, I turned the car off, filled up, and the car started up just fine afterwards, and everything worked normally again.

The same was true for my Prius C. It always started up and drove fine after refuelling. (It ran out once when my mom was driving it. She reported the car just kept slowing down so she was able to reach the shoulder just fine.)

SteveMason

Thanks for sharing this Raidin, I have always been curious as to what would happen in this scenario.

lexusrus

So I have a question :

What if you were NOT near any gas station? Should you just pull over and turn the car off and call AAA or someone to bring gas?

I hear if a hybrid goes completely dead, a "FRANKENSTEIN " at the dealership will be needed to restart the car. The usual jump start will be useless. Is this true?


[QUOTE1=Raidin;9442328]Hello folks,
While I've tested running out of gas once in my 2012 Prius C that I had before, I never really planned to do the same with my 2014 CT. But it happened anyway.

After miscalculating my true range, I ran out of gas on the highway one night, driving 60 MPH. Here's what happened:

The car immediately shut the engine off. EV light came on and the car began to slow down. Throttle inputs were completely ignored. I knew that I was coming up on an exit that led to a gas station I go to often (lucky me), so I cruised into the exit lane and headed off the highway.

At this point the car was reaching 40 MPH, which is just about the max speed for EV mode. I checked the hybrid battery level, and it was around 70% or so, so I let the car slow down to about 20 MPH and then started to hold the speed (in an attempt to extend the range of the battery). At this point throttle inputs were working, but it worked just as it would in EV mode, except it wouldn't kick the engine back on if I tried to floor the pedal (did it as a test).

I was able to drive very slowly until I reached the gas station and pulled in. Luckily, this happened around 2am so all the lights were green and I never stopped, even when turning at a light. Didn't want to risk not being able to drive away after a stop.

Once at the pump, I turned the car off, filled up, and the car started up just fine afterwards, and everything worked normally again.

The same was true for my Prius C. It always started up and drove fine after refuelling. (It ran out once when my mom was driving it. She reported the car just kept slowing down so she was able to reach the shoulder just fine.)[/QUOTE]

nacke

Yes, you just fill up (2 gallons is enough?), the car detects it and will start again. I think it won't move from standstill in EV mode if there's no gas to protect the hybrid battery.

Raidin

In my Prius C, when I ran out of gas, I limped into a gas station, but the car completely died before I reached the pump. I had to go inside, buy a gas can, fill it up, and walk a few feet and fill up my car. It started up without any problems.

I have also heard about the dealer restart thing, but never experienced it. Not sure what conditions are necessary for the dealer to intervene.

E46CT

How many miles remaining did your gauges show when your engine shut off? Is it reliable? Can it be relied on?

BTW nice car =) i have a blue F - Sport too.

lcneed

I am sure OP's computer will show 0 range left and the gauge pointer was pointing below empty.

The miles remaining will show 0 when there is around 3.5 gallons of gas still left in the tank. I have never fill up the car before it reaches 0. I reset my Trip A every fill up and when it reaches around 400 miles.. I will start thinking about filling it up.. and I will usually get around 8 gallons in.

In other words, the miles remaining is completely off on the safe side, unlike my BMW.

BTW, OP, the amount the driving you do is crazy! I thought I drive a lot with 30,000 miles per year and fill up about 10 times a month, but nothing compare to yours based on your fuelly data.

Raidin

@Icneed: Yup, lol, roughly 140,000 to 150,000 per year.

@E46CT: Thank you! I get non-stop compliments on the blue color, have you experienced the same?

In another forum where I posted the same thing, I got a few questions and here were my answers for anyone interested:

can you give us the details of how low the gas was, dte, how many miles after the low gas warning, why you kept driving, how far you hoped to go, etc.?

"From my fuelly report (3/22/16), I had driven 571 miles since my last fill up. Car read 51.7 MPG but true MPG was 48.8. (Difference of 2.9. I normally calculate based on 3 difference, but I think this time I did 2 by accident.)

DTE was null, as the range always drops to 0 long before I'm out of gas. At 48.8 true MPG, range for 11.9 gallons is 580.7 miles.

I never calculate miles past low gas warning because I know it tends to be 150-200 miles from true empty, and fluctuates based on MPG, so I have no idea.

I kept driving because my entire trip per day is something like 550 miles on average, and I can usually make it to the gas station the next day 2 miles from home. Just easier to gas up once per day than twice with my limited schedule. This should cover your final two questions.

Also, a rough calculation from Google Maps shows I drove around 1.5 miles to the gas station from when the engine shut off.

My guess is that the car will stop you before you completely empty your tank. I filled up 11.702 gallons, which is really odd because I once made it to a gas station and filled up 11.813 gallons (fuelly report for 2/9/16 for reference)."

E46CT

Yes lots of compliments... all from women. Haha... the other day i went to "0" mile remaining but when I filled up, it only filled up 8 gallons. Which mean it had around 3 remaining.. which means I had at least 120 miles left. I was nervous too.