Hi all,

I have a 2022 es hybrid. I noticed that when I have low fuel, the estimated range will deplete very quickly, especially when it gets to around 20 miles or less. For a typical gas car, you might have a gallon or 2 on reserve after hitting empty on the fuel gauge, so at least 20-30 miles left.

I was wondering if this logic applies to hybrids as well?

 

Any Toyota I've had had about 30 km ( 18-20 miles) after the light came on. My ESh is the same.

You can squeeze more miles out of a tank of in a pinch, but that is not recommended.

 

Agreed. You can easily get another 20+ miles after the light comes on, but it isn't recommended. You can’t get a hybrid restarted by simply putting more gas in it should you run completely out. You would have to have the car towed to a Toyota/Lexus dealer. Furthermore, the first (low pressure) fuel pump is in the tank and the gas sloshing around it helps to keep it cool.

 

It is not clear to me why the car would not start if it runs out of gas?

 

Nah there's certainly more than 18 actual miles when the light comes on. people have done tests on recent toyota hybrids and the actual mileage is generally around 50-80 extra miles once the tank reads 0 miles remaining which is way after the light comes on. massive buffer built in. and those were with smaller tanks. you can probably run OBD tests to show actual fuel remaining in tank and calculate there but i have a feeling even there's more than that too. either way i try to fill right away, best not to wait or push it.

Also the last time i put gas was before the invasion and i have a little less than 1/2 tank left. i know i'm in for a shocker when i go back to the gas station but yeah the gas is lasting a while LOL

if i had to guess you have about 100 extra actual miles once the light comes on.

 

Lucky you! I fill up my ESh at least one a week. Last fill was $81....... 😩😩😩😩

I would definitely not push the car that far after light comes. Not good for the car.

 

I may have misunderstood an old discussion I had read when I owned a Prius. Apparently the issue was running out of gas AND continuing to drive until the main drive battery was depleted. Since a hybrid doesn’t have a traditional starter motor (powered by a 12V battery), there was no way to start the gas engine to charge the drive battery, and no way to charge the drive battery without the gas engine. https://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/11/...un-out-of-gas/

 

I think it'll start, as in "EV ready" but just display an hybrid system malfunction message the moment the gas engine tries to start up but no RPM are detected. then the car will just go until it's EV range is depleted which isn't too long. but i haven't tried and don't plan on it.

 

I know, the MG1 starts the engine and traction battery feeds it.
So if there’s no gas the car would run on MG2 until the battery goes flat and I don’t like that.

 

As long as you maintain a good 12V battery and don't do anything excessively bone headed like run out of fuel, i think the chances are pretty much zero that any of us will ever learn or experience of what happens if the hybrid system runs out of any power sources. the system is just so good and so perfected that it minds itself perfectly and is super hard to kill. i've seen some fleet hybrids with 500-800k miles. (same powertrains as ours)

btw got 61.4 mpg avg today on my daily commute. a/c full blast.

 

That is sick!
I was not able to average more than 47 MPG.

 

While this is very good mileage, I have to wonder how many of our commutes average 30 MPH (and an ideal 74 degrees)?