Looked at the manual, thanks AndyH! and a few things stood out.
Even in EV mode the ICE may kick in under the following conditions:
"When quick acceleration is applied". Hopefully it will truly be only when flooring the vehicle or a hard press, our old Prius is ridiculous, any press of the accelerator results in the ICE starting.
When the "air conditioner" is operating. Now I'm not sure what they mean by this, do they truly mean the A/C or are they talking heater? If A/C living in TX I couldn't see how you could drive in EV very often....And speaking of heater, I'd hope it would have some form of electric heat, a heat pump like the Prius Prime would be best, but at a minimum would be an electric heater like the S model Leafs.
"In cold weather" again not a good sign for MN
Later they say, in response to if the vehicle runs out of fuel and is running only on EV:
"the propulsion power of the vehicle may be reduced" guess this makes sense.
"the heater for the air conditioner and the front window defogger will be degraded" not sure what to make of this statement other than to say it sounds like it may have some heat on EV only?? and again it sounds like no ICE no air conditioning(cold air) which would help defog the front windows?? I can't believe the A/C(compressor) wouldn't be electric like the Leaf or other EVs but the manual is sure confusing. Later in the manual, they do say it has an electric heater but no mention of an electric compressor.
"repeatedly performing quick charging can reduce battery capacity. Normal charging is recommended unless quick charging is necessary"
Sounds like no TMS like the Leaf??
"it is recommended that your vehicle be stored at temperatures below 77 degrees to maximize battery life" but they also say:
"do not store your vehicle at ambient temps over 131 degrees for over 24hrs" so it sounds that like the Leaf limiting heat is important in maximizing battery life. Oh and for our Canadians(and Northern Minnesotans)
don't store the vehicle in temps below -25c(-13F) for 7 days or more, also at -28c(-18F) motor output is restricted and at -30c(-22F) BATTERY TOO COLD will be displayed and NO vehicle use will be allowed(this will be a deal breaker for some if true, Northern MN or much of Canada where temps can get -30F or even -60F) but not for Texans
They do talk about a battery heater that may be available on some vehicles, lets hope that like later Leafs(post '11) its standard on all N. American vehicles.
"when the battery is new the estimated EV cruising range with a fully charged battery is 37 miles based on the EPA laboratory test commonly called the combined range"......interesting, better than what I remember
More notes from manual:
EV priority mode is canceled when cruise is enabled......not sure if this means EV use is not allowed when using cruise or just the "EV priority" mode.
No EV use with speeds over 75mph.....not that I regularly go over 75 on my Leaf, although I do approach it regularly, I have been known to hit 80
No EV use when the defogger switch is pressed, which again leads me to believe the compressor is tied to the ICE.
