I just got a highlander hybrid and am getting used to driving it. I have been watching the display screen, and the electric motor is used very rarely. The battery always displays as close to full and doesn't move much. How can I get the electric motor to run more? TIA!

 

What type of driving patterns do you have? Long, highway only trips? Short trips in town? Longer commutes but mostly secondary streets? Short, high speed trips?

 

It's a mix. Some highway (65 mpg) and some in town light traffic. Some of this could be the cold weather the last two days now that I think about it.

 

Unless the engine is warm, you are under 42 mph and the engine is under a light load, you will not see the engine off, electric only mode. A lot of us have learned how to get our Toyota's into hybrid mode sooner and have learned to drive more efficiently but winter cold and gas formulation will cause a big hit in your mileage.

 

What gas formulations are the best and worst? I'm still on my first tank, but my guess is that it has 87 with ethanol. If the previous driver had a heavy foot, would that cause any changes in how it chooses when to use electric mode?

 

The summer/winter gas formulations are required by the government and change the vapor temperature and several other factors to make cars run better in the winter or summer. The ECU will "learn" the habits of a driver and modify the engine tune curves to match that. The ECU can be re-set back to factory specs and thus allow it to learn your driving habits a little faster than just driving it over a period of time.

 

The weather warmer up today, and I got about 27 mpg with about 2 1/2 hours of highway and around town driving. Also got a new 12v battery, maybe that helped. I've also been doing lots of the things mentioned on this site.