[GTO]

Ambrish Khosla drops in this query via our share page!

I have a query due to the flood-like situation in North India.

In ICE cars, it is recommended to maintain some accelerator input when driving through mild floods (so water doesn't enter the exhaust pipe). In cars with idling start / stop systems, it is recommended to disable the idling start / stop in flooded areas.

But what about Hybrids like the Grand Vitara & Toyota Hyryder? What if I am driving through mild floods and the car moves to "EV" mode, switching off the engine?

I believe they don't have a way to disable "EV mode"?

Please share the best practices as hybrid looks like the near future, before the EV wave hits India.

Thank you.

[Rovergen]

I come from Gen 3 Prius and think it is should be the same for Hyryder. At slow speeds it starts with battery and moves to IC when you speed up. In case the battery is charged sufficiently then you have a button for EV only mode.

I guess you have no option to cut of the hybrid battery and run only on IC unless your Hybrid battery is totally dead or you get the triangle of death which leads to slow mode.

[archat68]

In cars like Brezza, there is a option to switch off Auto start stop mode aka hybrid mode via a simple switch.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by archat68

In cars like Brezza, there is a option to switch off Auto start stop mode aka hybrid mode via a simple switch.

Brezza is not a proper hybrid. Maruti’s SHVS is a marketing scam, a poor joke it played on us unsuspecting and gullible Indians. The car is beyond the scope of this thread.

[MotoBlip]

I'm not acutely aware of the switching characteristics of a hybrid car, but if there's enough juice in the hybrid battery and it has to navigate through a flooded road, won't switching to EV mode actually be a better option? The chance that the engine suffers a hydrolock would be minimal if not zero. Obviously, this is assuming that the electrical system and the e-motors have some sort of water ingress protection which they usually do since they are extensively tested by OEMs. In any case, it's best to avoid a flooded roads altogether regardless of a car's powertrain, specifically speaking of Grand Vitara/Hyryder, as long as water does not enter the cabin/boot, I think the hybrid battery won't sustain any damage.

EDIT: Found this video online by Toyota, which says the HV system is disabled during a flooding situation, which should mean that they will probably behave like any other ICE vehicle on the road, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57utWOXg3t8

[CrackedHead]

I drive a Toyota Highlander Hybrid in the US and was recently doing a DIY coolant replacement. The procedure to burp the coolant circuit required putting the car into "Maintenance mode" so the engine would run continuously. Youtube has plenty of videos describing how to do this on a Toyota so I won't go into details of the how - but once in maintenance mode, the engine will run continuously. Note: This mode isn't recommended for sustained use - only for troubleshooting problems with the engine.

[Jeroen]

I would be interested in hearing what the various owner manuals have to say about this topic! Maybe we should hold our opinions and suggestions until we have read the manual?

I know it’s a tall order because somehow most Petrolheads don’t seem to read manuals. But I would appreciate if some of our members could dig up the owner manuals of their hybrid and or EV to see what is says, if anything at all.

Jeroen

[NomadSK]

This is what the manual of Hyundai Elantra’s hybrid model says, scary though

Looks like in this model there’s an option to turn OFF the hybrid system.

As Jeroen have mentioned, please go through the owner manual.

[baarish84]

I observed that engine in my Hyryder turns on / remain on when front windshield defroster is activated.

May be this will temporarily disable EV mode?

[Carpainter]

Very good topic. Nothing is mentioned regarding this in the Maruti Grand Vitara owners manual. But in a quick google search, I found this. Although still don't know how to keep the revs high like we do in normal ICE cars in case of wading knee deep water.

https://youtu.be/uBu_RNaxp5g

[Dhruv29]

It all depends upon how the car is built (Air intake/Electrical connections). For my ES300h, I had to drive it 3-4 times over the period of 5 years on flooded roads where water is probably half the height of wheel. Best is to avoid the flooded roads all together, but if you have to drive through it, wait for EV batteries to charge up and then drive on EV mode by giving light throttle input so as to not wake up the ICE.

Image taken yesterday (Notice - EV mode):



If ICE starts, you have the option to stop and again charge up the batteries and continue or you can continue at idle pace if you know how the air intakes are designed in your vehicle.
Unlike the competition, It's rare for ES (7th Gen) to scoop up water from oncoming waves, as the intake design prohibits the water to make way through the grill to air intake directly by oncoming waves.


But it's a risky business. I have a certain level of confidence in my car because i got the car on lift at Service Centre, and checked the build quality of all the connections and air intake design. I have many times waded through water at snail's pace where Germans and other vehicles were stranded. Hopefully, this does not back fire some day.

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Brezza is not a proper hybrid. Maruti’s SHVS is a marketing scam, a poor joke it played on us unsuspecting and gullible Indians. The car is beyond the scope of this thread.

It is a marketing scam sure, but it is not a totally ridiculous piece of technology in my books, it is miles ahead of the lame start stop systems we get with every other car, my brand new Verna for example (and my friend's new Slavia) starts the car with normal starter during the start stop phase, which feels (some mild vibrations like when engine starts when you turn the key) and sounds cheap, Maruti atleast has a proper implementation of this tech and a silent start stop (ISG) system designed for this purpose, plus the efficiency gains and boost, however small (around 3-4%) is still an added bonus, hell, they even have a dedicated lithium ion battery for this thing.
Feels like a well engineered mild/light hybrid than once again every other car's essentially turning off the key at every traffic light and turning it on start/stop systems.

A small unrelated trivia for whosoever it may concern, the other day my Verna was at a downhill slope and start stop turned it off when I put it in neutral, meanwhile I was pressing on the brake to keep the car stationary, meanwhile the car in front moved a bit, so I released the brake (in part to test if reduction in brake vaccum pressure will bring the engine back to life or not), and then I braked again, this obviously resulted in brake pedal loosing its boost and becoming hard like it would in a turned off car, and when I did the same for the second time, it finally became so hard that I had to pull the handbrake else the car would have banged with the one in front (speeds were in the range of 3-5 km/h so I was prepared for any situation), the engine never came back on and only did once I pressed on the clutch, ideally, this kind of bug shouldn't be there as it may in some remote scenario catch someone off guard, the engine should turn back on the moment some sensor detects loss in brake's vaccum pressure/assist.

But I agree, beyond the scope of this thread and really good question by the way by OP.

[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by Rocketscience

the other day my Verna was at a downhill slope and start stop turned it off when I put it in neutral, meanwhile I was pressing on the brake to keep the car stationary

But why were you in neutral on a downslope in the first place?

In a similar situation, the Maruti wouldn’t have stopped as the auto start stop doesn’t work in neutral.

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

But why were you in neutral on a downslope in the first place?

In a similar situation, the Maruti wouldn’t have stopped as the auto start stop doesn’t work in neutral.

OT but,
Traffic Jam in a flyover during its downhill slope and the traffic light had turned red, so put the car in neutral while pressing on the brakes and the engine turned off instantly, the car in front moved by 5 feet or so, so stepped off the brake and braked again and so on...

In a car with no start stop, would have put it in neutral in this situation and applied the handbrake or pressed on the brakes and relaxed, would have crawled at 2-3 km/h speeds in neutral by modulating the brakes and would have applied first or second gear beyond 5km/h or so to initiate driving. (Because even if you press the clutch and apply the first gear in this situation, you can't release it fully before pressing again since the traffic is crawling at snail's pace)

P.S Also to clarify, the start stop in my case and in every case I guess only turns off the engine when the car is completely stationary (which my car was when it first turned it off, I was not coasting in neutral in a downhill slope, also, I don't think any system will turn the engine off in such a situation either as that can prove to be downright fatal)

[nirmaljusdoit]

This is what the Grand Vitara manual says