Miracle car drives after it runs out of gas…or does it?
This has been discussed extensively on various Prius email lists. Yes, the car will keep operating, and you can drive slowly and with slow acceleration on battery power alone. This will not get you much further than a couple of miles or so (gasoline stores LOTS of energy compared to batteries, even large batteries like the Prius’). The gas engine always tries to come on at speeds over 42 mph, so I wouldn’t know (or want to find out) what happens if you try to push a Prius with no gas faster than 42mph. It is somewhat dangerous, as if the Prius’ main battery is discharged too far, it can be damaged. So you would have to keep a close eye on the battery gauge and drive quite cautiously. So: if you can see the gas station, sure, you can nurse the car there. Otherwise, call AAA. If you Google for prius ev button hack, you’ll find a PDF detailing how to perform the procedure.
