Pulse & glide in neutral

Here's the applicable California Vehicle Code section:

Coasting Prohibited

21710. The driver of a motor vehicle when traveling on down grade upon any highway shall not coast with the gears of such vehicle in neutral.

NJ probably has something similar. It did when I took Drivers Ed. 50 years ago.

 

Aside from the additional use of the shifter knob (which I suppose *might* cause the switch inside to wear out sooner from increased use), switching in and out of neutral while driving will not do any harm to the car.

Of course if you are suddenly and unexpectedly in a situation where increased power to the wheels could have prevented an accident, you may regret the extra time it takes to shift back into drive.

 

Go to YouTube and search for Max MPG for Prius. A fellow PCr made an excellent video on how to max your mpg. At the end of the day without going into Neutral the Prius can glide quite effortlessly. This link should get you there:

 

I am a new Prius owner myself; 2010 third generation and as a first time hybrid owner of a certified used hybrid, I am having the time of my life. The car is a blast to spike and glide.

The technique I tried today when when driving with interspersed traffic lights is to floor-it (albeit smoothly) on a green light (depress the accelerator until maximizing the 'pwr' threshold), put the vehicle five miles over the speed limit, and then shift to neutral and super coast. I have also tried the pulse and glide technique without shifting into neutral.

The results? Well on the 5 min consumption in traffic with interspersed lights, I am achieving well over 75 Mpg the entire time. The disadvantage is the lack of battery charging, and, since I can't make use of regenerative braking which slows the vehicle without the use of physical brakes (up to max regenerative braking), it means more wear on the physical brakes. This has been my experiment thus far and I am not sure if I will continue doing so because Toyota does not recommend this procedure. Most likely because with the transmission out of the loop on the coast, there is no assistance in slowing the vehicle down and that includes regenerative braking just from the motion of the vehicle with the accelerator fully depressed.

I have noticed the shift back to drive is rather instantaneous; the speed at which one can move the electronic paddle left and down. Thus, any situation requiring acceleration to avoid danger is one not likely to escape even if acceleration is immediately available.

I am always looking for hyper-miler techniques and have thus far recognized that it is more preferable to take the highway to work and pule & glide the city to max out MPG. I have recently set the continuous MPG to 50.1 with the techniques in the above video and I am curious what I can do with spike and glide neutral coast.

 

I would learn how to glide without using neutral. You gain nothing using it and you lose the ability to regen. With proper pulse & glide you can max out the mpg well over 100mpg if traffic is non-existent.

 

Putting it in Neutral means NO regen either ... not so good ... I would never consider this a good idea ... and noone ever suggested this is good for MPG and potentially dangerous .... in a suddenly changing situation ....

I would advise against this ..

By the way have you considered or did the same with your previous car ???? If not that is your answer.

just my 2c

 

Gliding in neutral going downhill is illegal in most states including New Jersey.
Below is a list of some of the states where its illegal.

New York (article 33 section 1216) =no downhill NICE
New Jersey (Title 39:4-55 Action on steep grades and curves) = no downhill NICE
New Jersey (Title 39:4-89) drafting behind trucks is illegal
Rhode Island (31-22-6) = no downhill NICE
Connecticut (14-222) = no downhill NICE for commercial vehicles
Maryland (21-1108) = no downhill NICE
Maine ( Title 29 A sub ch 1 section 2064)
Virginia (46.2-811) = no downhill NICE
Florida (316.2024) = no downhill NICE
Michigan (257.678) no downhill NiCE
New Mexico (66-7-360)= no downhill NICE
Arizona (Chapter 28 article 15/ 28-895 ) = no downhill NICE
Oregon (811.495) = no downhill NICE
California (VC Section 21710) = no NICE

If you get enough speed -- it is legal to glide in neutral uphill

Shifting to neutral prevents the Prius from using its regenerative brakes but it also eliminates the internal fraction/drag from the engine too.

 

When

When were these codes last updated? I have a feeling these were not directed to hybrids is the reason for the questions. At the same time, I'm not saying one should shift to neutral in a hybrid.

 

show-off.

 

Like what you say

But also what F8L is saying. And many others including you and me it is stupidly unsafe !!!!

 

Neutral mean no regenerative brakes
Neutral means no HV Battery charging at all
Neutral means that M/G1 is not protected from over reving if speed go from under 60 to over 60.
Neutral means no EV.

And it is illegal in darn near every state.

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM47818U/pdf/sec_02-01.pdf (page 4 of the PDF, page 227 of the manual

 

It's dumb to coast in Neutral in all 57 states.
If you don't know why.... just trust us until you noodle it out for yourself.

PnG is supposed to save energy.
Neutral wastes energy.

Nuff said.

 

With my terrible commute pics like that are all I have. It's like a really ugly girl with implants!

 

I expect they're all unchanged, except Florida where it is was made legal a year or two ago.

Basically neutral has two benefits over gliding:
- allowing the car to glide above 45mph. As noted above in neutral you risk damaging the motors, so don't go to high speed. Switching to neutral leaves the engine in the same state, so you can be below 45, N, gain speed and glide above 45. I've done it but I no longer speed downhill or N-glide downhill.
- avoiding low-speed creep: no regen at 8 mph or below and the car will creep. Use of neutral gives you easy pulse and glide to 0. I use this one regularly in what passes for the rush where I work, where there's a yield so the traffic moves car by car. It gives you some pedal-free driving.

 

When I start out each morning the first mile is a significant downhill slope for about 1/2 mile in quiet city streets. In drive this forces the ICE in my PIP to start and then insist on running until the coolant temp is 130 degrees. This is not nice for short trips where all EV is desired. So... neutral for that 1/2 mile is the cure although it does add a small amount of wear to the friction brakes.

 

I roll down SR-2 every morning in this mode.........68 - 72 mph, 99.9 mpg....is it really neutral, or just good warp stealth technique ????