How can I maximize MPG with 50,000 mile/year delivery service?

Standard practices pretty much apply to all vehicles regardless of engine design.
There are lots of threads on here about it already. Please do a little searching.

In my opinion you should avoid extreme suggestions such as very high tire pressures; 40 is fine.
Optimum highway mileage usually occurs around 45-50 MPH but many places it's not practical to go that slow. I think my C "likes" a speed of about 52 best.

The two biggest factors are: Speed and stopping.
Not speeding and anticipating the lights so you don't have to stop........and not doing "jack rabbit" starts.......probably are the biggest factors.

 

I don't believe practicing fuel conservation on a delivery route will work. Maybe the first several days, but then time will be your enemy. You have the right vehicle that will provide good mileage with normal, SAFE, driving techniques. Why burden yourself with pinching pennies. Whoever first said, "time is money", was right.

 

For all Prii, the most efficient speed is the slowest speed you can otherwise tolerate, but not slower than about 15 mph. This assumes there is no value to saving time.

When driving is your job, you are likely trading off the value of your time vs the cost of fuel.

 

Your current mpgs are normal-to-good, considering there are highway miles in the mix. You'll make up the mpgs while puttering through towns.

40psi is not bad. There's a tradeoff point for psi vs harshness. It would depend on your comfort and the local road conditions. Go up to 45front/42rear and work your way down to that point, would be my recommendation. Be advised, higher pressures stiffen the sidewall and allow for greater cornering speeds on dry pavement, but they also are rather unforgiving on wet pavements.

On the hilly section you may wish to get out of eco mode and return to it afterwards, but that would be something to discard if not warranted. It would be your choice per conditions, load, traffic, temps, etc. Throttle response is greatly improved out of eco mode, and there are times when it may be a good thing.

For me and my C, I find that 37mph is about where I can drive on flat on EV and still not bother traffic very much. Pulse and glide to the top of a hill and over it, then EV until the next hill. When actively seeking EV mode in traffic I like to take every opportunity to lift the pedal and go into EV mode, staying there as long as possible, and lift the pedal regularly to find it again at the first opportunity. That, and doing the active thinking thing to plan out the route I can see before me, and stay EV as much as possible. Either work, depending on traffic conditions.

Using EV is great, but there has to be a time to refill the battery. The best times for that are going uphill and braking. Use the uphill sections to refill the battery. You see them coming, use them. Alternately, it's a good thing to carry some extra speed into a stop or a slowdown so that you can use the brakes to recharge. Again, be attentive and use these things when available. It takes a lot of thinking at first, but becomes second nature before very long.

Time and experience are your best bet for enhanced mpgs. Best o' luck to you.

 

Do not hesitate to use A/C if you are uncomfortable, the batteries like it better cool

 

As a courier who bought a new 2012 C2 for a 100k miles per year route (75% highway), I can pass on the following:

1. At first, I tried a lot of the suggestions on this forum. After a few months of experimentation, I discovered that I don't get much (maybe 1 or 2 mpg) gain by using a bunch of hypermiling tricks. Long drives average out all the little tricks after highway driving.
2. With a lot of hours on the road, you may eventually get tired of constantly maximizing your efficiency at every opportunity. I now just use a simple system consisting of cruise control and using either 45 or 55 mph, as those seem to be the car's most efficient speeds overall.
3. I tried high pressure and found no discernable changes in mpg. If you drive every day, your conditions will vary a lot day to day so you won't always see a benefit for the risk you're taking with high tire pressure.
4. I never turn off my climate control, and I still get 60 to 65 mpg every day I stick to my system. You will get lower mpg after first starting the car with the climate control on because of the high initial fan speed to cool or heat your interior, but when it settles down, you won't see a difference in mpgs. Again, the high number of miles per trip will average the low mpgs you get at the beginning of your drive right out.
5. In the end, find a comfortable mpg number that doesn't require too much effort, and you'll be able to relax on your drives and pay more attention to the road. Beyond that, just try to accelerate and brake slowly. Everything else has minimal impact on your mileage. Better to get 60 mpg with mostly cruise control and comfort with climate control than 62 mpg with a lot of hypermiling every day that may stress you out in the long run.

 

Well said.
Minimizing stress and maximizing attention to the road and traffic are both GOOD things.

As a matter of fact, getting into the habit of paying attention to traffic conditions WELL up ahead probably can save more gas than ALL of the other "techniques and tricks" combined.

 

I agree. I would like to see Toyota incorporate a lot of these hypermiling tricks into their cruise control under an "eco" cruise setting that lets the car be even more efficient when it is possible and safe to do so, rather than have the driver micromanage and juggle all sorts of things while driving.

Still, just driving calmly and being steady will grant you about 80 to 90% of the efficiency you get with the car, allowing you to just focus on the driving and the road. They built the car and its logic software for the hybrid system well enough for that at least.

 

The first thing I would do is inflate tires to max sidewall psi, the tires will run cooler and specifically if you are hauling extra weight. some will say that this will cause extra wear and tear on the suspension I think stock 15" wheels with 50 psi is easier on the car than larger wheels with low profile tires.

Running air cond. will reduce mpg a little but if it is hot and you are driving at faster speeds I would use it. At slower speeds I put all the windows down unless it is over 90 deg. I run my car in eco mode and that will turn the compressor on and off at times that are better for mpg.

after you figure out your mpg, I incourage you to test with higher octane fuel. I personally have observed a 15% difference with about 3000 miles switching back and fourth. I did observe that most of my increase seems to be with in town driving on mostly short trips. again many will say there is no benifit to super. most of them only go by what they think instead of ever trying it. I have a thread 87 vs 91 octane in prius c, it should be 87 vs 92 I messed up and later found out that super is 92 at costco where I get all my gas.

 

Be careful if anyone tries this, because warmer weather than when it was when you reached max PSI will increase your PSI even more, which could blow your tire on the road.

 

The safety margin between sidewall max cold pressure and burst pressure ought to be more than enough to account for weather, altitude, and highway heating changes. Uncle Wayne and the other hardcore hypermilers who won't admit how just high their pressures are, don't seem to have been having blowouts from excess pressure.

 

Raidin has it figured out. I'll only add that the hilly part of the drive can be handled best out of cruise control, using a technique called 'driving with load' (DWL). Wayne Gerdes explained it well over at cleanmpg.com

The basic idea is to pick a reasonable engine load and stay there or as close as feasible. Car speed varies over terrain, engine power output stays constant. In terms of fuel economy the technique levels out the terrain.

 

My C likes 58 MPH, and I also use Super unleaded 92 octane. I can get 60 MPG plus at this speed. Tire pressure is set to factory and A/C in on 98% of the time.

 

This is exactly why I wish Toyota would program an eco mode for Cruise Control, for the hilly parts. As much as I'm tempted to maintain engine load on hills for economy, I'd rather take the hit and use Cruise for relaxation's sake.

 

While I'm glad to see some folks getting better mileage with higher octane fuel, I feel the added cost of the fuel won't be negated by the additional economy gain.

 

For some hilly terrain I find I can keep CC on and lessen the hit to fuel economy by taking enough advance notice of the upcoming hill and doing the following:

Bump up the RPM to ~ 2500 so that my speed is in mid to high 70s at the start of the incline
Keep the RPM at 2500 rpm till the top
Then let off the pedal gently just above the set CC speed and let CC take over

My goal is too keep RPM below 2500 or so. Then the fuel consumption hit is minimized and I get to avoid the extra noise and vibration that high RPM brings.

 

Unless it is also ethanol free, you are just wasting your money.
It does ABSOLUTELY nothing to improve the engine's running.
It might, in fact, make it worse.

 

He just said that he uses it.
I don't see any claim that the fuel increases his mileage.