2016 Prius 20% improvement in MPG?

10% is nothing to sneeze at, and anything significantly greater seems to bring in a lot of compromises.

 

Another 10% from 60 to 66 mpg or 55 to 60.5 mpg will be pretty hard to come by unless the ICE engine gets some sort of new miracle technology, I am guessing.

 

Of course is not.
But when you'll change your tyres, buy the Bridgestone Ecopia 001S or the Toyo Nanonergy (0,1,2) and your actual Prius will have the FE of the brand superduper Prius IV.
So, is it legit to expect something more than 10% (without removing the ashtray for lightweight) ?


Edit:
My Auris with the stock 17" Dunlop: 49 mpg ave
Details: Toyota - Auris Hybrid - Auris 2013 HSD Lounge - Spritmonitor.de

My Auris with the 17" Toyo A-RR : 60 mpg ave
Details: Toyota - Auris Hybrid - Auris 2013 HSD Lounge - Spritmonitor.de

It makes 18% improved FE. Ok, allow for a different season and take just 10%.
And consider that the Toyo have seen a lot more highway.

 

Thanks for the tire links. The ecopia 001S looks scary efficient; never seen in North America though.

As far as weight reduction, I've got a 20 lb jump pack stowed in the hatch sub-floor tray. Hey, it gives me inertia, lol.

One trick we do is to use a block heater, year 'round.

 

Have Toyo Proxes 17", apparently, Toyo NanoEnergy not available in the US.

 

LOL ^^

Yes the block heater could be particularly useful too me for the added benefit of a LPG cold start even in winter as it does in the summer... i should consider it...

I see the Bridgestone Ecopia 001S sold even in Australia, i'm wondering why in US there's such a shortage. In actual fact, there's quite a few LRR (the true ones, the one with the label that i guess is the european one, the A label) recently on the market form some other maker, i should double check.
In particular look for the new Toyo Nanoenergy 0, already sold in Japanese market, not yet even in EU.

Anyway, what i'm saying, is go look for "real" LRR, with some sort of certification for dry and wet conditions, and huge improvements is just around the corner. I can't believe in US there's none (equivalent A-class) available.

Bridgestone -

Sales Launch of NANOENERGY ZERO - Press Release - NEWS - Toyo Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd.

 

And Toyota and ford use their hybrids city rating in ads. My point is that the EPA does not require the testing of different trims, or even model, if the drive trim is the same and the curb weights close. So everybody uses the results from the model equipped with smallest wheels, and lightest curb weight or better aerodynamics.

Toyota just needs to change the ECO name to avoid confusion in the US. Perhaps, that is what Prime is for.

I believe this all just manufacturer choice. If they have a more efficient trim for a model, they want to put the better fuel economy numbers on its window and ads. So they need official figures for the car to do so legally.
It also goes the other way. Toyota didn't have to test the Camry hybrid LE and XLE separately under EPA rules, but they knew the larger wheels will reduce the fuel economy, and they didn't want to deal with annoyed XLE owners if they used the one size fits all approach with the LE results. They don't do this for the non-hybrid Camry trims.

 

Anyone have a good reason Toyota wouldn't include block heaters as standard?

Maybe they will recommend to pump the tires to 45 psi for extra mpg (-;

 

I really wish they would, and maybe they will, but I kinda doubt it. They might install them in vehicles destined for regions with extreme cold winters. But again I kinda doubt it.

It's a relatively trivial exercise to install a block heater at the factory, even before the engine is dropped into the engine bay. Doing it after purchase is a royal pain. At least it does not involve coolant draining, which is the more typical case.

One argument against it: it'd likely be by far the minority of owners that would use a pre-installed block heater.

 

not that helpful in warmer climes, i wouldn't want one included in the price.

 

I use ours thru the summer, dog days'n all.

 

The last line is why it won't appear as a standard item outside the far north. Far too few will use a block heater. And in my general low opinion of people as group, most will think it is to charge the battery.

People were installing them on gen2s. Preheating the block allows the car to skip the fuel sucking warm up phase. The part itself is under a hundred dollars, and would be no labor installed at the factory.

 

i'd have to see kWh usage at different ambients, and mpg analysis.

 

I find 2 hours is sufficient, pretty much any time of year. That'll typical raise coolant temp anywhere between 20~30C. The wattage is 400, so (I think) 2 hours usage is 0.8 kilowatt hours. A k.W.h costs us 8 cents: considering we often run over 2 hours, let's say it's costing 8 cents per session. Driving the car maybe 4 days out of the week, say 18 days a month: under $1.50 per month.

MPG savings? I'm not sure. Once in a blue moon we forgo the block heater, and I notice the engine is running higher/harder, and taking longer before it'll shut down at red lights. For sure you'd recoup more on short trips, where are large percentage of the overall trip is in warm-up behaviour.

 

That's also the beauty of the PiP - keep the motor off for the entire short trip. Trouble is we get addicted to more and more of keeping the gas motor off.

 

you got that right. engines are so yesterday.

 

Judging by what hydro charges me, I think that you need to add tax and if you hit Tier 2, your base marginal rate jumps 50% so that adds a bit but still not a lot of money. I guess if you run it once each day it would also go up 50%.

It appears that you know the timing of your car use in advance and manually preheat for 2 hrs. Is that correct?

 

Come on Mozdzen - you live in Phoenix for crying out loud. Have you ever turned on your cabin heater?
Anyone living where it is cold, wants cabin heat. I have never been interested in a PIP, so I honestly don't know how they solve the cabin heat question, but i'm supposing it is with heated engine coolant water, and that requires the ICE to heat it.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Yes on all points. I just looked at the rate on our bill, not tax. We're completely tier one, fwiw.

Our bill is $44, same charge every month. What's frustrating: seems like close to $10 is glorified "cover charges", ie: even if we used NO electricity that charge would persist.

Our constant block heater use, before first start up of the day, does necessitate some forethought. One benefit, it encourages you to consolidate trips, and/or just walk, for near-to-home errands.

For early morning trips we have a timer, so don't have to get up in middle of night, lol

 

I'm thinking the block heater would

In the winter - Dec through Jan, they stop parking the sun in downtown phoenix at night, and it can get chilly. Not -7 or anything crazy like that, but lows in the upper 20s, just enough to kill some frost sensitive plants, so yes, the heater does go on occasionally. However, the annoying thing about the regular prius are those 2 or 3 mile trips where you get 25 mpg. If a block heater would boost that to 37 or 40, I'd be interested. However, that solution may be a thing of the past. I think the battery is going to become more and more of a factor in the future - plugging in or not plugging in. We shall see.