I agree with Tideland and Fuzzy, mostly. "Pulse and Glide" is essentially taking advantage of the fact that the engine is more efficient producing a moderate power level than either a high or very low level. The idea is to work the engine moderately or not at all, in alternation. Ideally, in the "glide" phase, the car should roll freely without consuming gasoline or battery energy, or braking regeneratively either (conditions permitting, of course). Hills, if of suitable steepness, allow doing that without conspicuous speed variations.
Ok I am confused now. If I accelerate to speed, then let off of the accelerator, it goes to battery charging mode. Then, if I press the accelerator just slightly, my display indicates that it is using battery power to power the wheels, but no ICE power. Is this gliding, or am I missing something?
Right idea, too much in your "slightly". In my 2006, it requires a VERY light touch. If you have a Gen 2, practice until you can get neither the GREEN regen arrows or the YELLOW electric propulsion arrows to show. On flat roads, you can maintain speed without activating either side of the threshold to engage regen (slowing you) or battery power (speeding you). Very light touch. practice when safe to do so. If Yellow arrows show up, back off. if green arrows, just a gnat's nice person more. no arrows=butter zone
I would add that "quick acceleration" aka punching it is NOT necessary. Moderate acceleration is what Prius ICE does best. After practice, you'll begin to "feel" it, and internalize it.
I'm still learning after 4 months in my Gen4. And I admit, I get confused with all this hybrid stuff. I noticed that my gas engine shuts off at any speed, even when doing 70+ mph on the highway. I just slightly let up on the accelerator pedal to kill it, and then I'm back to battery power. (For how long, I don't know. I need more driving time at fast highway speeds.) In stop & go city driving, the "pulse" part comes very easy (and quickly) when I'm in the PWR mode. I just lightly press the gas pedal, and the car leaps off the line. And then a slight release of the pedal, and the EV light comes on. I guess that's good. I try to not get too caught up in all that, or distracted... I just want to simply drive the car. And no matter what I do, and no matter what drive mode I'm in, my gas mileage never goes higher than 60 mpg. That's it. (Maybe the MPG display screen is stuck?! ) But I got no complaints. 60 is great.
Yes, the gen 4 can shut off at much faster speeds than the gen 3. I'm with you, it lends itself to city driving. Without much pulse and glide I've been getting 48-54 calculated mpg (50-57 displayed), which is amazing to me considering I don't put a ton of effort into it. 60 is fantastic.
sometimes I knock mine to neutral for the glide rather than trying to feather the pedal and find the "sweet spot" that way I don't have to watch the MFD so much, seems a bit dangerous always watching the mfd in traffic
The "Glide" in P&G is not to be confused with regen. If the battery is charging from the vehicle's inertia, you are not gliding. Gliding is ICE stopped and neutral Electric exchange. I don't know what this looks like on Gen4 display, but Gen2 will show no arrows. regen ≠glide
There is a small risk of depleting your HV battery switching to neutral. If you have a low HV SOC, the A/C on, headlights on, radio up, etc, the HV battery (which charges the 12V, which powers your accessories) and the transmission in Neutral, the HV CANNOT charge. Park, Drive, and engine Brake. Neutral and possibly also Reverse will not charge the HV
And now the thread has become about "how-to" and not about "stats". That's okay. I think its better to error on the side of education. But please share your usage rate once you've got the hang of it!
City (i.e. back roads): 75% Highway: 5% 2/3rds of my car's miles come from a 200+ mile, weekend round trip across Massachusetts. That's one of the reasons I bought a C, and not an EV or PHEV. City/back roads: I do little driving in cities, and seek routes that minimize stop-and-go and high speeds. My PR for the weekly round trip is an indicated 90.4 mpg, with avg. speed of 27mph. P&G as much as I can. Track time years ago taught me to use my mirrors, and I know the roads, so I can pull over before anyone comes up behind me. If I know there's no spot to pull over I speed up until I can. Highway: My C isn't capable of a true glide at highway speeds, but I do use terrain to my advantage when it's possible - which means in rolling hills when traffic is light. Last weekend I did the W.Mass. trip without avoiding highways, and had perfect weather & traffic (several slow cars and trucks I could follow (not draft)). Indicated mpg for that trip was 64.6, but only 110 miles is divided highway and half of that has a 55mph limit.
I used to P&G around 30% for about 1.5 years. This year in trying to make the 700 mile club, I noticed the Pulse part raised my fuel consumption to a point the Glide part could not really average it down lower than 63 mpg (3.7l/100km) on my daily drive to work (as per the computer). No matter how long I glided (and I am an avid N-glider), the glide just doesn't seem to repay the Pulse gas spike. So to eliminate the Pulse spike, I tried steady state driving at G3's most efficient speed of 40-50mph (70-80kph) and immediately made a new best record of 71mpg (3.3l/100km) in one tank, and help me make the 700 mile club. This morning just to double check I wasn't fooling myself, I reset my trip computer and found out I am now actually getting 75.8mpg (3.1l/100km). So for now I no longer P&G: It's 0.0% (zero, zilch, nada) for me. Btw as part of your survey, you should also ask what kind of MPG people are getting. It might help us point to the right direction. Oh and I said "for now" I am not using P&G. because in the future I might find out otherwise again.
yeah I realise but the risk of that is particularly miniscule, if truly gliding prius wont recharge anyway, after all that's the point to gliding.. I only do it for a couple minutes at a time, and never while driving over 50mph cheers all happy gliding, its safer than sliding!
It's not a poll (although maybe it should be), just a question in the OP about what percentage of your driving time you think you pulse and glide
It is much more difficult on the Gen 3 and Prius c then it was on the Gen 2 Prius. However, don't fret if you lightly touch and all you see is arrows from battery to wheels. Ok "technically" it's not gliding based on what I said but frankly, your amperage would be low enough, I don't think it matters . The reason it's differentiated is that you don't want to generously use your battery because a hybrid has a small capacity battery and unless you know there's a descent coming up where you can top up the battery, the engine will eventually kick in to recharge the battery, thus negating your efforts. So the idea was to minimise the use.
