in the suburban city's stop and go traffic, I get only 25 MPG at a typical 30 mph, whereas on highway, I get close to 50 MPG at 60 mph. is this typical? it seems 25 MPG in a city is very low? I do get combine 43 MPG but that's only due to the high MPG on the highway. If I commute mainly in the city, it would drop to low 30's MPG range. What are your typical experience? I bought my Prius second hand. It has 130k miles
It doesn't sound that far off from our experience. When you refer to suburban stop and go traffic at a typical 30 mph there are still a lot of variables that can easily cause the big drop. How long are the blocks? How level is the terrain? What is your acceleration and braking driving style? What's the weather like? How many miles are these in-city commutes? I have multiple tanks in my journal that have averaged 33-34 mpg overall because sub-30 mpg local driving really dragged down the mileage. As long as your combined average is where it's at it sounds normal.
I get 3.0 to 4.0 l/100km or 58…78MPG in city (worse in short journeys in cold temperature). But in a highway I get only 3.8 to 4.8 l/100km or 49…62MPG. But I (just as srellim234) think it’s all about what your city driving is. Stop and go traffic? Standing still? Climate control setting? In a city driving stile make’s a huge difference in fuel economy. If you can predict just some of the lights to avoid unnecessary stops your fuel economy will get a lot better. In a Prius you should also try to use brakes lightly this will maximize the use of regen braking and improve your fuel economy a lot.
I think the problem is the gas engine comes on over 10 MPH. I guess the newer model of hybrid electric plugin use pure electric until over 30 MPH??? Perhaps that can save more MPG in city driving?
You should be able to get to 42MPH or 70km/h without gas engine. You may have marginal hybrid battery. Is your hybrid battery indicator switching 2 bars and green 7 or 8 bars?
How long is the trip? Short trips a horrible It sounds correct for the 1st - 5 minutes, (warm up), especially if it's cold outside. After that it should gradually go up to 40+ mpg with-in 10-15 minutes.
Our 2005 actually gets better mileage at low speeds (<45) than at highway speeds (70+), in point of fact, most cars do because aerodynamic drag becomes THE factor above 40-45 MPH. If you are looking at the MPG graph on the RH side of the center screen, then yes, because that is an instantaneous representation of fuel economy. MPG (fuel economy) is not calculated using instantaneous numbers, but rather an average over some distance > Miles Driven/gallons used = Miles Per Gallon. OEM (TechStream) software can give you a snap-shot of the HV pack's health... TODAY. Neither TechStream nor any other software can predict a future issue.
You need to understand the warm up phases of the hybrid system, and consider if your route is playing a role. MPG is always low the first 5-10 minutes, so that explains it partially. Also at some point you have to come to a full stop before the vehicle goes from Stage4 to Stage5 fully warmed up final stage. Also low 12v Aux Batt can be a culprit. I don't think you should jump right into blaming the hybrid batt unless there is reason to question it (whereas 50 MPG highway is not a usual symptom of bad HV battery). If you turn the car off during a short stop, that's a factor too.
25mpg is low, but city driving mpg varies dramatically. To improve city mpg, it's important to plan far ahead as you move and really try to only gently use both the gas and brake pedals. The Prius engine efficiency drops off above 2200rpm, so when you really gas it to accelerate, you drive the engine rpm far above this where it's not more efficient than other cars. Similarly when braking, if you only apply the brake pedal gently, virtually all of the braking power comes from regenerative braking, recharging the hybrid battery. Rapid braking uses mostly the brakes themselves, throwing away the energy as heat. Also, do not try to keep the car in electric mode. The electric mode of the car is generally less efficient than using the gas engine (all of the energy the car uses comes from the gas engine originally, after it's been converted to electric there's already been efficiency loss, so it's better to just use the gas engine directly - I hope that makes sense). When at a light for example, it's best to push down between gently and moderately on the gas, taking the engine rpm to around 2000rpm, and then accelerating the entire time with a constant pressure on the gas. Generally it's only desired for the gas engine to turn off either when going at very low speeds (example parking lots at <10mph) or when no power is required (deceleration, rolling down hills, etc.). Good highway mileage but low city mileage in a Prius points mostly to driving habits.
