MPG and Source of Fuel

During the late summer of 2019, I purchased a 2014 Prius V Three. First and far most, it was purchased for the economy with a rating of 40/45. And, in that I am nearly seventy-six inches in height, it is roomy, the perfect sized compact for a "bigger" than normal person. I leave the fuel efficiency display set on "range".

When the car was first purchased, this always registered well-over 450 miles per full-tank of gasoline. After a few months, this was only registering about 375 when filling up. I had been by a local dealer for regular oil services and used the synthetic blend that Toyota recommends. The dealer has recommended a tune-up in less than 10K, but it seem that this range loss was rather drastic. And, I was hoping that it could be improved without spending $500.00 for a tune-up anytime the fuel efficiency drops.

In that I am very frugal, I was purchasing the "best" priced fuel in town from a smaller national chain which is known for its "well-priced" gasoline. This filling station was consistently between a nickel and a dime less than the average for a gallon in the city. And, what was best, a station is only about five blocks from my home. However, I found that I was getting what I paid for.

I thought that the problem could be the quality of the fuel that I was buying. So, I tried another national chain, that is somewhat larger and offers a "guarantee" on their gasoline. But, it is a mile or so from home. I did not feel that they would reimburse me if the fuel efficiency kept declining, but thought that they must have a pretty good product if they stand behind their gasoline with a warranty covering any engine damage done by "bad gas".

This is the third fill-up at that station and the range now reads nearly "400" versus "375" on a fill-up. This was not instantaneous. The first fill-up with half a tank of the new fuel and half of the old produced "378" on the gauge when it first registered. The next one produced "384". And, the last one read "396". The last couple of fill-ups were mostly the "quality" fuel and occurred when about "50" miles were left on the range gauge.

I am not much for on-line forums and "web-chatting", but I went searching on-line for a potential simple solution when the range of my Prius V Three started dropping. I found this PriusChat. So, when I sorted out this one potential solution, I thought that I would share it for other owners.

NuevoArchitect

SIDE NOTE (on future fuel efficiency):

I have taught computing part-time at colleges and universities since 1999. I have a pair of post-baccalaureates. One is in computer science and the other is in software engineering. I have a mixture of STEM skills and started out as a physics major in the late-1980s at Vanderbilt University as a NCAA Division-I student-athlete. Some records that I have from Vanderbilt stated that I scored among the top-50 high-school students in the country on the 1988 Advanced Placement physics exam. In other words, I am "book-smart". Women, especially, and humans, in general, leave me rather confused. Algorithms and equations are my friends. These are highly predictable, disciplined, and regimented.

My original goals upon leaving high school were earning a doctorate in physics and studying energy efficiency models. I was hoping that I could help this world end its dependence on fossil fuels. The academics were quite manageable. But, life's situations derailed me, and I ended up pursuing computing. Making this protracted story as short as possible. I am a "non-traditional" researcher who works in scientific theory since it only requires a paper, pencil, and possibly a computer. Grant funding is not needed, and I freely disseminate the valuable ideas which arise.

While studying at Vanderbilt, one of my professors mentioned the Carnot cycle which describes heat engines during a lecture on thermodynamics. He said that Carnot's theory predicts that nearly seventy-percent of the energy in a tank of fuel is lost through the radiator of an internal combustion engine. Within the past couple of decades, I have written automotive manufacturers asking if they could design an engine which recovers a significant portion of this lost "heat" energy. I am not sure if this is feasible. I do not have a background in automotive engineering; I only have a couple of years of college physics and its theories.

I am just sharing this idea. If the "energy" conscious portion of the automotive community starts a "letter-writing" campaign requesting such a future engine enhancement, it might materialize if it is feasible. The (ORNL) Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee is responsible for leading the national research effort in energy efficiency.