Prius lover who is starting think about the next prius which would b the Prime...

No need to hypermile PRIME. You can achieve 60 mpg without any effort. With conservative speed and braking, 70-80mpg is easily achievable without doing any of the crazy shiftings you have described. In fact, if you are charging the traction battery and driving mostly on EV mode, there is no benefit.

 

I don't hypermile, per se. I drive normally whenever there is a car following me. I do often coast the last couple hundred feet for so to a stop sign especially if there is an uphill incline. I do coast when I can see a red light ahead and often don't need the brakes when I do that. Yesterday I made an 8 mile cross town trip and the gauges showed 5.7 miles per kWh. That's 175Wh per mile. Not to shabby for a trip with lots of starts and stops.

 

@PixelRogue , now's your chance to fix that title. There's a button somewhere around the initial post when you start a thread, is there for a few hours. Later on it'll take a moderator to edit.

 

i wonder if you could mod a paddle shifter behind the steering wheel.

 

As I understand it, the hypermiling techniques for the Prius, such as "pulse and glide", are based on getting the ICE to operate more in its most efficient manner (right RPM, power load), and using the battery to move the car with the ICE off otherwise. This is all based on the fact that in a Prius, all of the power ultimately comes from the gasoline engine, so one then goes to great lengths to make it operate as efficiently possible, or be off. None of that is relevant when driving in EV mode in a Prime. Unlike gasoline engines, electric motors have a very flat RPM/power curve. Others can provide more technical details, but the bottom line is that it is really hard to beat with manual techniques what the car does on its own with respect to efficiency.

 

It all depends on the cost of electricity you are paying. At the US average rate of $0.12/kWh, using EPA numbers of 25miles EV range and 53mpg for gas HV drive, your EV driving is going to be about half the cost of driving on gasoline at ~$3/gal. If you charge PP and your routine drive is always less than the EV range, your mpg is going to be locked at 999.9mpg at half the cost of gas at $0.12/kWh vs ~$3/gal without using any of the hypermiling techniques.

Of course, if you are paying more or less than the national average on electricity and gas, and your usual EV range and mpg is more or less than EPA numbers, and your driving habit is more or less than the EV range... then YMMV.

 

If you like to Hypermile with a PHEV, you may want to consider making your next Prius an Ioniq.

I don't have any stick time with them personally, but they're reputed to have a Volt style regen paddle....which would give you the option of nearly true 1-pedal-driving.

Something to think about......

Good Luck!

 

i dont hypermile, but i do try to coast when i can. but sometimes things are unavoidable what with the way streets are built in my area. however, i have no complaints about performance. but when op brought up thinking about the future it also makes me wonder personally...ill have to check more into that haha!

 

The Prime is a really nice car. I would take it over the regular Prius any day mainly because I like the EV driving experience.

It has its flaws... Mainly infotainment.

As for hypermiling I'm finding if you drive efficiently there is little to be gained from more extreme measures like shifting to neutral etc. Biggest two factors are keep your speed down and plan your route to make the best of your EV range.

From a safety and liability point of view, relocating the shifter seems like a really bad idea. Keep your eyes on the road, forget about shifting, focus on driving safely and efficiently. Time the lights, glide as much as you can etc. You'll get great mileage and will be less likely to get in an accident. Also, keep up with traffic and stay out of people's way.

 

MPG display on PP is meaningless if you charge the car and drive on EV mode. If the engine never comes on, it will be forever showing 999.9mpg. Even if you do drive further than the EV range and the engine does come on occasionally, the mpg display is never for the actual mpg for HV mode. The EV range from the full charge is estimated to be 25 miles, but you can drive further distance most time especially in warmer weather.

 

No. 4miles/kwh 133mpge vs 9.1miles/kwh 306mpge.