Hello, I have a 2017 Prius 4 Touring, and I use my car to go to school and do my tasks. My main drive consists of a 4-mile uphill, 3-mile downhill, 3-mile, uphill, and finally a 3-mile downhill. I get on average about 45-50 mpg. What could I potentially do to help improve my range? I filled up all the tires to 45 psi to help in that aspect, I always do my best to be in eco mode, yet despite my best efforts I can't seem to get consistent 55-60. I see other people are getting even on up/downhill, any help would be excellent, thank you.
The trick is to keep the car in EV mode for as long as possible. This is where you get the highest MPGs. Don't charge up hill, keep a slow steady pace. When you start the down hill descent, allow gravity to pull the car down. While going downhill, you can ride the brakes lightly to increase regenerative braking so you when you get to the bottom of the hill, the battery will have more charge. Once you flatten out, keep a steady speed and keep the car in EV mode.
Drop them closer to the door jamb decal pressures, see what the diff is. Higher pressures help a little with mpg, but means more transmission of road deflections, into the wheel bearings, suspension. Anyway to avoid the hills, alternate routes? Probably not, but just a thought. I'm off to the dentist in an hour: there's a couple of ways I can go: one is more direct, goes up-and-over a hill. The other is more circuitous but mostly skirts the hill climb. Couple more factors though: I prefer the up-and-over route, just an easier drive. And, with our very limtted use of the car, I like the hill climb cus it gets the car fully warmed up, lol.
How steep are the hills? Can you give us an elevation profile, or the elevations of each top and bottom? Shallow downhills, where you can glide down without braking, are amenable to good MPGs. Steep hills requiring braking, especially friction or engine braking, much less so. That depends. Overuse of EV mode hurts MPG.
Just drive it - the PRIUS generally will work it out well. Some But - aim for economical type driving where possible - but that depends on traffic - you don't want to be labelled as a slow PRIUS driver - but you if nobody is behind, you can ease back a bit. Google PRIUSChat Hypermiling - and there are some articles there which might help. Forcing EV mode needs to understand what the car would do otherwise. If you force it, and end up with an empty Hybrid battery when you get to a traffic light - and it then starts the engine and runs it for a series of idling is counterproductive.
You are going to get a multitude of various opinions on this site that are just that. Learn from other sources everything you can on how your car’s hybrid system actually works. With that knowledge you will soon be able to answer your own question and be confident that you are heading in the right direction. Surprisingly, one thing you will learn will be that every ounce of energy produced to move your car has to come from somewhere. Your goal is to understand just where it actually comes from.
You lose most of your energy braking, so the main trick is to avoid braking. This depends on lights, traffic, experience, and paying attention. I'm able to hit most of the lights in the morning by hanging back an doing mostly 33 mph on a route that's almost entirely 40mph speed limit. There are two unavoidable stops, but knowing where they are really helps optimize. The trip home does require hitting the gas on a left arrow to make the next light... get up to 47 in a 40 zone depending how late I begin the turn. Traffic home is a lot less predictable in general, but avoiding busses, and picking the correct lane (due to experience) pays dividends. Construction can throw a wrench into things... once there was a "Center lane closed" causing absolute havoc for about 3 weeks. Picked an alternative route after 2 days trying to navigate that mess.
Terrain-coordinated pulse and glide -- use the uphills as the pulse, then learn how to make efficient use of the downhills as the glide -- can work very well in the right circumstances. Though a driver does need to learn how to glide efficiently, it isn't fully intuitive and many drivers do the downhill side inefficiently. But many downhill slopes are not great fits for this pattern.
Yes, absolutely - though this type of driving may not quite fit that "4mile up, 3m down, 3m up, 3m downl". But understanding pulse and glide means that to an extent he'll be able to maybe improve fuel use. One thing which hasn't been mentioned in detail is speed - which ... ummm has quite a bearing on economy. And 45-50 mpg isn't to be sneezed at - a comparatively sized non-hybrid vehicle would use significantly more fuel.
Rebel. Do complete, look-both-ways stops at stop signs (and when turning right on a red) and the image is complete.
After reading all the comments thus far, I can second, 1) Just Drive It, this basically means there's a chance you could just have a peak performance on this segment, 2) Pulse and glide/coast, learning this technique is important, lucky it's well documented already, 3) learn how the system works, this incorporates all the above, I would add to it; make use of the dash board, namely the hybrid drive indicators. The dash board is your Heads Up Display and will help you understand the cause and effect of the pedal and the road conditions. Temperature control is also a factor to look at. Know the rout, how much gas you need and don't over use your resources to reach your destination. I drive to the speed limit and if I know I won't make the next light I coast and or stop gassing all together. There's a lot of good bit of advice you gotta take it all and apply it to see what sticks and you'll learn more for yourself as you do! May you make 600+ miles per tank!
I forgot to add, learn to hate your brake! It's good for emergency and parking, and following some laws ...
