Most recent tank

Honestly, I have never owned a tank. I tend to buy very small cars.

 

2450 PSI with a steel 100, at depth of 55' for about 52 minutes.
With a previous Al-80 was lasting less than 40 mins. Both dives in Maui.

Yes, on www.ScubaBoard.com I post my Prius mpg.

Just to keep things in perspective.

 

First tank of gas:

Calculated: 46.6 MPG (448 mi with 9.6 gal) that assumes the tank was topped off by the dealer.

ECU: 51.0 estimated

Really nice going 2.5 weeks without stopping for gas.

 

Ok, now I'm seeing probably the main reason why I'm getting lower mileage than some of you guys. Your trips are much longer than mine. I'm only driving 7 miles to work and 7 back. With the colder weather coming on I'm seeing that affect my mileage even more. Just did my first fill up since delivery (dealer said the tank was topped off) and got 48.0 on the computer and 44.30 calculated. We'll see if that changes much between today's fill up and the next one.:cheer2:

 

I think 11.4 gallons refill is running tank too low. If fuel pump doesn't get fuel, doesn't it suck air which can damage, if someone can verify? When mine hits 1 pip, it's refill time.
On that note, the owner's manual seems to be missing a section that explains the last pip will blink.

 

0. The Problem/Challenge
- MPG drops for short trips & in the cold.
=================================================
With a commute less than 10 miles in the winter ( temperature
less than 40F for most of the trip), under normal stop and go
traffic ( non highway) the Prius ICE may have difficulty reaching
its optimal operating temperature because the ICE is
regularly being turned off and on. In addition, the HV batteries
are less efficient in the cold. If your Prius is switching back and
forth between electric and gas power - it may take about
6 to 8 minutes for the engine get over 130 F and up to 40
minutes to get over 170 F - that's bad news for fuel efficiency.

Initially, the Prius aggressively warms up to heat up
the catalytic converter to get its ultra low emissions levels.
The Prius thus has a higher warmup cost than other
vehicles with dirtier emission levels SO to still get good fuel
efficiency that warmup cost has to be spread out across the
entire trip (the longer the trip the less impact the initial
fuel cost becomes). The Ford Fusion Hybrid's behaves in
a similar fashion as well - with its MPG improving even more
dramatically as it is driven over 10 miles/40
minutes.


I. The hypermiling solution (warmup/mini P&G cycles)
========================================
... is to use mainly gasoline power during the first three
to six minutes (avoiding using electrical power
as much as you can) increasing your speed if necessary
with each mini burst of acceleration via the ICE. This
promotes the warming-up of the engine. Once the ICE
is warmed up to its optimum temperature - a hypermiler
driver relies on other standard hypermiling tricks like
P&G cycle to raise the MPGs back up. This technique
works best if you have a temperature gauge.

II. The engineering solution
=======================================
.... is to install a 400W engine block heater (EBH)
and warm up your Prius before you drive it. Warming
up the Prius ICE to even 100F will shorten the
time the Prius ICE gets to its most optimum operating
temperature and push up fuel efficiency(FE) significantly.
The down side is you must use electricity to warmup
your Prius and it takes 30minutes to 2 hours prep time.
However, combined with other hypermiling techniques,
a warmed up engine can produce steller MPG results.

III. grill blocking +temperature gauge solution
=====================================
.... is to block the lower air intake grills of the
2010 Prius (e.g. with pipe foam insulation) to help
the engine warm up faster and monitor the temperature
with a temperature gauge (e.g. ScangaugeII xgauge-FWT)
to make sure your engine doesn't over heat.

IV. The trip planner solution
=====================
is to plan and accomplish several small trips sequentially
within a few minutes of each other so that each
successive trip benefits from having a warmed up
engine created by a previous trip with the first trip
being the longest trip.

hope this helps

Walter Lee
2010 Toyota Prius III Blue Ribbon/Dk Grey, Oem floormats
Yokohama Avid S33 (50/48)
ScangaugeII (FWT,SoC, RPM, GPH)
50% grill blocking (100% lower, 0% upper)
Odeometer = 17400 miles, overall 60.9 mpg

 

2011 Prius
508.0 miles
9.001 gallons
$3.599/gallon
$32.39 total
56.44 calculated mpg
58.7 computer mpg on tank
$0.0638/mile
36 miles to empty indicated

 

470.1 miles
8.44 gallons
$3.329 gallon
$28.11 total
55.7 MPG calculated
58.9 MPG computer
$0.06 mile

 

336.8 miles
5.876 gals at fill up
$24.79 total @ $4.219/ gal
57.31 calculated MPG
59.3 computer MPG on tank

Note: Last 4 fillups have all been in the 57 MPG calculated MPG range. I've had the car since late August. It now has around 4200 miles on the odometer. I have never gotten less that 53 MPG calculated. It seems that as the car has broken in with mileage, the gas mileage has steadily climbed.