Prius as a taxi?

There are very many things that influence fuel economy. A good place to start is by reading this item and posting the answers here, to give us more clues to help you: Fuel economy complaints/queries? Please copy, paste & answer these questions, esp. if you're new

 

I hope the other cab drivers on this list will find this thread. I suspect they will be able to help you more than us random folks.
However, I have a few questions that may help:
What other vehicles have you used as taxis?
Compare their actual MPGs with the MPGs advertised. The ratio there might be similar to what you get with the Prius compared to the advertised MPG.

The "instantaneous" MPG you see doesn't really tell all that much--accelleration always takes you quite low, as you will see in any car that shows it--it's worse in NYC (I'm a former east coast city kid, though I never had a car when I lived in NYC) because of how inconsistent freeway speeds can be. If you are getting good mpgs when on the highway at steady speed, I will bet the car is OK.

I'm going to bet this has been a bad summer for MPG in NY--has it been hotter than average, and have you been using a lot of AC? In the city, I bet you use a lot of AC for the distance travelled, making it even worse.

Where do you do most of your driving? Manhattan vs. Queens can make a lot of difference.

 

Your car is doing great considering circumstances... City driving, especially cab driving, doesn't give you much time to focus on improving MPG, but the more you learn about how to pulse&glide, as well all the factors that go into keeping the car in tip-top shape I'm sure you'll see your city mpg creeping up into the low 40's. Oh and apply that same vigilance you have for tire pressure to also making sure your oil level is never too full after oil changes which can lower MPG.

Also the higher the tire pressure the better the MPG, but of course too high of tire pressure you'll lose a soft ride and more important safety and stability. But many driver's on here keep their tires a bit higher than recommended for better mpg. I was able to get my tires all the way up to 51psi before it became unsafe. I keep 'em around 48/46 now!

You also need to talk to other Prius Cab drivers on here for perspective. I was talking to a guy last week who had some cool stuff to say about Prius cab driving here: Newbie Prius Cabbie Here! | PriusChat

 

OK, I just saw your new posting, and I have a hypothesis:

You say you run AC at 67-71, auto. That's a huge difference from the ambient summer air. Try running at closer to 75.
You also say you average 25-35 in the city.
But in Manhattan and Brooklyn I bet you spend a lot of time stopped or crawling. Now Priuses are good because they can shut down the gas engine sometimes in those conditions, but you lose some of that benefit with a lot of AC, because the power that the AC draws still has to come eventually from the gas burned.
Plus, no matter how you slice it, the EPA's so-called city driving cycle isn't as much stop and go as real life.

 

Do you spend much time stopped, or standing at the curb or in a taxi waiting line, with AC running? If so, this will really clobber apparent MPG. See kgall's reply.

But if the fuel penalty of the AC is expressed metric style (liters/100-kilometer, or gallons/100-miles), the cost won't look so bad. And if you figure the cost in gallons/day, it will still be much better than any non-hybrid taxi.

 

I agree.
The AC is set way too low and its going to automatically trigger the ICE to keep it running.
Resetting the AC to 78 F probably will signficant help the overall MPG.
Limiting the top highway speed to 55 mph or 60 mph would help too.
If you are sitting waiting for a fare/passenger unless its really realy cold outside (say 32F) it doesn't pay to turn off a Prius for 30 minutes and then turn it back on because of *startup* cost involve in a cold start.
This might sound counter intuitive but if your HV battery is persistently low -- around two to three bars most of the time then you should set the Prius in Normal or Power Mode.

 

What is your average speed on an actual tank... if I do commuting only I am getting 17-19MPH you probably even less and sweet spot for the prius is around 50-55 under load !!! So if you go a lot to the airport (off peak) you can get a lot better mileage then purely in city. But it is relative ... you can tell quickly if it worth it for you ... you know how much per mile the gas cost in this car and the crown vic ...

No not at all I am driving in NYC. Not that much in the city but Queens I commute from LI to Midtown everyday and over 40,000 miles my average is 51.6 MPG (at least 90% of that is the commute) so ... yes accelerating is an issue this is a 1.6L engine and so much the battery can do but you should be able to do better .... also it makes a huge difference when the car is "heavy" with 4/5 people with cargo ...

Nothing under the hood you can fiddle really, but if you use the proper tire pressure what Toyota puts on the door !!! that is t0o low for high millage and that is the best and easy way to increase MPG ... I use 42.5 front 40 back which is higher then "proper" and I can tell when the shop adjusts it down ... 3-4-5 MPG at least....

And as others point out A/C in summer and heating in the winter will be taking quite a bit you mpg down but since you are a cab you can't just roll down the windows I guess there are some rules.... for the winter you should consider blocking the lower grill (it is safe but you may want a scangauge or similar monitor for peace of mind... btw the SG helped me get a much better driving ... I was driving prius for 4 years when I bought and increased my average 5-6 MPG easily not sure if it paid itself or not. Probably

But there are tons of priuses in the city as cab you can ask some fellow cabbies and let us know what they average ??

The driving technique IS the key more patience more mpg (that perhaps an oxymoron in NYC traffic)

 

It all depends on your personal situation and the local traffic you drive in. My first 12 month average was 49 mpg UK which is about 41 mpg US. On a hard day shift I'd get about 46 mpg UK or 38 mpg US and the lowest daily mpg I had was in winter where it was 41 mpg UK/34 mpg US for a shift. On a run out of town I'd get from 55 mpg to 65 mpg UK (46/54 US) for a shift. On my days off I could get these right up to 75 mpg UK(62 US) but you just couldn't drive like that in the taxi world.

I'd say your figures sound absolutely right to me. In the UK where we get many more diesel offerings and manual transmission is more popular (only because of fuel costs), I would still beat any of my taxi driver colleagues for fuel economy.

One word of warning; keep an eye on your steering motor. I believe on the 15 inch wheels they use a different motor and it just doesn't seem to last. By 60,000 miles I was on my THIRD! All these were under warranty but at £1,500 a time it could prove expensive. If you start getting a regular judder on a fast lock to lock, then get it in asap.

I'd also be curious how long your brake pads last. On here there are reports of people going past 100,000 miles on one set, but I only managed 30,000! Because of all the start, stop, start stop all day I'm sure they take a hammering. I guess if one just drives 100 miles a day on a motorway with little braking, you'll get them to last almost forever. I think the conditions of New York would be very similar to taxi work over here; very congested and always on your brakes.

Update;

I also ensure the correct 0w20 oil is used as using 5w30 reduces fuel economy significantly in town. I also found that paying extra for the LLR tyres is worthwhile as they pay for themselves in fuel economy savings. I also only changed my oil at the 10k mile intervals with no issues; the oil is still clean, the car doesn't burn any extra and sounds like new still.

 

Was that in an early 2010 model? I seem to remember a mid-year production change that put the higher end steering motor into all the cars.

 

No it's an early gen3 purchased in Oct 2009.

If they've corrected the steering on later models then that's good.

 

That would be the production I meant. On this side of the pond, the first Gen 3's appeared in May 2009, labeled as 2010s. Mine was purchased in June 2009.

IIRC the steering change was to happened at about the same time as USB was added, which was to be about October 2009. With the pipeline delay from factory to dealer, you likely have the old version.

Does anybody else remember any details of this change, including the timing?

 

I don't even remember the change, but do remember looking at a parts breakdown and seeing some countries only got the good motors from the start.

 

We have a 3 model gen3 Prius range; t3, t4 and t-sipirit (Volvo own the rights to t-5). The t-3 gets the 'lesser' steering system whereas the others get the improved version. I understand the t-3 is similar spec to the Prius III sold in the US so do the I, II and III get the lesser system too?

The gen3 was introduced here in late July 2009, but being released in 2009 was described as a 2009 rather than for the following year, hence prefering to call it a gen3 to clarify.

 

What tire make & model does it have now? I thought it can with only three different models, all rated at 44 psi. It may list a 40 psi max for seating the bead, but list a higher figure (normally 44 or 51) for the road.

If the max really is 40, then it probably isn't the OEM tire set, so may also not be low rolling resistance.

But your good results on the highway suggest that the tires and pressure are not the problem. And at your current pressure, adding more will make very little difference. There seems to be something in your city conditions or style that we haven't yet puzzled out.

 

What tire you have ??? I have the original stock Yokohama Avid S33D which have 45psi cold inflation pressure listed so I am running 42.5 and 40.5 I think all stock tire has similar psi rating certainly higher then 40psi there is something 40 on the tire but that refers to something else

I drive through Queens on Queens blvd from Van wick to the bridge both way every day ... moderated traffic in rush ours is great the lights are synced. I managed more than once from Van Dam street to the supreme court without stopping (those are the lucky days but normally I can drive many lights without stopping ) BUT after 8 pm or weekend it is on purpose out of sync then I rather go GCPW..

Good strategy I do that when battery is low and I am stoppped at red ... no point to charge the battery if I do not need it right then and I will have power soon moving..

That is a good speed I rarely got that you must be "quick" then my average speed more in the 15mph .... in queens/manhattan PLUS I have a good 10 miles on sunrise ... I think you can improve ... do you have a SG device ?? you would be suprised how much that helps to see MPG/load/RPM and even temps...

 

not using 0w20 oil I bet. I found that using 5w30 (by accident) caused my city mpg's to fall badly. The car was hesitant when the engine did fire up and power mode made no difference.

Are you changing oil at 5k miles and using something other than 0w20 thinking you're saving costs?