I am a total newb... here is what I am doing; I have tried several different techniques and for city driving, this seems to be doing great. From a stop - I put the car in EV mode. I then accelerate modestly keeping the car in EV mode until I get thrown out at around 25 or so (depending on incline, load... etc). The ICE kicks on until 35 or so and then goes back into EV (not engaging the EV button, I mean that the EV light comes on indicating that the ICE has turned off). SO yes, I am putting it in EV at every stop light/sign and 85% of the time, there is enough battery power to allow it.. however a few times it has said "battery is too low" to go into EV... even though when I took off, the EV light was still on indicating that the ICE was off. My last several trips around town have been; 5.4 miles 80.5 mpg 23.2 miles 76.6 mpg 5.3 miles 85.1 mpg my indicator only shows 56 for the tankful which is at 450 miles because I had 200 miles of highway driving at the beginning of this tank full. Getting ready to fill up tomorrow because I have a 100 mile round trip tonight.. GRRR!!!
Try to keep you highway speed at 60mph and lower and you should be able to maintain 60mpg or more on your tank total.
I hope you are on a 4-lane road so folks can go around you as you start up Your results make sense to me. Where are all the folks who say that EV is so inefficient?
How slow are you going on these roads. I try to take off slow and do easy acceleration, but most of the time the traffic is just to much for that. I just try to quickly accelerate to good speed then back off and take it as easy as possible to maintain speed at speed limit. My best mpg usually shows anywhere between 52 and 55. Got 59 once or twice.
I too am a noob with the Prius. Been consistently above 50 mpg since I got my Prius back in September. Even broke the 600 mile barrier on my last tank. Just traveled from Florida to New Jersey and ummm let's say my worst tank yet. Now to the quote above. I don't believe that it's inefficient to use EV mode to start as long as you have time to drive above 40 to allow the battery to recharge. What I do believe is the undesired result is that that does put unnecessary stress on the traction battery, shortening its life. There is a reason that the normal mode does not allow acceleration that strong above the half way on the hybrid display. What you are doing by switching into EV mode is allowing a MUCH higher current draw from the traction battery. (Your big acceleration). I have found that every limitation and feature of the Prius driving experience has its reason. (Wether we like them or not)
I use "Pulse and EV" where the speed limit is 45 or less. This may not be as good as Pulse and Glide but it pretty much keeps up with the traffic and gets around 60mpg if there aren't too many red stop lights. Works great on slower country roads too.
I don't use the EV mode selection for my Pulse and EV. I usually have it in the ECO mode for more convenient response to the accelerator. I assume if the Prius computer selects EV as I maintain my speed on level roads, the battery usage is reasonable.
So you are wanting said people to prove you wrong? There are threads and threads on this subject already.
