New to the Prius family. Bought a 2014 PIP advanced last week strictly as an economic play. Thought I'd hate it but am absolutely in LOVE with this car. Bought it instead of a used Cayman and incredibly glad I did. Am noob when it comes to driving techniques, currently average 72mpg on 90 mi. trips with one charge, so doing better than I expected. I did read up on the Pulse and Glide techniques for the standard Prius and the 'verification' of the glide portion for those is the lack of any power arrows emanating from either the ICS , MG2 or battery on the MID. I have been unable to replicate this on the PIP. In other words, when I am 'gliding' on my PIP, the ICS is off but there always seems to be a green charge indicator flowing back to the batteries from the front wheels. Keep in mind, my foot is on the accelerator slightly, there is no 'white' bar protruding into the CHG area or the ECO area and I know I am 'gliding/coasting' as no matter how long I am in this sweet spot, even though the charge arrows are active, I DO NOT top up the battery at all, which says to me the car is indeed 'gliding' without the regenerative brakes or ICS in play and it certainly FEELS like I'm gliding as with over-inflated tires (44/42) the PIP seemingly coasts forever. I'm thinking this is a different behavior from a standard Prius in this 'glide' sweet spot, as, at least on my PIP, I can never get the MID to blank out in terms of energy flow. Can anyone confirm this? I.E. have you managed a 'pulse and glide' in a PIP getting the all energy flow arrows to disappear - a completely blank display???
welcome to priuschat! yes, everyone has that problem on the mid. you are truly gliding, congrats! if you have any trouble keeping the bar off on the his, a bit to the right is a very minute amount of electricity being used and is easier to do. all the best!
Ok, great! Thanks for the quick response. Now I can stop trying to get all the arrows to disappear and just enjoy the car.
That 'verification' worked well on the GenII Prius (2004-2009), but breaks down on the GenIII (2010+) because the display is much too sensitive, requiring a far higher level of pedal precision. And it isn't even possible at some speeds. (I'm referring to GenIII in general, not PiP specifically.) 0.001% precision is not really necessary, so this other method you used is quite sufficient for the GenIII: I'd also suggest getting some more experience driving 'normally' for a couple tanks to establish a baseline, before putting much effort into hypermiling. Having a baseline will help later to judge how much improvement you are getting, or are getting any improvement at all, for the effort being put into trying to save fuel. Some things don't work at all, and others are not worth the effort, and a reference point is needed to help make this judgement.
Agreed. I will say that so far driving in normal HV mode without eco pushed gives me better mileage than eco mode if I pay attention to the right techniques. That's a big relief for me as the numb response in eco mode is a little depressing from a 'sport driving' pov, but I understand for 'set and forget' folks it's a nice option. I'm a sailor so I don't mind keeping on top of things as I drive, that's half the fun of it, but on lazier days I guess eco has its advantages.
Some people just do better in Normal than in ECO. And a few do best in PWR. In any case, the economy difference is small, so fell free to choose this driving mode based on your own preference, not on what the rest of us say is 'best' for our particular wants and needs.
What are all those acronymns? Trying to learn this technique with my PIP so that would help... thanks.
When the engine turns off, you are in a glide. You usually try to use the battery energy as possible, but, especially with a plug-in, you can increase your overall mileage by judicious use of the battery during a glide. If you get an OBD device (ie, ScanGauge, etc.), you can see the workings of the system much more clearly than on the multi-function display.
In order to truly coast (glide) free of engine braking and regeneration, I've found that it helps to press the accelerator just slightly so that there's no white showing at all on the MFD. Even if you don't have an OBDII device, you can "feel' the difference, particularly on a downhill. When you take your foot off the accelerator, you'll feel the car slowing and see the regeneration indication on the MFD. But if you press the accelerator just slightly, you'll see the regeneration bar disappear, and you shouldn't feel any perceptible speed decrease. Doing this should essentially "blank out" the energy flow on your MID. Give it a try and see if you can increase your EV range and your overall mileage.
You can watch the MFD for indications of good pulse and glide technique. This is from my Model Three since I never bothered to do it in the PIP. Same general rules apply, however. Perfect P&G Not so perfect P&G
