I haven't had my prius long so I'm still learning. I drive the same 23 mile route everyday. Started off getting around 64-66mpg. I now get 69-71mpg with an average speed of 35mph. Uk mpg btw. I'm trying to eke as much mpg as possible. Keep in mind I drive in commuter traffic so I can't maximise things like p&g or drive slower. The journey is a complete mix. 1 mile of <20mph until I reach the 50mph carriageway. Then about 15 miles or 40-60mph single lane road with plenty of stop junctions and roundabouts with a huge hill thrown in plus 2 other smaller ones and finishing with 2 ish miles of 30-40mph. Today I tried completely avoiding ev, sticking to less than a quarter to the left of the hsi. Whilst the battery stayed fully charged I still only got 71.4mpg. Still very good but should I expect more? Instead of staying in ev on hsi I p&g as much without disrupting traffic flow. So whilst I didn't improve much could I do anything else to maximise mpg especially on my route whilst includes several uphill accelerations and accelerations up to 50-60mph
I balance out my EV If i were driving around the neighborhood, parking lot, or a 25 mph school zone, I try EV it all the way until the battery is down to 2 bars If im driving on main roads I only use my EV to get up to 7 mph and then use the ICE to accelerate to 5 mph higher then the posted speed limit then coast, glide and regen when im approaching to a traffic light or stop sign. Now since your in UK and your mpgs are diffrent then ours, UK mpg is 57.7- 61.8 and US MPG 48.1-51.0 MPG, granted that i'm not using LRR tires, our gas contains 10% ethanol and my commute is mostly highways at 65-70 mph.
My first thought: stay clear of both extremes, use EV when you've got good charge level, try to avoid EV with the HSD bar almost at the median (eats the charge fast), and purposely activate the engine, switch to pulse-and-glide, when battery level drops significantly.
Pressures are 40/38 Does 69-71mpg sound about right for my route and average speed? What gains do you think a good hyper miler could make?
Insufficient information: Post a Google Map, Google Earth, or equivalent that maps your usual route Include lunch if typically eaten out Include the normal commute times: start and durations It is OK to have the nearest corner to work and home to preserve privacy Then we can discuss efficient driving strategies. Bob Wilson
thanks, that's excellent! you should be very happy. of course, i'm very happy, but always trying for more. that's half the fun!
Good numbers. Yes. Few Prius drivers routinely get those numbers. My best averages are 54 mpg(US)/65 (UK). Further mpg improvement would require significant slowing on my express lane/interstate segments. It's not worth it to drive that slow at rush hour. Very little without becoming a distraction to other drivers. The mpg you are getting is great for rational driving habits. Further gains in mpg will require slow accelerations and slow speeds.
If you can take a secondary highway, with lower speeds, you can achieve better mpg. Old but true adage: Haste makes waste.
I can get 4.0 l/100km (58 US mpg) with my eyes closed. I just don't go oven 80 kph, and base my strategy around ICE efficiency. We know that the optimal efficiency of the ICE is roughly the ECO area of the HSI above the midpoint. A) If the load is such that it will naturally keep the ICE operating with optimal efficiency then definitely use the ICE. B) If the load is such that it will keep the ICE operating below optimal efficiency then either P&G, with the pulse putting the ICE in optimal efficiency mode, or if the load is really small (slight downhill) try to maintain speed with the electric motor. C) When I know I'm about to be forced to use the ICE under scenario A for at least 2-3 minutes, then I can be less shy about using the battery. For example, if you have about a mile of slow driving before getting on a highway that you will drive under scenario A initially, then riding that mile with the electric motor is OK since you'll recharge with the ICE running at optimum efficiency.
I'm not sure if this will help anyone but I reached a new high today. To recap I travel 23 miles over a very mixed route. Plenty of junctions, roundabouts and traffic lights. Some big hills and equally big drops. Some dual carriageway up to 60mph and a little bit of slow 30mph each end. Everything else in between 40-50mph. (I will try and map the route) Today I achieved 77.1mpg (about 64.3mpg US) and 7mpg above the manufacturers official measured average. I have been experimenting will all sorts of methods from idling, driving straight off, keeping to 3/4 hsi, p&g vs maximum ev usage, pwr zone acceleration and driving without brakes. 77.1mpg whilst only a one off was the highest I ever measured and I drove differently this time. First I turned off Eco mode, I then avoided EV trying to p&g as much as possible. However I took a less aggressive approach, I also maximised the use of EV providing I kept it in the lower quarter, at most under half way in the EV zone and then it was usually on the flat, downhill or coming to a stop and never used EV to go up hill. I bled speed off going uphill and accelerated before the hill, normal mode was much better than Eco at regulating the throttle in this respect. I also ditched trying to stay 3/4 on HSI for acceleration. I often exceeded 3/4 on hsi and plenty of times went into the pwr zone, usually only slightly or up to half way which was sufficient in the traffic. I did however bleed off back into the Eco zone to complete the acceleration up to the desired speed. I feel like the drive was a combination of things I've been working on. By far the biggest factor was awareness. Put everything together from the correct amount of acceleration to use for the distance you need to travel and computing when to lift and go into glide, knowing when to hold EV zone based on the next action and most importantly knowing when to slow down and drive without brakes was I think the key for me. Normal mode just helped modulate the throttle more, I recommend you take advantage of the prius glide abilities below 45mph and on flats. I still haven't mastered driving without brakes because the prius looses speed much slower than anything else I've driven. Above 45mph using the road gradients and sticking below 55mph has really helped as I could easily and slowly bleed off speed. It's very hard to summarise but hopefully the explanation paints a picture. Today it was only 19c-20c so cooler than recent weeks. My last best was 73mpg at 24c no air con. Average speed for 77.1mpg was 35mph. Very pleased with that, now I plan to keep it in normal mode and seriously work on my driving without brakes and I won't be so anti pwr zone for acceleration (where appropriate)
I don't see how going into PWR can have a positive effect on mpg. If science says the ICE optimal efficiency is in the upper half of ECO then every time you operate it outside that area you get less efficient conversion of gas energy to kinetic energy, ie, less kinetic energy put into the car per unit of gas. Incidentally, efficiency is also why it's better to glide on small downhills rather than allow regen, because regen only captures 30% of the kinetic energy it removes from the car.
