Really annoying when trying to hypermile

One other thought: keep a generous buffer in front of you, don't follow close. That allows you to avoid braking in a lot of scenarios; you just "eat" that gap, maybe have to tap the brake eventually, or not.

 

Didn't mean to sound snarky, earlier.

...back to my Gin & Tonic. ​

 

Yeah, sometimes I just turn off those screens. Or place some other data up there. I found myself getting distracted, and that's not good. To check the mpg, I only look at the Trip-A info, at the end of a tank. And then do a hand calculation with my cell phone calculator, to get the real mpg number.
This tank was actually 56 mpg after I refueled at 504 miles. (Put in 9 gallons.)

 

Just did a 6 hour trip up and back via the central California I5 corridor. Was on to make a scheduled appt. From there, up the Sierras to Nevada City. Ran 80 to 85 most of the way. Mileage was 46.7

 

Probably the biggest factor.

Depending on traffic, the habit of tailgating and braking late can be an even bigger factor than high speed and rapid acceleration.

 

I found that if you're traveling on a fairly flat road at 35 or 40 mph, you can accelerate to a couple of miles over the speed limit, let off the accelerator pedal, then back on it lightly to hold it at the speed limit. Letting off will cut out the ICE as long as you're 42 mph or lower, and you can run on battery power alone. I know on my routes, there are other places where I'm going uphill, or coasting down a big hill, that recharges the battery. I don't go crazy doing this, and I don't deplete the battery. I find it next to impossible to accelerate from a dead stop on battery power alone. I tried in a very large parking lot, just to get a feel for how the car worked. It's always good to know the ins and outs of whatever vehicle you're driving. I mainly just try and drive without a heavy foot, but there are times I will use all power available when needed.

I agree with the consumption screen being a bit distracting, and can easily lure you into the paying too much attention to the numbers. Without even trying, I'm still getting 25-30 mpg better than my truck. My average mpg in the 1100 miles I've had the car has been around the 46-47 mpg range.

SM-N950U ?

 

That sounds like perfectly normal behavior for a Gen 2 Prius. Doing that makes quite a dent in economy, though, because the engine will then have to restore the battery charge you used up. You'll almost always do better by letting the car decide when to run the ICE unless you're just moving a short distance in a parking lot or something.

 

-Cheers!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

This is not a proper Pulse & Glide, Jerry already explained why it is less than ideal.

If you want a true P&G, you probably have the Pulse phase down well enough, but the Glide phase means gliding with little or no battery usage. Adjust the gas pedal so there is no current flowing into or out of the battery. This avoids the energy conversion losses and inefficiencies involved in refilling the battery after you drain stored energy from it.

But the small gain may not be worthwhile compared to 'just drive it', especially when in traffic that gets annoyed by the continual speed oscillations.

 

I've got fairly adept at "micro-oscillations", basically keep them so small that nobody notices. That and take advantage of every slowdown in traffic, make them your "coasts".

 

There is good bit to be gained here. It is the mega-oscillations, un-coordinated with traffic flow, that annoy other drivers.

 

It seems to work for me. I have to drive to and from, so it balances out.

SM-N950U ?

 

I cannot stress enough the benefits of glide, go, regenerative braking and park. If you want to hypemile, you have to plan your trip to find hills to use the regenerative braking to fill up your battery. I would suggest you get a Gen4 Prius if you want to implement some of your strategies.

The Gen4 relies quite a bit more on battery than earlier models. That is not to say that some Gen4 owners will not get exceptional MPG. There is an art and craft to driving a Prius. 70.8 MPG is my personal best on an 84 mile trip. On a full tank on a Gen4, I think 60MPG is the best you can do in everyday driving. 56-58MPG is more realistic on a tank. In the winter 52-55MPG is usually what I get on a tank.

 

My car was reading 44.4 mpg displayed, and after 80 miles, I managed to raise it to 50.3. I'm not a diehard hyper-miler. I'd take 45mpg every tank and be thrilled. I calculate by hand when I fill up.

If you reread my original statement, I don't use more than 2 or 3 bars max when driving on battery only. That battery is going to charge at the same rate incrementally as it would all at once, so I'm not convinced that my driving style is any better or worse than anyone else's. I'm hitting the EPA estimates squarely in the chest, or slightly better, with an 11 year old car that has 167k miles on the clock, and new tires. I've never had my battery display in the purple. 90% of the time, my battery display is 50% or higher.
I'm going between 400 and 450 miles between fill ups, and I'm getting 8 to 9 gallons into the tank.

I'm going to be taking a real quick roadtrip this weekend of almost 1100 miles in two days. Due to time constraints and other obligations, the car will not be babied for a mileage run. Expecting to get 40mpg, will be thrilled if I get more.

SM-N950U ?

 

Hmm...
"First Time Prius Owner"
Joined in May of 2018.

I'm going to say, when you are new Prius driver, all that feedback can be Siren Song alluring and distracting.
But after you've owned and driven the Prius for a while, you kind of learn that HSD...is a pretty amazing system. You really don't do anything but drive, and you have the safety net of getting amazing gas mileage.

I never really formally "Hypermiled" , I never felt I had to.

I would also say...just drive it, and eventually you can make "experienced" decisions about how you want to drive your Prius and decisions about what feedback you want to pay attention to, or not.