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Explain this for me

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by pixeltaker, Jun 12, 2007.

  1. pixeltaker

    pixeltaker Junior Member

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    Why is the second MPG bar blank?

    Here's the scenario: I was driving south on I-405 down from the Sepulveda Pass in heavy stop and go traffic. Stopped for no more than 20 seconds or so then move forward 40 feet and stop and do it again. This is a downhill run into the Santa Monica area for several miles. I can understand the full 99.9 MPG bars because of the downhill run and I never got going fast enough to use any measureable amount of fuel. The car was in D not N. I regenerated power in the second bar, but got 0 MPG.

    Here's my idea of what happened: Even though I was moving, I didn't use ANY fuel whereas the other bars I was using only a small amount of fuel. I was coasting and regenerating power back to the battery, but the graph looks like I was stopped for 5 minutes.

    What are your thoughts on this weird graph?
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    Attached Files:

    #1 pixeltaker, Jun 12, 2007
  2. Skwyre7

    Skwyre7 What's the catch?

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    Is it possible that in that five minute period you did not go 1 mile?
     
    #2 Skwyre7, Jun 12, 2007
  3. bestmapman

    bestmapman 04, 07 ,08, 09, 10, 16, 21 Prime

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    It has happened to me several times. It doesn't seem to change the overall MPG figures.
     
    #3 bestmapman, Jun 12, 2007
  4. wan

    wan New Member

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    Nice temperature outside, 70F is perfect :)
     
    #4 wan, Jun 12, 2007
  5. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    I suspect you didn't go far enough to register in the calculation.

    Tom
     
    #5 qbee42, Jun 12, 2007
  6. pixeltaker

    pixeltaker Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Skwyre7 @ Jun 12 2007, 11:57 AM) [snapback]460320[/snapback]</div>
    It's certainly possible that I didn't go more than a mile. During the first 20 or so minutes, the whole distance was probably 4 or 5 miles.
     
    #6 pixeltaker, Jun 12, 2007
  7. NoVaSnow

    NoVaSnow Member

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    It's happened to me a few times, always in stop-and-go driving. The first time it happened, I posted the question here. I received several reassurances that it was normal. When it happens now, I just notice the oddity and forget about it.
     
    #7 NoVaSnow, Jun 12, 2007
  8. morpheusx

    morpheusx Professor Chaos

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    If you look at the owners manual on page 168 (2007) it says the bars represent the momentary fuel consumption.
    Which I have always taken to mean it is just a bar graph of what your consumption was at that exact moment and not the average for those 5 minutes.
     
    #8 morpheusx, Jun 12, 2007
  9. Andre_PacPal

    Andre_PacPal New Member

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    I see the blank mileage bar with the green 'energy recovered' icons from time to time on the last four miles of my commute on Sunset Blvd. It is up and down through two canyons with an overall elevation drop of several hundred feet so I can do it at 35 mph without starting the ICE. I believe the missing bar means that no gasoline has been consumed in the 5 minute period.
     
    #9 Andre_PacPal, Jun 12, 2007
  10. ken1784

    ken1784 SuperMID designer

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Andre_PacPal @ Jun 13 2007, 12:39 PM) [snapback]460612[/snapback]</div>
    Japanese people are saying this is the new feature (not a bug :) ) on the 2006/2007 high-resolution MFD.
    The 2004/2005 low-resolution MFD shows 100 mpg on that case.

    Ken@Japan
     
    #10 ken1784, Jun 13, 2007
  11. RobertG

    RobertG New Member

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    I drive home from work north through San Francisco and east over the Bay Bridge. The usual route includes two blocks of city streets, 6th to Bryant then Bryant to 5th. If the traffic is heavy there (for example, I timed my drive poorly on a day the SF Giants have a home game) there will be a bar or two with no yellow. I think that, as someone else said, the absence of yellow indicates that only battery power was used.
     
    #11 RobertG, Jun 13, 2007
  12. VABeachPrius

    VABeachPrius Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(RobertG @ Jun 13 2007, 11:12 AM) [snapback]460863[/snapback]</div>
    That is what I have found in stop and go traffic. If the engine doesn't start during that time period, I will get a blank spot on the MFD.
     
    #12 VABeachPrius, Jun 13, 2007
  13. McShemp

    McShemp New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ken1784 @ Jun 13 2007, 02:43 AM) [snapback]460700[/snapback]</div>
    There was zero gas used in that five minute interval, so you get a zero bar (it's miles/gallon and ya can't divide by zero). Personally, I'd rather see a 100 mpg bar instead of a zero one, but that's what we've got from Toyota.
     
    #13 McShemp, Jun 13, 2007
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