I'm a school teacher, so in the summer, I have one month at home (much less driving), and one month on the road (visiting family in other states, doing supplemental university teaching, etc.) I realized in the past few weeks since school has let out, that my MPG is declining terribly, as I change from a daily commute to short errands (groceries, mall, etc.) However, this to me is misleading, because I am actually using much LESS gasoline! I know others have mentioned before about trying to live near where you work, bike, walk, etc. I think those of us who are seriously concerned with fuel conservation should be looking at "the bottom line", or how many gallons we use per month. This way, hypermiling, alternative transportation, good trip planning, and short commutes are all figured into the picture! Obviously, it might be harder for some of us (who live in the middle of nowhere) to compete with someone on a mass transit line, but it would be a good way of checking with yourself. Anyways, I did my numbers, and since the Prius is only 2 1/2 months old, there's not a lot of data yet: March (second half) 17.8 Gal April 32.6 Gal May 48.2 Gal (this is a statistical blip because I filled up on 5/1 and 5/30) Total average Gallons per Month (take the total gallons and divide by the number of months): 39.4 I'm hoping it will go down over the summer. I also applied for a closer teaching position, but was supposed to be called today <_< nothing yet... If you feel like sharing your G/Mo, speak up!
Dear Tyrin, Because the Prius has an Internal Combustion Engine it is necessary to keep the things that are common to all ICE's hot, such as catalytic converters, engine coolant, etc. Making short trips causes the Prius to spend more time in this heating process and thus lowering you fuel economy. The same problem occurs with a convential automobile except worse. This also accounts for the significant drop in fuel economy during winter months. No matter the circumstances the Prius will achieve better fuel economy than any other vehicle. Bob Edwards Lexington, KY
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bob Edwards @ Jun 18 2007, 02:40 PM) [snapback]464188[/snapback]</div> Hi Bob, Thanks for the feedback. Actually, I'm quite aware of why the MPG went down on the shorter trips. That wasn't really the point of this post, however. My point was that, even with lower MPG, I'm using less gasoline when not commuting that the rest of the year, when I get a higher MPG.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tyrin @ Jun 18 2007, 04:09 PM) [snapback]464202[/snapback]</div> People use MPG to compare with other cars. While gallons used might be a great internal reference, comparisons on this board and with other cars need to be normalized for miles driven. I guess one could include both, but you won't find many who care about how and why you do fewer miles but many who care about how your experience good or bad can affect theirs. I hope I didn't sound too much like a teacher
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Jun 18 2007, 03:29 PM) [snapback]464215[/snapback]</div> A lot of the people on this board compare Prius to Prius, therefore it is all about their own driving, not about the vehicle per se. They use the MPG to see how well they are doing personally, and if they can improve their own efficiency. And if the goal on buying a high MPG car is to help conserve gas or protect the environment, then G/Mo would be a more inclusive statement of one's efforts. I mean, if a guy buys a Prius, and decides, "Gee, I can go twice as far on the same gas. I think from now on I'll drive to the big grocery store across town instead of walking to my local store." This isn't saving gas, but he could say, "hey, I'm getting great MPG". I have seen several people share how they have arranged work and home to shorten their commute, and to me this IS valuable information, because it gives me ideas and shows more of the big picture.
OK, I'll play. Picked up my Prius on 4/3/07. April - 41.96 gal (thru 5/4 fillup - incl. 800 mi roadtrip) May - 26.27 gal (thru 6/1 fillup) June (half way) - 10.23 gal (thru 6/16 fillup) Avg - 31.38 gal/month My commute is 45 mi/day.
Hi Tyrin I thing your idea is an excellent slant on mpg v consumption. There's another thread here on PC where a guy is doing over 1000 miles per tank - I'm astonished. While I'm about 12 mpg less than him at the moment I've yet to reach a 600 miles tank..... let alone a 1000 mile one !! Regards Pinball
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Highly ImPriused @ Jun 19 2007, 01:40 PM) [snapback]464810[/snapback]</div> Is that 45 miles roundtrip, or one way? I'm thinking it must be roundtrip, because you've got me beat on gas usage. We'll see if my summer numbers bring me down enough! Thanks for sharing. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pinball @ Jun 22 2007, 05:39 AM) [snapback]466255[/snapback]</div> Hey Pinball, Good luck with the hypermiling and looking for that 600 mile tank. I personally haven't hit a 500 mile tank, but my commute is mostly highway. I drive right at the speed limit, 65, and get mid 40's MPG. I think if I could find a back road to commute slower, I could get way better gas mileage, but I haven't mapped it out yet. Plus, I'm not sure if I want to spend two hours a day in my car, much as I love it!
Having thought of your earlier proposition I think one can come up with the information you wanted using gallons saved or mpg figures assuming that they would have driven their older vehicle as (or almost as) much. So over my 2200 miles I have saved about 65-70 gallons of gas over my last car (94 Camry v6) or about 10 gallons a week. WOW. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tyrin @ Jun 22 2007, 11:30 AM) [snapback]466333[/snapback]</div> Highway driving at 65mph could get you a 500 mile tank easily and perhaps 60mph could get you 600mi one and also depending on traffic. You would have to consistently be in the ICE efficiency zone and slowly accelerate and decelerate using the yellow-arrow condition only.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Jun 22 2007, 12:09 PM) [snapback]466405[/snapback]</div> That's pretty good savings, and another good way of looking at it. I'd say my savings is right around the same 10 gallons a week. Here are some of my problems: 1. Heavy head or cross winds (prairie). 2. No serious hills to use engine efficiently up, then coast down. So I'd have to be constantly monitoring my pedal. Possible, but I'm not sure I want my eyes off the road that much. 3. I like Cruise Control. It lets me focus on the road and listen to the radio, not worry about my speed. Too bad no one invented a fuel-efficient mod for CC!
I'm going to have to start tracking this. I estimate I use about 20 gallons per month (based on how far I've gone, divided by how long I've owned the car, divided by my average MPG).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Jun 22 2007, 04:07 PM) [snapback]466564[/snapback]</div> I take it you have a short commute? That's about half what I'm using. I think this is similar to the "carbon footprint" idea, except it's only looking at the vehicle.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tyrin @ Jun 22 2007, 06:24 PM) [snapback]466627[/snapback]</div> About five miles every other day or so. I rarely see a second bar on the Consumption screen. Every other week or so I'll drive about 40 miles (round trip), then once every month or two I'll drive about 300 miles (round trip, almost entirely highway driving). This is where I get my MPG to 45+.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tyrin @ Jun 22 2007, 11:30 AM) [snapback]466333[/snapback]</div> Yes the 45 miles is roundtrip. I filled up again today with 9.55 gallons, so I can update my previous post. April - 41.96 gal (thru 5/4 fillup), 1869 mi May - 26.27 gal (thru 6/1 fillup), 1404 mi June - 19.78 gal (thru 6/29 fillup), 1088 mi Avg - 29.34 gal/month, 1454 mi/month = 49.6 mpg
I couldn't wait. I actually haven't filled up yet, but the last time I filled up was June 8th. So my summer non-commute will bring down my numbers a lot. Somewhere around 33.3 for avg G/Mo at the end of June. Of course, then I'm driving to NY and back next month, so that means something like 40 gal that month. August should be lower again, because school doesn't start until the third week.
June: 18.2 Gallons Avg. G/Mo: 33.4 (took my average down six G/Mo!) Avg. MPG: 43.5 (this went down about .5) So theres the proof that you can use less gas AND have worse gas mileage. I'm going to add G/Mo to my signature line...
I keep an old libretto 100ct handheld mini-laptop in my prius. The libretto which is way over 10 years old cannot do much anymore other than keep a simple spreadsheet for me on mileage, gas cost, amount pumped, and simple notes on conditions like big headwind etc. The little notebook cannot even transfer information to other systems any longer but works great for this singular purpose. I have only owned my prius since May 4th but i am looking forward to a quarterly check of the information I've been keeping track of. I have a 5 day aweek daily commute of 68 miles and do not use the car on weekends..... I also believe that monthly totals of gallons consumed and cost--is the overall best method--- mpg is a daily window--and driver skill report. all the best Froley
I have also been keeping track of all my Prius information. I also do a monthly cost, cost usage by time and mile, and emissions. I attached the tracker I use. The expense report is more of a cash flow report since I do not take into account the equity built up in the car. I guess I would have to sit down and figure out how to work in depreciation on an asset. I recently change my daily commute from the highway to going through the city and got my first 700+ tank. Hopefully, I can keep it up.
