People keep asking "The EPA numbers on the Prius and other hybrids look great, but what mileage are all those owners actually getting?" Unfortunately, if you go to what is arguably the most "offical" site, fueleconomy.gov, only SIX 2010 Prius owners and THIRTEEN 2009 owners have registered their data, so the mpg numbers there are not very accurate. I know we have more data than that here on PriusChat, but shouldn't we also have it on the government's website?? If you own a Prius - or for that matter, any hybrid - please take a minute to register the average mpg you are getting at https://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=browseList Let's let the world know that Prius and other hybrid owners are getting EVEN BETTER mpg numbers than the EPA numbers! Thanks
Somebody reported: 338.3 MI 70% 30% 07/01/2009 You have to try really hard to make that low MPG in the the 2010 model during the summer...
I agree... and the PC polls also have some interesting numbers: a G3 reporting under 35mpg ! a G2 with over 75mpg ! -- All the more reason to encourage more people to submit (to both fueleconomy.gov and to the PC polls) and average out the outliers...
Maybe not very extensive, but I don't know how you can judge the accuracy. This is a great idea, however, due to the inflated EPA numbers from years past along with the stories of irate owners not achieving those numbers.
It's worth a second (or two) discussing accuracy, since you make a very good point. We all know there are a lot of factors influencing automobile fuel economy: temperature, speed, break-in, driver expertise and temperament, etc. However, the laws of statistics also enter and (groan, stretching back to my college stat course, grunt) the number of data entries also matters. In fact, the accuracy (standard error) of the average of a set of numbers varies as ( i apologize...) the reciprocal of the square root of the number of entries. So, if 40 people reply, statistics says the average is twice as accurate as if only 10 people reply. To get good numbers - the more the merrier. Thanks for your comments!
I posted a few times at fueleconomy.org. I haven't in a while because I just forgot to go there when I refilled. The problem I found is that you can not enter your mileage. Rather, you enter the distance and the refill gallons and it calculates the mileage for you. The problem with that is based on the variability of the Prius bladder in the GenII Prius. In order for me to reflect the mileage recorded by the MFD, I had to adjust the distance.
They must have had some complaints, because now you have a choice: mpg or miles&gals. I entered mpg (56.5)...
We have a TCH and a Prius and love both. As I have been reading in recent weeks, what actual drivers are getting are numbers like 2010 Prius -around 55; older Priuses-around 50; TCH upper 30's But media reviews often claim those numbers are around 4-5 MPG lower! I'll submit the mpgs of my car to the gov site maybe it will help.
