Boy are Prius owners fibbers

Don't worry about it if you don't hit 50mpg on your first tank. In fact give it maybe 10K miles before your ride is good & broke in. After 10K miles (and practice) you'll be posting big #'s. And there'll still be tanks that average low. We've been in the mid 90's with 48% humuidity the past couple weeks. With the AC constantly on ... heck I only got 63.0mpg at 600+ miles. I'll have to find the pic.

 

A straight line?

Why was it a 100MPG at the start - had the ICE already warmed up prior to your testing or was it forced into EV mode with the ICE off?

Terrain?
Air temp?
Wind speed and direction?
Weather wet or dry?
Road surfaces?
Tire pressure?
Load weight?

And a zillion other parameters that may vary the results, but I don't know which ones are important or by how much they will influence the shift of the line.

 

How are most of you getting in the 50's? Do you drive 40mph on flat surfaces all day long? I have had my Prius for about 900 miles now and I am only getting about 49mpg. I keep it in ECO mode full time and I am very conscience (have to work very hard) to accelerate smoothly and use the electric engine as much as possible. Any ideas?

 

You're being too clever for your own good. Try this: accelerate smoothly but firmly so that the display bar just fills the ECO area (or less), only going into the red PWR area when you really need to, and try to explicitly use the electric motor as little as possible. Also, look for opportunities to glide: slight downhills, etc, where you can let entirely off the gas, then depress just a little so the bar disappears between RGN and ECO. I'd guess your mileage will increase.

 

The odds are irrelevant, as your story doesn't involve random people. Though you did not intend it to be so, this is still the result of a special selection process.

 

I drive like wfolta posted. 40mph? ummm, no I hit 70 pretty regularly on the turnpike. And it is more hilly than I had noticed before. Not great big hills but gentle up and down most of the way. My commutes are 40+ miles and that seems to help. Last night's commute home was helped by a couple of traffic slowdowns that let me run on battery for quite a while. In fact, the ICE had to finally kick on to charge the battery. I ended up with 65.1 mpg at home (my record commute so far) and it had got as high as 68.8 in the middle. And this tank (at about 250 miles so far) is at 56.6mpg. I am pleased

 

You have described EXACTLY what I have learned to do. Perhaps it's just the "hilly" terrain here in Nashville, TN. I assume that you meant to say, "Try to use the electric motor as OFTEN as possible" instead of little as possible, correct?

 

I just noticed that the octane displayed on this graph is 89 and not the recommended 87 that I have been running in my Prius. Can anyone comment?

 

No, try to use the electric motor as little as possible.
Sounds counter intuitive but it works, there are a lot of losses in the electrical system, losses at conversion, Kinetic to electric, then at the inverter then electric to chemical in the battery then back to electric from chemical, again at the inverter and again when electric becomes kinetic, and all the energy comes from the petrol engine in the first place.

Accelerate harder so the petrol motor does most of the work, right as you hit the desired speed lift off the accelerator, now press it slightly so there is no regen but no power from electric too, your speed will drop but you then accelerate on the internal combustion engine (ICE) once again. This way energy goes from the ICE to the wheels with no conversion losses and you use the stored kinetic energy to roll along, then recharge the kinetic storage again. Also anticipate stops and slow early. My goal is always to coast to a stop without using the brakes, actually it is to slow early enough that I don't have to stop, saves heaps.

Above is basic pulse and glide.

 

No, I'm sure he meant what he said. You see using gasoline to make electricity for the battery and then to convert the stored electrical energy back into kinetic energy is not as efficient as using the gasoline to make kinetic energy directly. There are losses whenever energy is converted.
I'm a Noob in this, but the best way that I have been able to get good mileage is to "glide" as much as possible and not use Regen, regen is actually bad for high mileage.
One guy posted something about a year ago that made a lot of sense. He said the secret to higher mileage is to drive the car as if it had no brakes. That is a simplistic statement, but pretty close to a decent method. of course P&G, but that's traffic dependant and drives my wife crazy, but when I'm alone and traffic allows, I can get some really good numbers.

 

OK. I am going to try this method on my next fill-up and compare it to my mileage using my current method. Thank you all for the very valuable input!

 

Yes it does and that method will get pretty decent numbers, but if you want to operate on the graduate level, more education and knowledge is necessary than the average person is willing to apply.
Warning, it is addictive though

 

Greetings from Moon!

I just drove to Washington, PA for lunch. I'm down to 2 pips on the same tank of gas and the MFD is showing 55.4mpg. Commuting from the airport to the Convention Center would be perfect (all downhill) if it weren't for the traffic. Going back is a nightmare as it is all uphill in congestion that rivals the Lincoln Tunnel.

In the spirit of this thread I drove to Moon on 8 pips.

The only other Prius is a sandy beach from NY with "hov" stickers parked next to me at the La Quinta.

I topped off the tires to 45psi before leaving.

 

I got a full battery inbound today in the congestion on I-279 for the first time on the trip. I expect to see a few on Monday's trip home. Gotta love going down the mountain.

 

The person that was saying this probably is referring to the 5-minute average - especially if that person doesn't have the aftermarket mod.

 

The people from the Pittsburgh area know that people in Prius' can drive to Mars on relatively few pips.

HAHAHAHA!

 

Hello fellow South Hillsers. :wave: