CITY "Plant" Driving under 20 mph

Hi; I work in a huge chemical plant with very hilly streets and have some unusual concerns. I drive over half my yearly mileage INSIDE this chemical plant (never leave windows down/cracked). My contract states that I must use my own car-not provided with company vehicle. I'm not getting great mileage at the top speed allowed (20 mph). Since the EV mode won't kick in until the engine has warmed and most of my customer related trips are with the engine from a cold start; many short trips, usually under 7 minutes drive time. What can I do to get better use of my 2010 Prius (mileage and maintenance wise)? I've only had the car one week.

 

Wow, Thanks for the great advice, especially on driving techniques; and I believe all of you have hit the nail on the head with that one. I need to read up on driving, especially City driving. I have about a 12 minute drive either on a 4 lane or on a 2 lane hwy each morning before driving into the plant. Today, as soon as I drove in; I switched it to ev mode all the way to my office (about 7 minutes). Later; I had 2 such trips where the engine warmed up within one minute and allowed me to switch to ev mode. It's errie how silent it is. Now I need to read up on techniques. An engine heater would attract attention since I work for our Safety dept and am in charge of traffic design and safety. We have prohibited these for personal use (don't remember why exactly).
On another note; today I drove across the plant to a different area. Twice when I exited the building; there was a crowd of people around my car. I am shocked that these (mainly industrial mechanics and electricians) guys just love this car. I thought they'd make fun of me for buying it.
We have a big in-plant fleet of vehicles, including a recently purchased electric mini-van retrofitted in a russian vehicle; I'd like to see us purchase a few Prius' and see how they fit in. Thanks to all.

 

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Ha, ha; I'm over traffic safety there and we prohibit personal bikes inside the plant. We do have them in-plant though but are they ugly!! The industrial type.....

 

This actually came up again today via a question on motorcycles and bicycles inside the plant (personally owned). It appears our Texas plant has had no rules prohibiting them and they are now all over their plant. However, if a plant would write a complete set of rules and regulations up front; I am opening up to considering them in the near future. I don't believe we'd ever let in motorcycles but perhaps electric bicycles and/or personal bicycles. We have about 70 percent of our in plant traffic composed of tractor trailers and a huge amount of train traffic. You cannot drive 100 feet without crossing a track.
I have been noticing that unless I put the prius in ev mode inside the plant; I'm getting not so great gas mileage. I believe the steep hills inside the plant and the congestion has a lot to do with it. On the bright side; I'm reembursed for my mileage....it helps and it doesn't matter if you're driving a vehicle that gets 15 or 50 mpg==the reembursement is the same...:cheer2:

 

Update: I finally realized that some who answered this post were really correct. I no longer put the car on EV mode. When I first drive into the plant; I just let the car decide how to drive. It really puts the car into EV mode on it's own. Never getting over 20 mph doesn't really help the mileage on any car but I now leave the car in eco mode and let it decide how to best utilize the gas/battery. It has helped. The first full tank of gas I actually put into the car gave me a 46 mpg overall and I was pleased with that; given all the hills, moutains and the low speed inside our plant. I hope to learn better driving habits and allow the car to earn better mileage in the near future since I just went over the 1K mileage this weekend.

 

To any of you who are interested; I have discovered that several of you were correct. Plant driving at an ave. of 20 mpg is a killer, even for a prius. It really kills the battery by the end of the day. I NO longer use the ev mode at all since that seems to take a greater toll but the car wants to use the battery only at such low speeds. My drive to work is around 12 minutes which charges the battery as well as the drive home. Also, anywhere I go in the City either at lunch or for the Company charges the battery but often when I start home in the evening; the battery is at 2 bars. I hope this won't kill off my battery much earlier than most. I've been driving my 4runner in at least one day a week (mostly because I forget how to drive it if I don't) and the reimbursements for gas mileage is now a hoot===I'm getting the same money that I get for the 15 mpg 4runner...finally near the end of my career, I've gotten something on the Company....ha ha ha.