37mpg City?

Weird. P&G should, in theory, be more efficient on the level stretches than EV mode and the eventual recharging EV mode requires. Oh well. Hills can be a bugger.

 

Are you sure you were pulsing and gliding properly? See Pulse and Glide plus Warp Stealth in the Prius II for maximum FE … - CleanMPG Forums again. These guys achieved a record (at the time) of 110 mpg in a Prius over a 1397 mile trip. See Hybrid drivers complete run for mileage mark.

 

Here's an easy Prius function test:

1. Find 10 mile stretch of flat highway.
2. Wait for a nice spring/summer day with little to no wind.
3. Reset trip meter on MFD, set cruise control to 55mph and drive 10 miles.
4. Record mileage, reset again and drive back.

Average mileage should be well above 50 mpg on any healthy Prius.

 

From my sailing.
Cold air is more dense so it takes more energy to move it out of the way. Altitude will assist FE due to the same although altitude mostly comes with hilly terrain which may lead to more braking offsetting any gains.

This is apparent in sailing because you get more power from the same wind speed on a cold day to a hot one. Humidity makes a difference, I noticed this from sailing on inland dry laked there was less power in the wind than on coastal beaches where humidity is higher. I'm a land sailer.

As others have said energy is expended moving water from the road where the tyres pump it out and if it's really cold then snow and ice impede progress.

Engine runs just to keep warm, even more if you want it to keep you warm.

Wipers and lights use some energy which comes from petrol ultimately. This isn't a big factor but it is a factor. Lights are on more due to shorter days.

Roads are more congested because more people drive rather than take public transport, walk or ride bikes. You are also more inclined to drive short distances you might walk in warmer weather. Short trips suck! (petrol)

 

Rest,

Where in California do you live (approximately)? Also, did you drive your Insight following the same route? If so, what type of fuel mileage did you get with the car? Lastly, to reiterate what someone else just asked, have you taken it on a stretch of flat highway, set the speed to 55 mph and checked to see what kind of mileage you get?

I hope it all works out for you.

BTW, not to sound lame, but you aren't driving in "B" mode are you? The thought popped into my head, since you have a lot of hills and like to drive in EV, that maybe you're trying to recharge the batteries using the "B" mode. If so, that could be the problem.

 

Back in the Dark Ages of the 80's before the Prius was a gleam in Toyota's eye I used to commute into lower Manhattan from North Jersey. it was about 40 mi with the first half being high speed highway driving and the rest a 10 mph crawl. Then I arrived in NYC with all its traffic and lights.

Last year with my Prius I replicated that former commute. I knew what to expect from the Highway driving at 75 mph ( 45 mpg ) and I knew what a slow continuous crawl would result in ( 60-70 mpg ) but I was surprised somewhat about the driving in NYC.

Going across town in the grid having to stop at every major street one block at a time I only got about 25-30 mpg. This even though as I sat waiting for the lights to change I burned no fuel at all....but of course I wasn't moving any distance either. However when turning down 7th Avenue with it's generally synchronized lights I was able to attain 70-75 mpg for the entire trip from Central Park to lower Manhattan.

The reason I came to understand is pretty simple. Newton's First Law of Motion, part of which being [paraphrasing] 'a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force is applied to it'. IOW it takes a lot of effort, energy applied, to get a 3000# vehicle moving from a dead stop. The energy applied all comes from the burning of fuel. The Prius is primarily a fuel-burning vehicle with an electro-mechanical assist.

When going across Manhattan I had to stop at every major street and wait for the light. Relatively large inputs of energy were needed to get me up and running. Then I had to stop again. That's very very inefficient. OTOH when going downtown at a constant crawl I almost never had to stop and not much energy was needed to maintain speed; i.e. overcome the effects of drag and friction.

Finally in your particular case...How long are your trips?

 

City mileage can be much better given proper driving techniques, terrain, weather and traffic conditions.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say w/your last statement. Automakers can only legally advertise EPA ratings. Blame the EPA's lame test along w/automakers optimizing for the EPA test for the artificially high numbers, esp. on the city cycle.

 

Yep. That seems to be more of the OP's purpose than anything else. It wasn't until recently that he was more forthcoming about his route. It also looks like he still didn't answer my questions about his use of the HVAC system, esp. given that it can keep the ICE running unnecessarily.

The hills he's referring to also don't help w/mileage. It's unclear to me if any of the EPA tests simulate increasing resistance to simulate driving uphill. I suspect they don't.

 

Rest,

Are you using the "B" mode on your car during driving?

 

According the Green Hybrid.com almost 1600 Prius' average around 47.5 which is very close to the EPA's new estimates. To get under 40 mpg lands you way out on the edge of the bell curve.

 

It's combined I would think. What do you get overall?

 

It was said before, but I'll say it again:

1. Toyota can only advertise the EPA numbers. If your City driving does not match the EPA's numbers, blame them.
2. You still refuse to reveal any indication of the route you actually take. All we know is that it is 20 miles long and has a lot of hills.
3. You still refuse to perform any basic tests to see if your car meets easily met mileage estimates. Your car could be malfunctioning.
4. We are quite obviously beating a dead horse.

:deadhorse:

If it makes you feel any better, I managed to average only 40 mpg on a recent short trip of 8mi after filling up. The route has a number of steep hills with stop signs and lights. Throw in a long steep uphill freeway onramp shortly followed by a fairly steep downhill off ramp a stop sign and another fairly good hill and I'm not surprised economy suffered. I was either pushing the engine or forced to use friction brakes to slow down. The last few miles were more gentle, otherwise the mileage would have been mid 30s. I did get the mileage back up to 46 according to the MFD after my commute today, though.

 

If lots of Prius get the EPA mileage I think we need to look elsewhere. Unless you are driving on extraordinary terain it's the driver.

How close to EPA mileage have you been with other cars?
Maybe stop trying to get good economy and see what happens.
What have you got to lose?

I accelerate hard and live on a hill but I get better than EPA mileage around town. My last top up was 4.1L/100km today. The previous one was 4.9L/100km after returning from a country trip with three in the car and luggage.

Just drive the thing.

 

Most people don't see? Why do you say that?