No worries! Your mileage will likely improve in the Fall as the weather cools (but doesn't get cold) and you A/C usage decreases. Also, as you drive the car more, you'll get a better feel for it and that helps. Not only that, but your tires will wear down a bit, the car breaks in etc, all this leads to improved fuel economy. Next Summr and Fall will probably yeild you better mileage than you are currently doing now (think of how cool that is going to be!) My first year with my car, I averaged 58.1 mpg, my second full year got me up to 60.7 mpg. I'm at 64.1 mpg for this year, but I haven't hit the cool weather which invariably brings my average down. But I figure I will easily beat the 60.7 mpg from year 2. I suspect that you will be able to duplicate those efforts to some degree (in that you may see a 3 - 5% increase in mileage over the next couple of years).
Finally! After many attempts, much frustration and a little learning I have finally broken into the 600 mile and the 1000km club. 1002.8km (622 miles) at 4.125LHK (68.5 mpg(Imp) 57.3 mpg(US) 24.2km/l) at an average speed of 44km/h (27mph). (HSI error is about 5.8%) Used 41.37l (of a 45l tank) of 94RON E10 Shell. That's 10.88 Gal(US) of 90 AKI E10. (Toyota Australia recommends 95 RON, but on advice from PC I typically use 91 RON, which equates to 87 AKI.) If I continued at 4.125LHK until the end of the 45 litre tank I could have reached 1115km or 692 miles; so not quite enough for the 700 mile club. Sadly, the joy of reaching 1000km coincided with a jump in petrol prices to $1.57.9 per litre (AUD6.00/ USD6.21 Gal US) for regular 91 RON (87 AKI) so it cost me $65.32 (USD67.63) to fill up. I P&G but I don't dip far below the posted speed limit. My maximum delta is 10km/h (6mph). Canberra is not very flat and the speed limits are 70-90km/h (44-56mph) for most roads that connect suburbs to each other. The many roundabouts help to keep me rolling, but I usually have to get up to speed promptly. It is not an easy place to hypermile. Recent mods include fill 100% lower grill blocking and 45psi in the 15" tyres. The weather over the last 3 weeks has been about 5-10°c warmer than during my last tank (4.6LHK), which is probably a key factor. DTE=0km was reached at about 865km, so I beat my previous beyond zero record by over 100km. Not to sound unkind, but my wife, who thinks that P&G is a company that makes toiletries, tends to drive as if the accelerator and brake were on/off switches. She drove about 200km of that tank at about 5.0LHK, so my achievement is even better than I expected.
Braddles, you should also post in the "what happens when my other half drives the Prius" thread. Sounds like yours and my wife both think that a pedal should be pressed at all times.
Thanks My FC has been slowly trending down since January 2012 when I bought the car second hand. However, I was stuck at around 4.7LHK (50mpg) from April to September and had no idea if all of my money and efforts were paying off. ANZAC Day 25 April is the turning point towards cold mornings in Canberra. So it seems that the mods to the car (EBH, grill block, major service, new tyres, 45psi) and to me (P&G) have more or less kept pace with worsening FC caused by weather conditions. My worst result of 5.1LHK (46mpg) came on a bleak, foggy, cold, wet day when I had to drive to Sydney and back in a hurry and with A/C, defogger and lights on. So if that's as bad as it gets, maybe I shouldn't be too upset. BTW, there's no Winter petrol in Australia, only Winter diesel in alpine areas such as where I live. My Red Prius (Toyota Prius) All Fuel-ups | Fuelly My next goal is to hypermile with respect to Australian standards. The ADR81/02 for the Prius is 3.9LHK combined, which at 60.6mpg makes the EPA look like lead foots. Or producing results that might replicate the real world.
Alrighty so this was my final push before giving up on the MPG game for a little (two roadside scuffles over my driving have made me wary about hypermiling lately). I had a pretty bad tank (well pretty bad considering I normally can have my Cons. read somewhere north of 58) but figured, ahh what the hell, I know it can kind of make it to 11x cons before I'm screwed so I decided to push it as far as I could go until I hit the 600 mile mark and then pulled into the nearest gas station! I almost ran my tank dry, needing 11.2 gallons to fill up. In my defense of my relatively low MPG number, and to whine a little, I live in Southern California and have to climb up two 7% grades (one is two miles long and the other one one mile long) on my way to work as well as a pretty hilly commute overall. I have to drive 55 mph religiously (even slower sometimes when I'm cresting a hill) in order for my trip to work (with the two climbs) to register roughly 50 mpg. My trip back is always better, I get my computer to usually read roughly 72 mpg (since I get to glide down the two grades). I chalk up the rest of the loss due to always visiting my girlfriend (she lives about 13 miles away from me, with a LOT of short blocks & stop signs) which I'll gladly trade a little less MPG's for. Anyway, without further whining, here are my answers to the challenge: For driving techniques, I'm pretty basic. I almost never accelerate into the red zone in local driving (I somewhat have to gun it to make it onto the freeway as most on ramps that I have to use are relatively short). If you consider 0% at stop, and 100% right when the PWR zone starts (50% being where the line splits the two bars between white and green) I normally accelerate around 90%. When no one is around (which never happens where I drive) I'll DWB (drive without brakes) which always surprises me how much more MPG's I get. I honestly feel that people's MAD rush to get to red lights and stop signs probably eats up more gas than we can imagine. Anyway, social criticism aside, I drive 55 religiously on the freeway (all my freeway drives are 65 MPH speed limit). Maybe 57 if I feel a little hurried. I'm commonly passed by truckers, pickups, and SUV's. I also pulse and glide whenever possible and there is no one around (which again never is the case for me). I stay in "normal" mode. My girlfriend loves pushing the ECO and EV mode buttons, so I let her do what she wants but when I'm driving alone, I'm always in normal mode. One little trick I've learned for driving locally, (under 50 MPH, on common or busy roads) that doesn't completely compensate for the pulse and glide, but helps considerably is what I'm going to affectionately call the pulse and cruise. (Sorry to anyone out there who already knows of this trick and I just haven't heard of it yet, and also sorry for my naming, I'm a terrible namer). I pulse like normal (staying between 75% and 100%) until I reach my desired speed, and then back off slowly until I'm roughly at the 40% mark (a little bit below the center line) and keeping it there. This prevents me from going into EV and thus draining my battery, but I also don't slow down enough to aggravate people driving behind me (as this is usually enough power to keep my vehicle going at a steady speed). Here's a real world example: On a typical drive to my girlfriend's, there is a long stretch of road where the speed limit is 35. If you are going less than 40, you will be run off the road (this is where my first road scuffle occurred, and I was going 35). I will pulse until I hit 40, and then immediately but slowly back off the accelerator. I'm usually even more careful once I near the 50% mark as too quick of a drop results in your car kicking you into EV. Once there I slowly back down into about 40-45%. It'll take some getting used to to know exactly where your car will automatically put you into EV but then I can usually "cruise" in this section maintaining speed and avoiding stuff thrown at me/being run off the road. I've been able to cruise at 40mph easily for 3-4 miles with no dicernable drop in my S.O.C. and keep my instantaneous at 85+. I use my pulse and cruise method as much as possible as well, but I do tend to focus more on the road than trying to keep my throttle feathered at the right point (MPG's are useless in an accident!) Speaking of my pulse and cruise method, I find it somewhat similar to the warp stealth technique I've seen (but I never really understood it past it being used at + 40mph speeds). Can someone confirm/deny this? Also I tend to think this is a good technique for myself but I could possibly be horribly horribly wrong. Okay moving on, time of year is the span of 11-1-2012 to 11-8-2012. I fill up once a week because of my roughly 350 mile per week commute + errands/gf/gym/etc. My blinking warning light came on at around 480 miles, DTE read 0 at roughly 510 miles. My tires are OEM Yokohama (I think they're AVID's, I'm too lazy to go look to make sure) set to 44 PSI in the front, 42 PSI in the rear. I had the plastic covers taken off but decided to put them back on (and I did notice roughly 1 mpg difference... so hmm food for thought). Okay... so I'm sorry I've written a book. Hope it was worth reading!
Congratulations! "needed 11.2g to fill up" You are braver than me. "I pulse like normal (staying between 75% and 100%) until I reach my desired speed, and then back off slowly until I'm roughly at the 40% mark (a little bit below the center line) and keeping it there. This prevents me from going into EV and thus draining my battery" I believe this is called warp stealth. I've done this before where I don't take my foot off the petal and go below the mid point on display....sometimes it will kick in electric when the speed drops below 45mph. unless the car isn't warmed up.
I don't know if this is a glitch in my car but even with the car warmed up I can keep it below the mid point and keep the engine on under 40 mph. If I'm very careful I've been able to pull this off at 25 mph as well
To prevent draining the battery. Where I live/drive I've been in 2 altercations in regards to my attempt to hypermile. The first time I was going the speed limit but using the pulse and glide. This apparently warranted a can of energy drink to be thrown at my car and to be cut off. The second time I was going 55 on the freeway and was forced off the road into a shoulder. Either way I'm trying to maximize MPG's without using the more advertised hypermiling tricks. I know it's best to avoid these situations, but sometimes it can't be helped. I am a little hot blooded when it comes to driving and when I'm really ticked off common sense unfortunately no longer exists. Anyway, aside from that, being able to go for miles and miles with the Instantaneous MPG reading at 85+ and not having to drain the battery to keep my speed I think is a decent trade off.
Do you have many hills where you drive? If so, you can use hills, even very small ones as opportunities to P & G while staying a more constant speed. If you are already up to speed you should have no problem keeping the speed steady if you want to go about 25 or 30. This should use pretty minimal pack current.
On the freeways, yes. Although I do try to stay within 55-65 (I usually try to get up to 65 before reaching a hill, and try to be at 55 when I crest the hill). I do keep a pretty steady speed and ignore everyone who are probably breathing my exhaust because their grill is right up my tail pipe. Unfortunately when I'm on local streets, it's mainly a very steady uphill to my house, and a very steady downhill to my girlfriend's. P&G tends to piss people off haha (as evidenced by the guy who felt it necessary to throw something at my car).
I would not let one person dictate to you how everyone else acts. That is stereotyping. As to when you are on the interstate...I find people get more annoyed with someone constantly changing speeds than someone simply going slow. Maybe you slowing down 10 mph while going up a hill might be some of your problem. If you want to avoid that and have a more enjoyable experience, just set it at 57 or 58 and enjoy the ride. Your FE will only be slightly worse and you will make everyone else much less mad.
Well in my defense that 10 mile difference was back when I was really trying get the most out of my tank. Nowadays, I very much stay between 55-57. This still makes people pretty mad. I don't quite get the mentality behind people powering uphill. Anyway I've adjusted my driving a lot in the past 3 months I've owned this vehicle. I started off using every hypermiling trick in the book. I've slowly changed my ways to maximize my FE without making too many people mad. I still find it difficult to break the 55 mph thing though :-/
ahh I must upload a pic, I see. I'm almost out of my second tank and might make the 700 mile club. Will post here and there. the car display for my first fillup was about 63mpg but fuelly showed only 60.1 which is the right one?
