Gas mileage and cold weather

Normal with any vehicle

 

In these parts it has been 15f or colder since Dec 25. My last tank was significantly less efficient, 70mi runs down from 65 or so to 45 mpg with heat at 66f. Biggest impact as expected has been lack of EV ability for short city trips. Car spends its at home time in a garage kept no colder than 32f.

 

I think hybrid car in general lose more efficiency in cold. Our Civic hybrid and Gen 3 lose ~20% efficiency in winter. My Prime is now getting about 58 mpg on GAS only compared to 70+ mpg in summer. But that's all relative. From 70 mpg to 50 mpg is a big drop by number, but I bet you still can't find any conventional engine car that get better mileage than your Prius.

 

the reason there is a bigger difference between a hybrid and a gasser is the very reason a hybrid is more efficient.
a gasser runs the engine all the time, so in colder weather it's just the efficiency reduction from friction etc.
a hybrid has to run the engine more to maintain minimum operating temperature and provide heat when requested.

 

I've driven 45 miles since 12/31 in single- temps mostly. Right now it's 3. Mpg under 30, partly because of almost all short trips and turning temp to ECO temp off. This tank: 275.5 miles, 49 (so really 45) mpg. Gonna be hard to bring it back up to overall real 60. Whatever, it's still more than they said I'd get.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Come the warm weather, everything will be back to normal+.

 

My fully charged estimated range dropped from a high at one point of 36 miles this past summer to 27 miles this week. I’m not surprised (and grateful I’m still getting 27 miles) - brutal cold is hard on batteries and it’s been brutally cold in the D.C. region lately.

 

Turn the heater on. You only live once.

 

My guess is the loss in fuel economy viewed as a percentage of the regular fuel economy is probably pretty similar for both cars. If I own a Land Barge that gets 12MPG, and it loses 10% of it's fuel economy, that's 1.2MPG. If I have a Prime that's getting 70MPG, a 10% loss here would be 7MPG.
Sidebar: read yesterday on ChargePoint info., the average electricity powered car is rated at 3 miles/kWh; my Prime has several times displayed over 6 miles/kWh!
I love my Prime!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Hi Jen,

There are several Prius and Prime specific tricks we use to improve cold weather performance. But it helps to document what is going on.

Do you have a way to video record the instrument panel showing the problem? This will help us understand your specific conditions.

Could you give us two addresses, one near your home and the other near work so we can look at your typical commuting route? We don't need your home or work address but ones within a block or so that Google Map traces your commuting route to get an idea.

Do you air your own tires? Cold weather reduces the tire pressure and increases the rolling drag. So it is important to top them off after the cold weather arrives.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

OUCH!! One factor with the WRX, it is turbocharged, so that might have a lot to do with it. Also, my son had an Evo & his friend had a WRX; neither of them got higher than 25MPG in Socal; a testament to your "kinder" driving style! They were both major Hot Dogs! My son now drives a 2015 Prius! Like father like son! (I had an Acura Type R, much coveted by this son, until I bought a new 2012 PIP!) This son will probably be a Prime candidate soon!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

My Type R averaged 21-23 MPG, and had to run on Premium!! A real Gas Hog! But that little 8800 rpm 4-banger ate V-8s for breakfast!! That car saw 100+ mph almost every single day I owned it. Problem is, they tried to steal it at least 5 times (I only had a carport). This car and the Honda Civic (I owned both at the time!) were the most stolen cars in our area. Finally ended up selling the Type R to a cop (the car had just over 100,000 miles and ran/looked perfect!). 2500 lb rocket! I want that in a Prime coupe!!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

We've noticed two things over the past month when we've had winter temperatures here in Massachusetts. First, the big battery doesn't charge more than 19 miles worth ... in the summer we were getting as much as 35 miles from an overnite charge.

Second, instead of averaging 200 mpg when we were taking short trips, where we were almost exclusively driving on battery power ... now we're averaging low to mid 60s for mileage. It's still great ... but our first 5000 miles on the car averaged about 185 mpg ... and we drove about 3000 of those miles at 200 mpg.

Now in the cold weather, the gas engine is on most of the time -- probably because we're using the heat, defrosters and electric seats. We do like those heated seats -- so it's worth the trade-off in mileage. But I do wish we could get more out of the overnight battery charge.

And as others have commented, the heating system is "OK" but the interior doesn't really warm up until you drive the car for 20 minutes or more. It obviously depends on the outside temperature. But our other Priuses have all had great winter heat.