Mileage advice...

With short hops (especially that 3 minute commute) you can't expect too much. That section you say you can do in all electric you might want to rethink - remember, all the electricity you use has to come from somewhere. Odds are you'll end up running the engine more/harder in order to regen that power.

As for the highway versus city - when you're warming up, highway will definitely be better. Having the engine running when at a stop runs down the mileage a lot, but on the highway you're moving rather fast with only a minimal increase in fuel consumption (over typical warm up and just sitting there).

Read up on the Pulse and Glide (P&G) techniques to help improve mileage where it's safe to do so - you accelerate to speed (using the gas engine), then glide down using no arrows (ie no gas or electricity being used), and repeat.

 

I live in downtown Dallas and my 8minute trip out of downtown to the freeway gets me ridiculously low mileage. The first bar is about 12, the second bar is 25 if I'm lucky. The engine is cold during this period so that's the main reason for the super low rates.

If I just drive around downtown, with the engine warm, I still will only get 25 MPG at best. There are lights about every tenth of a mile and that is constantly forcing me to start from zero (always on unlevel streets, so I can't really use the electricity only), accelerate to about 20-25, then begin braking again for the next red light.

The only "city" driving where I get good mileage is suburb driving where there are long stretches of road without constant stop lights. Do a search on here, someone did a good writeup of how way the gas mileage ratings are set up.

If your experience is anything like mine, real city driving is TERRIBLE for mileage. When I'm lucky enough to get onto the freeway within a minute from start, my first bar is about 35-40 and the rest are 50+ (even 70+ at times). When I am in the city with lots of stop lights, I try and use the battery only whenever possible during acceleration (flat or downhill and very slow acceleration) and when that's not possible I try to get to my target speed or a bit over relatively quickly (I don't floor it but I don't take my sweet old time) then use the pulse and glide technique to keep the MPG as hight as possible for as long as possible.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rebbi @ Nov 7 2006, 11:00 PM) [snapback]345264[/snapback]</div>

Absolutely; when it kicks on too. Sometimes much more violently than I would expect. My wife was getting in the car once when the engine kicked on and the car lurched forward about 4 or 5 inches, making it a bit difficult to get into the car!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rebbi @ Nov 8 2006, 04:00 AM) [snapback]345136[/snapback]</div>

It is not a good idea to be in electric mode too much.

There is no chance to get 50 mpg on your 3 minute drive.

Please refer to your consumption screen when you finished the short trip.
You'll see something like picture below. It's from Japanese Prius shown as km/L.

10 km/L ~= 25 MPG
20 km/L ~= 50 MPG
30 km/L ~= 75 MPG
40 km/L ~= 100 MPG

If you finish the trip in 5 minutes, you'll see 25 MPG.
If you finish the trip in 10 minutes, you'll see about average 31 MPG.
I think you already know it is casued by warming up fuel use.

Ken@Japan

 

to echo what ken said, don't use electric too much... unlike what Adam described, it's usually better to accelerate from a stop using the gas engine (as in the pulse and glide technique) than on electric - that type of acceleration will drain the battery very quickly, which is something you don't want.

And yeah, when the engine is cold the start and stops shudder quite a bit more than they do when it's warm (but it still does shudder when warm!)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Nov 8 2006, 08:54 AM) [snapback]345398[/snapback]</div>

You've never driven around downtown Dallas. I get great results using electricity only on my drive through downtown, and typically end up at green or 1 bar from green on my batter when I pull into my parking garage (because my trip on the freeway affords me the ability to keep the charge up, even with getting 50+ MPG).

Seriously, when you have 1/10th of a mile to start then stop again (because the light will inevitably be red if you get up to 30MPG), getting up to 20 MPH using only electricity then coasting is what keeps my MPG up on my way home. I had taken everyone's advice here for a couple months and my MPG was terrible on my last 8 minutes of driving through downtown. Now, as long as no one is behind me (and usually not, the buses take the right lane so everyone but me avoids it), I hit every light green and only drop my battery a single bar, if at all (because I've figured out how to maximize my breaking/coasting to get the charge back). I know I'm going to be on the freeway again the next time I'm out so it doesn't hurt me any.

My suggestion is to not take the mantra of the PriusChat, since your 100+ for 10 minute experience is nothing like what myself or a few Prius owners I know have ever experienced. Our cities just don't afford that kind of driving. Experiment with your own environment.

 

I also drive electric to the max. Got over 60 mpg last two days commuting my 10 miles to work.
It would easily be over 70 mpg if I stayed off the highway for the whole trip.

Forget about this saving the battery stuff. It is totally impractical for most everyone in any traffic. And totally unnecessary to getting very good mpg. You only need to do this stuff if you are trying for over 80 mpg.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tomdeimos @ Nov 8 2006, 09:34 AM) [snapback]345415[/snapback]</div>

And the techniques for getting over 80mpg only works for a select crowd: the people who live in environments with lots of open areas. Take me back to my hometown in Ohio and I could get some awesome mileage; my town had one stop light, and tons of many-mile roads without anything (but trees and corn) in sight.

 

Most of my trips are short (15 minutes or less) in stop-and-go traffic over hilly roads. Under those conditions, I'm happy with the 45 MPG I'm getting.

 

I just updated my Can View to the new code and the new indicators for "ice spin" and "wot" modes are helping a lot in mpg for highway speed driving.

For regular under 40 mph speeds the "stealth" indicator throttle control graph and amperes have been the best way to see what is happening for a long time, using Can View.

Coasting always minimizes fuel use and the Toyota display is much harder to use for this.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rebbi @ Nov 9 2006, 03:04 PM) [snapback]346440[/snapback]</div>

http://priuschat.com/CAN-View-Software-Updates-t15966.html