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My small Trip and Recharging

Discussion in 'Prime Fuel Economy & EV Range' started by lmans66, Jul 23, 2018.

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  1. lmans66

    lmans66 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2008
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    Location:
    Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    I have had this Prius for just a week..... I took a small trip from the coast of New Jersey to just outside of Philadelphia. This is obviously relatively flat but a small upwards elevation going west and a small elevation decline going east. The trip turned out to be 102.6 miles. The weather was in the 80's on way to Philly and 70's on the return leg.

    After doing a bit of research on this forum, it would appear that the 'best' way to drive the Prime using a combination of modes (EV, Hybrid and Recharging) varies and there is no one best way. It would appear the best approach is to just play with your trip and understand the hills, straights etc.

    For my trip I started off in EV mode and managed to drive 37.9 (not bad) miles strictly on electric. I switched to Recharging mode and drove another 13 miles to my destination. Average MPG for leg of the trip was 145.2. This was a combination of anywhere from 45 - 65 miles per hour.

    On the return leg.....I started off in recharging mode since I wanted to get my battery to 80%. I drove another 18.9 miles in recharging mode which brought my average MPG down to 80.7. I was now at 69.7 total miles. I then switched to EV mode and drove another 29.6 miles going from 80% charge down to 0%. At that point the car was at 99.3 miles and averaging 115.1 MPG.

    The remaining 3.3 miles was in hybrid mode. I ended up at 102.6 miles total with a total MPG of 116.3. The miles per gallon actually went up a bit in the last 3 miles due to residential street driving ...

    All told....not bad. That is double the best mileage I did on my 2008 Prius for the same type of trip using strictly a Hybrid mode. My next trip will be along the coast of New Jersey, about the same number of miles but all freeway. So will see how the figures turn out.

    Be it what it is......
     
    #1 lmans66, Jul 23, 2018
    bisco, benagi and schja01 like this.
  2. ziggy29

    ziggy29 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2018
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    Location:
    North Oregon Coast
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    I've only driven my Prime for five days and about 90 miles, but I'm discovering that is the case. When you are doing short trips in city driving, staying in EV mode is a no-brainer. But we also have trips to a shopping area about 15 miles away, about half of it mostly highway driving at 55+ MPH. I probably could have made the whole thing in EV mode (although the computer says I had about 22.5 miles on a full charge, in reality the battery was draining at a rate closer to 35), but I decided to experiment this morning with that trip. For the first four miles, mostly under 45 and with a few traffic controls and some braking, I kept it in EV. Once we got to a 55 MPH cruising speed (and with some hills) for about 7-8 miles, I put it in HV mode and used cruise control. And for the last 2 miles I put it back into EV mode. I did roughly the same on the trip back home.

    I got home with close to a 50% charge left in the EV portion of the traction battery, and then I charged up. When the charge completed, my estimated range (with fan/AC on) was 23.5 miles, whereas it was 22.5 after the last charge. Learning how to most efficiently use the EV and HV modes seems to be a bit of an art and a science, one I'm not close to perfecting but am having some fun learning to refine. I'm sure I could have done better, and will as I learn, but I think the basics are becoming a little clearer.
     
    #2 ziggy29, Jul 23, 2018
  3. markabele

    markabele owner of PiP, then Leaf, then Model 3

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2012
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    Location:
    Nebraska
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    N/A
    I can't remember which one, but wasn't there a plug in that you could enter your trip in the computer and it would automatically use EV/HV based on what it deemed best? Someone here will remember.
     
    #3 markabele, Jul 24, 2018
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