Prius Marathon Run

They wrote that they are at 107.6 mpg after 1061 miles (9th shift).
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/prius-i...ml?page=5&pp=10
My estimated results will be 1345miles(2164km).

Ken@Japan

 

Evan,
I ran the same course a year ago with cruise set to 35MPH. All I could muster was 85 MPG. The rolling hills are definately an advantage. No question in my mind. The hills let the ICE work in a more efficient range while climbing, and enable much longer glides. As you can see our ICE is on between 23 and 32% of distance traveled. A flat terrain would be closer to 50%.

I have also run a shorter, flatter course in Myrtle Beach and my best was 93.6 for 42 miles at 35 MPH held steady.

Dan

 

This bodes well for 1300 miles. My last tank I went 178 miles on the last flashing bar and still did not run out of gas. I also averaged about 90 MPG during that time. My guess is that there is at least 2 gallons when the add fuel indicator comes on. That translates to about 220 miles at our pace.

Dan

 

Prabably not the case. In "Silk Shorts" you can go from 2 bars to blinking in the blink of an eye. It just depends on the terrain. It usually happens when going up a hill. We have a few of those.

Dan

 

Evan- I have a course like that. It is the road around the airport that you circle when waiting for an arriving passenger. On that loop I can get over 100 mpg easily. It has a gradual climb and a gradual descent.

Dan- You've come an awful long way and we are all very proud of your efforts. Ya'll are truly a fine testament to a great car. Many of us have thought about what we could accomplish with this car if we took the time to optimize our course and push the car to it's limit. You have taken those thoughts, gotten off your butt and done it. I'm truly there in spirit today. Thank you for doing this for all of us.

 

In the betting pool, I'll take the 1400 mile square and the ten squares to either side of 1400. The suspense is killing me. C'mon guys, more updates.

 

Oh man, I've been reading this thread all weekend. It's really exciting! Is this a circuit? Hard to believe if the net altitude gain/loss was 0 (a circuit route) that you guys could be getting 100+ mpg. I've only gotten that when going down mostly declining terrain. But eventually you have to climb back up and then you give all your tall blue bars (if you use the most efficient blue MFD color) back and it balances out to somewhere in the 50s usually for me.

Hey, this sounds even more painful than what you guys are doing, but I wonder how far you could get the Prius with the upgrade kit from the California Cars Initiative? It's not out yet, but when it is imagine a marathon then?! Probably take a bit longer than a weekend. Keep up the great driving, guys!

Cheers,
Powers.

 

Yes, along Pennsylvania Rt. 65 on the bank of the Ohio River, just downstream (W) from Pittsburgh. The southern end is in Emsworth, about 1.5 miles SE of the I-79 crossing. The northern end is about 15 1/2 miles away in Freedom, PA! Back and forth, back and forth...

 

This has been just phenomenal.

So much for the naysayers regarding the EPA estimates.

Here's a stock car on a regular road beating the EPA by a huge margin.

Just goes to show that if you really want to get the mileage, you need to learn how to drive the car skillfully. As was said previously, it can be stressful for long periods but it can be done. And once you develop the technique the more you practice, the more natural it becomes.

But it can be done.

I wish I had HBO so I could see this. I'll have to content myself with reading the accounts here and on the net. I am sure this will be picked up by some of the media.

 

Yeah, I thought that could be the case. The extra batteries could be fully charged before the marathon began, but within 30 - 60 miles would've been exhausted. Then the Prius would have just had to lug around all the added wait for the rest of the race, reducing efficiency. I wondered how much downhill they had to charge up the battery during the marathon? If they never had excessive slope used to store excess energy in the battery pack, the extra weight would not help.

Also, I imagine the state of charge of their battery during the race never got much higher than the final 2 pink bars. This is just a guess, but when I use feathering as much as possible (or when I'm lazy, just shifting into neutral) there is little charging that occurs of the battery pack. I only have 1 or 2 places on my commute to work each morning where simply starting off at about 10 mph lower than the speed limit, then coasting down the hill to get maximum help from gravity, results to too much speed (for me, that's 10 mph over the speed limit) resulting in my having to switch from neutral back into drive, or even the B setting to slow down. Whenever possible I avoid switching back to D or B, but hey, you can only start the hill off going so slow before the guy behind you wants to kill you, and you can only exceed the speed limit by so much before you fear a speeding ticket. Curious to know how they handled the hills.

Also, I am curious to hear how the pulsing was executed? Only on slight downhills or level terrain? Would you ever pulse on an incline? During a pulse, how fast do you accelerate (full speed petal to the floor, very gradually, or somewhere inbetween)?

So many questions, I know. But I'm flabberghasted! 100+ mpg seems impossible to me right now. My best full tank was about 54 mpg.

Thanks,
Powers.

 

Also, anyone know when (time) and where (channel? hbo?) this will be broadcast?