Real World MPG for our 2010 Prius. After 2,173.9

Ah, so you already know the merits of pulling into a pleasant,
out-of-the-way campsite for the night... it's an excellent way
to tour in a Prius, too, with the added benefit that you can
sleep in the car. However, it will take a little more work to
construct an equivalent fan hack for the 3rd-gen. Maybe if a
bit of power is applied to where the solar roof hooks in, it
would power up the circ fan just like on a sunny day??
.
_H*

 

Too bad you couldn't keep the 1999 Valkyrie Interstate motorcycle. I bet you miss it on some of those nice cruising days. I am trying to convince my wife to get a Goldwing, although so far I am not having much luck.

 

We averaged 47.6 mpg on our first tank. It took 9.2 gallons and we had driven 438 miles. I can't be sure the tank was "totally" full when delivered. With 2.7 gallons left in the tank, we could have gone to 566 miles at empty. The fuel gauge showed only one bar but it still had nearly a quarter tank left.

 

I am finding that I really have to concentrate and be constantly mindful in order to get the 46mpg I am getting around town and on city toll roads. This is somewhat disappointing. I feel like I am hypermiling with my right foot, but not getting the hypermiling results. No regrets in acquiring this Prius, mind you. I just thought this car would get 50mpg without having to drive in a special way (very slow starts)

 

Have you checked out the "Gen III 2010 Prius Fuel Economy" section of the forum? Lots of good info. Don't worry, your milage will improve!

 

Well, I am a little disappointed as well. I have a Gen 3 Level % with Navigation. I am averaging 45-46mpg's and this is with being very aware of my driving. I am on the highway with 98% of the miles going 70-75mph's... how do I get my miles higher?

 

Find a nice big truck to draft behind xD

It's really all about the pulse and glide if you want higher mileage. You sound like you are keeping you foot on the pedal most the time. That would explain your 45mpg average

 

If you don't slow down you won't. I don't believe there is any kind of technique for pure high speed highway driving, just set the cruise control and go.
I average low 60's MPG, but my avg. speed is about 30 according to the car, and my avg. road speed is 45 with some at 55, never faster so far.

 

what is pulse and glide?

 

Slow down to 68 if you can and use the cruise control. I am getting 47-48 and around 49-50 on interstate going 70 with CC going long 60+ mile stretches.

--Mickey

 

Spend some time on PC on the Fuel Economy threads and learn!

 

would it be so difficult to just tell me???? What would it take? a couple of dozen words??? I bet you could probably divulge this in even FEWER than a dozen words. Aren't we here to help each other out?

 

It would be much easier for you to use the handy search box on the top right side of the page like everyone else. There are several threads that go into detail about the technique.

 

For Pulse & Glide, read Beating the EPA - The Why's and How to Hypermile. P&G is the second item in Section IV, Advanced Hypermiling. It includes a link to a Prius GenII specific article.

 

ok, I entered Pulse and Glide in the search engine box, and came up with the following results:
Online resource for the Toyota Prius offering discussion forums, research, and shopping. - Search Results for pulse and glide

I followed a few of those links, and I still don't know what Pulse and glide is. I think that in some cases it would be good to search first. But in this case, it is not. I am looking for a succinct answer that explains what pulse and glide is. If you know what it is, why not let me know what that answer would be?

 

Pulse and glide is where you press the accelerator up to a certain speed; then let off the pedal and just coast along until you hit another speed where you start accellerating again.

In city driving, I'll accelerate up to about 40-45mph then down to 30-35mph, depending on what the traffic is like.

On the highway, I'll pulse up to 70 then glide down to 55-60.

It increases your fuel economy because you are moving along without consuming fuel.

In "steady state" or normal driving, where you hold the pedal down the whole time, you will probably end up with fuel economy numbers that look like 50 - 50 - 50 - 50 - 50.

With P&G, it will look like 99 - 99 - 99 - 99 - 35 - 38 - 40 - 45 etc.

If you peg the cruise control at 55mph in a Gen 2, you can get 55mpg. If you pulse and glide at the speeds I stated on the highway, you can get 60mpg or more. In the city, 75mpg or more (in the most ideal conditions, i.e. no traffic to encourage you to drive "normally".)

The Gen 3 is supposed to get better fuel economy in all conditions, so YMMV, literally.

You can also do a thing called "warp gliding", where you press the accelerator extremely lightly after pulsing, and get a "no arrows" situation on the screen. You will get much better fuel economy like that, because the vehicle is in its most friction-less mode; however, it comes at a cost.

Since there are no arrows, that means the battery isn't recharging; after about 10 minutes or so, the battery runs down, and the engine runs harder to charge it, and won't let you do a "warp glide" until it has sufficient charge. During that time, it will be hard to push 35mpg.

The 10 minutes I wrote there is actually what happens if you have the A/C on; since you live in Texas, I assume you do. Without the A/C on, the battery will last longer, maybe up to 20 minutes. Even with all power-options off though, the battery WILL run down and start the recharge process; so its not such a winning situation IMHO.

The regular pulse and glide will charge the battery enough to run A/C without any power drainage as long as you don't have to stop for more than a few minutes.

 

It's a technique that is used to improve your mileage. You basically accelerate, slowly if possible, to a speed like 55mph, then lift your foot off the gas which "shuts down" the gasoline engine. You then put your foot back on the gas lightly, but only press hard enough so that the battery is driving the car through the AC motors. When you do that, the car gradually slows to a speed, say 40mph, then you step harder on the gas to accelerate back to 55 mph, then repeat the process. It's not a perfect explanation, but you get the idea hopefully. You also have to be careful that traffic conditions allow this type of driving.

Try this:
Pulse and Glide plus Warp Stealth in the Prius II for maximum FE … - CleanMPG Forums

 

The simple answer is:

• use the engine to accelerate to a target speed - converting engine power into kinetic energy
• minimize engine fuel burn to a lower speed - letting the kinetic energy handle the drag forces

So instead of maintaining a steady speed, your vehicle is constantly changing speed. There is a variation called terrain driving that means slowing down on upgrades and speeding up on the downgrades like a heavily loaded, truck.

If you'd like a more technical paper, SAE 2009-01-1322 ($15 from SAE) would be a good start.

Bob Wilson