RPM at 70% maximum

No, as of yet, that info is not available without finding a way to rig up a tach yourself. What you do have is ears though! You can learn to hear and feel what "about 70%" feels and sounds like.

But I have a feeling you're in the same boat with me right now: We're both better off driving our new cars like they're just regular cars. We'll figure out all the subtleties of improving our MPGs through a lot of experience.

I've been using pulse/glide a bit, and it's fun to feel more in-tune with the car, the way I used to feel driving a manual-transmission. But I also don't pretend to be better at overall balance of the system than the computers.

 

Well I don't know about 70% of max, I will look into that over the next few weeks, but I will tell you something you can get at on any Prius, It appears to me that when the car is between 20 and 38 mpg during acceleration you are in the grove for pulse and glide. I will pay more attention to the RPM's for the next few days.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dachshund @ Sep 4 2006, 05:21 PM) [snapback]314236[/snapback]</div>

That sounds about right, althought I think it's usually expressed as a percentage of throttle opening rather than RPM. But you need to know what "efficiency" means. It doesn't mean maximum MPG. It means the ratio of useful work produced at the crank compared to the amount of fuel consumed. You wouldn't drive your car around at 70% max throttle to get the best mileage. But if you had to pick an engine size to produce X horsepower using as little fuel as possible, you'd pick an engine that could produce X horsepower at around roughly 70% max throttle. 70% max throttle in a Prius might be the most efficient speed for turning fuel into horsepower, but you'd be producing way more power than is needed to drive at legal speeds (at least on a level road).

IIRC, diesels are much more efficient than gasoline engines at small throttle openings, which is why diesels get very good mileage on the freeway. Well actually, I guess they don't have throttles like gasoline engines, which is why the pumping losses are low at lower RPM.

 

70% of *RPM*?? That does *not* sound right. Load, yes. Not RPM,
especially where over-the-road efficiency is concerned.
.
John? You might want to nose around on cleanmpg.com, and rethink
this statement a little.
.
_H*