(Sigh) It IS an issue if your law prohibits it. Don't know who has been cited for it, but that is really not the issue. IF the practice is illegal, it is illegal.

If you don't want to turn on your AC to save gas, that's fine. Impedeing the flow of traffic is another as is coasting if it is not legal. Everyone wants to get good mileage and everyone wants to see what the best their hybrid is capable of doing. But if you're driving 20MPH to stay in electric mode in a 45 MPH zone and traffic is also moving at 45 MPH, I hope that hybrid driver gets cited for it. We share the roads, we don't own them.

 

Like people have mentioned, don't worry about it for a while. But, 25.5 is low for your stated commute. My best mileage seems to be cruising along at about 45 mph. But sitting still anywhere with the engine running is the bane of mileage. You could try putting your AC on the notch back from max. It will run when the ice runs, but allow the engine to shut off at lights, etc.

Also, I'm certainly not a hypermiler, but the mileage you are trying to achieve can be gotten through normal driving with moderate accelerations, and slower decelerations. Certainly driving in L can be easier sometimes, but the brakes use regeneration too. Probably 99% of the time I drive in D and use the brakes.

The one thing I had to learn was to get to a speed, and then not try to accelerate more. I found myself constantly on the gas a tiny bit, but not enough to really accelerate and make it noticeable to me. By watching the NAV instant mileage bar, I have learned to stop accelerating 100% of the time, and be more throttle neutral for the speed I was going.

Good luck! I don't see any reason why you can't get 30!

BTW, legal or not, it is dangerous to drive in neutral.

 

Dont forget to reset your average econ. When I purchased my FEH, the average was on 22. I don't know how you could get such terrible mileage, but before I realized I could reset it(duh), I couldn't get higher then 28. I reset it when I filled up about 150 miles ago and my average is 35.5 right now. My last tank average was 32. It seems to be getting better and better!

Oh yeah, and I don't shift or fake shift or anything like that. And I still have 35 PSI in the tires.

 

How many hills are there in Florida? With a max elevation of 323', there can't be many.

It is also illegal in most states to "obstruct the windshield". In my screwed up state that means nothing can be on the dash, hanging from the rearview mirror or stuck to the windshied except those legally required stickers. I would dare say that 90% or more of the people violate that law. Still the law though. My point is only that the no-coasting is a law that isn't applied to passenger cars. Unless you wrapped your car around a pole and died instantly, how the hell would anyone ever know you were coasting in neutral?! I don't see many cops peering into vehicles going down hills to see what gear you are in. Not trying to make a big deal out of nothing but, geez, talk about an obscure law that I have never heard of being enforced.

At no point did I ever advocate running at speeds that obstruct traffic. That is up to ones own conscience. (Personally, I drive the speed limit or a few mph either side of it.) I don't recall anyone in this tread giving that advice as a way of saving fuel.

By the way, the clowns that want to drive way over the speed limit, weave, pass in the breakdown lane and generally be idiots don't own the road either. They don't seem to want to share with anyone.

 

OK Guys - we have already covered, quarreled and ran this legal issue into the ground in another thread 'Help me with MPG' - Enough already on the subject of coasting in 'N' - Hey we get it !!

Let's get back to the main subject of This thread - Needs Suggestions.

 

re: NEED SUGGESTIONS!

Good idea! I am now aware of the passions involved with gliding in neutral debate. I did have a few questions about the use of low gear that I addressed to GaryG, but I would be happy for anybody to pipe up and give suggestions.

I know about and now use the downshift to low when approaching an intersection when mybattery is low... How and/or when else should I use the 'L' position?

Has anybody ever done a test between ultra slow start (takes a long time to get to speed) vs. starting faster to get to the cruising speed. I am driving my wife crazy with my slow starts!

 

Whether I accelerate at 1800 RPM for 30 seconds, or 2400 RPM for 20 seconds to get to 50 MPH does not seem to add up to a measureable difference.

Avoiding higher than 2400 RPM all the times you can ( when safe ) is a really good gas saving measure, and crusing at 1800 RPM or below as much as possible, will have you at 40+ MPG in no time.

I rarely exceed 65 MPH, and do really well. As much as 42 MPG at 60 MPH.
Just one person, 45psi in all tires, and roof bars removed helps some.
But gentle ramp up to speed, and slightly lower speed helps the most.
The best sustained MPG without tricking around with fake shifts and pulse and glide is...
If you can set cruise control on back roads to 48 MPH, you will get 48 MPG wiithout using the EV at all.

-John

 

The best suggestion I can make is to be patient and don't expect max mpg overnight. The slow starts do annoy people but if you are alone and not pissing off anyone behind you then drive how it makes you happy.

Another thing that helps is anticipating traffic lights. I take an identical route every day and I know the light cycles almost intimately. I have also learned the coasting distance from regular road speed to coast almost to a stop at the light. Avoid stopping if you can since it takes so much more energy to get rolling again.

I use 40 psi in my tires and the ride is a little stiff but I'll live.

Now that I know my vehicles pretty well I have found that I can drive in an almost normal style, normal speeds and still get the decent mileage.

And coast down hills if you want to, nobody here will tell.

(By the way, I missed the thread VietVet linked to so I didn't know this had been beaten to death already - sorry). I never coast in neutral - goes back to my days of driving nothing but trucks with standard trannies. They can s*ck getting into a lower gear at high speeds.

And in case you didn't read all the FAQ's, there is no whining allowed on this board, especially about what you wish your hybrid had.

Good luck with the mileage - it will come in time. You at least have the advantage of a wealth of info on here. There is a lot of it.

 

Edgart. there is not much more to add about the use of “L” that I already gave you links too. The best way to increase your mileage is to shut down the ICE and coast as much as possible. Always accelerate as slow as you can get away with. “The LOW GEAR ADVANTAGE” thread just a few threads away, gives great details about using “L”, but has changed since it was first started. The things still work that are there, but “N” gliding has been added by some of the original people who started that thread.

As far as some of the opinions like “it’s against the law or it’s dangerous”, you will have to choose your weapon to fight the high cost of fuel and the pollution it causes.

Just today, I hit 57.8mpg on a 9.2 mile straight run with a strong headwind with the A/C on in 92F temp. This was in a 30mph speed zone on Jupiter Island. Here are the details from my SG.

average speed - 23mph
max speed - 42mph
time, .4 hrs
max RPM - 2548
Fuel used - .2 gal

If this was a round trip, I would have the wind at my back for the return, I would be at ~63mpg average for the RT, with the A/C keeping me and my battery cool. This was only possible with the proper use of “N” and “L”. In a reply in the article I wrote at http://www.cleanmpg.com/ I describe in detail how I got a 70.3mpg 20 mile RT in the Spring on this same route. Was just doing a comparison today with the A/C on, returning home.

GaryG

 

Hi Doug -

I knew these guys (GaryG, John, Ray - - -) would come thru with great, helpful answers in your quest to get the best FE possible - Welcome. I guess I use a combo of just about all of them and really most of them are just common sense driving - with a few added tricks that are unique to driving a Hybrid - especially an Escape Hybrid . Increasing the tire pressure (I am middle of the road with 40 for a little better ride), run the A/C in re-circulate to keep both you and the HV battery cool, Keep it below 60 - 65 MPH etc. Each one of us has different challenges from the traffic and terrain, so you will have to try, and use, the tricks of the trade as passed along to fit your own situation.

I may use ‘L’ a little differently than posted – maybe because of the driving environment I have to cope with. My usual commute is no more than 5 miles, hardly enough time to get things going. I usually, on a cold start, just start with the lever in ‘L’ and do a few FS to pump the charge into the battery as quickly as possible. The sooner you can get the Soc (State of Charge) up enough that the generator and traction motor are not having to put a strain on the ICE to fill the battery the better. You can both fell and see on your instant MPG bar, the resistance dropping off and the FE going up.

My driving environment isn’t either ‘City’ or ‘Highway’ – I guess the best is ‘Suburban’, ¼ to ½ mile stretches of going from one stop to the other, with the traffic (and the guy behind you) wanting to GO, then after getting up to speed, trying to do what John said, stay at or below 2,400 RPM getting to your cruise speed (or traffic speed) – whatever that might be - and then FS in ‘D’ to try and stabilize the RPM and the Instant MPG readout. Then it is – OK got to stop again – so I do as Ray said – watch the traffic and the patterns and if my battery is about as full as it is going to get and the situation is OK, drop it into ‘N’ and coast, as GaryG has said, coasting in ‘N’ will give you more FE than anything. GaryG and John use different ways to get into 'Coast' and I am sure both are about the same - no argument with your style John - but 'I' find it just easier to throw it into 'N' . When you see you are going to have to come to a stop, let off the accelerator earlier than you normally would - no reason for anyone to rush to where they know they will be stopping. Watch your speed and when your speed bleeds down to 40 MPH generally a light pressure, not enough to really slow you down, will cause the ICE to shut down and I coast till I need more braking and drop it into ‘L’ and then if I seem to be coming up a little short on the stop – back to ‘D’ and coast with brakes. I've also found that if you MUST go at a steady speed (not impeding traffic) - I find that 45 - 50 gives me better FE - lets me let up on the accelerator going down hills but keep the inerita up and not drop off to much speed going up the next hill, crest that hill and drop in into 'N' if possible - The FEH will roll on and on.

If the terrain and traffic allows me to, I will try and stay in EV (for my 4WD it is about 30 max) for as long as I can. You will have to learn and get the feel of using the accelerator when in EV – most of the time you will actually be slowly letting off and if the conditions are right – Hey – drop it into ‘N’ again.

One thing I do that I don’t think has been mentioned, is to keep an eye on the Green Instant FE bar and try as hard as I can to keep it above where the White MPG Avg line is sitting at. This way I know that at least I am doing as good, or better, than what my average has been up to that point. I will put this in here as both a statement and a question. When the ICE has not warmed up to normal operating temp etc, my best instant MPG - when coasting - is reached in ‘L’ followed by ‘D’ then ‘N’. Yeah in ‘L’ you take a hit on the slowing down, but if you are going down an incline it doesn’t hurt that bad and builds the battery quicker also. I guess the difference is caused by the RPMs but they seem to vary only slightly between the three gears.

Hope you enjoy the challenge of pushing the FE envelope as much as most of the guys here do – it is almost a rush when you have made that 50 mile round trip and used all the tricks you can to push and keep that MPG average high and end up 40 MPG or better. I try to reach for that Brass Ring that GaryG and John have put out there with their 50 and above and maybe, just maybe someday - - - .

Ray – is the j for you middle name or Jr?