Hi-

This is Nick Yost again, the guy writing the book on hybrid cars. In it, I plan to have a list of tips people can use to improve their fuel mileage. I would appreciate hearing how you high mileage folks do it. If you would care to participate, please send the three top ways in which you have been able to improve your mileage. I will sort through them and compile the top five, 10 or whatever it turns out to be. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. You can reach me here or at nickyost@verizon.net.

 

lol so you can sell our ideas? FREE KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE !

do it yourself, tons of threads for you to nick and pick, heck even I can do it myself. but fine....

1) turn off your engine when you reached desired speed
2) never use the brakes
3) restart the engine when your speed is too slow

repeat steps 1 to 3 for maximum fuel economy!

 

There is a point there. Most of our techniques aren't exactly secret. There's a search function on the boards, and there's articles in the learn section, all about maximizing fuel economy.

 

No secrets.

1. Accelerate to cruise gently
2. Cruise at moderate speeds (certainly no higher than 60)
3. Avoid acceleration and deceleration

That's about it.

 

There are more than three.

Don't race up to stoplights. Decelerate well in advance- if you know you'll have to stop, don't waste gas getting there.

Don't accelerate too quickly from a stop- it often doesn't even get you ahead of anybody, especially if you just have to stop at the next light and wait for the cars around you to catch up to you.

If your engine is off at a stoplight, don't creep forward. That turns the engine back on and wastes the Auto-stop.

Use the contours of the road. Speed up on the flats and the downhills, and don't worry about maintaining speed when going uphill- your slowest speed should be at the crest of the hill.

Often it helps just to drive slower. There's generally a lot more air resistance at 70+ mph than there is at 45 or 55 mph, so all cars are less efficient.

Weather makes a big difference. Warmer batteries are more efficient, and that includes hybrid batteries.

 

Are we really going to write this guy's book for him? Come on. Make him search, learn, test-drive, rent, lease, then come back with specific questions.

 

is it going to be... Hybrids for dummies? for we, the rest of us?

 

That is one of the reasons I started a Prius FAQ in the Prius forum. IMHO, each vehicle should have a 'basic' FAQ to get folks started. Then subsequent, more detailed FAQs and articles should follow.

Bob Wilson

 

Very good. As I e-mailed to him, https://www.greenhybrid.com/learn/ar...ybrid-faq.html, there are lots of information already out there, and compiled, all he has to do is find it and read it.

 

Nick:
Saving gas mileage is for me at least a dramatic change to all of my driving habits. I gave up decades of driving a sports car and the joy of feeling curves at speed and acceleration onto highways for better economy, lower expenditures at the pump, and a noticeable reduction in my own episodes of potential road rage. More and more now I'm blown away by drivers who are always in a hurry, have to be two car lengths ahead of you regardless, and don't care about the dangers of weaving. I've even seen people speeding on the way to work! No job can be that enjoyable, or that important! As a traffic engineer I know quite a bit about driver behavior. I have seen my own behavior transform in ways I could have never imagined now that I drive a hybrid. Getting good mileage means knowing your car, working with its quirks, and maximizing its strengths to safely and efficiently get from point A to point B without wasting fuel. What's five minutes if you can translate it into $3 at the pump?

All the rules for maximizing mileage in a conventional vehicle apply. To that list you can add:
- Charge your hybrid battery as often and as efficiently as every opportunity allows. This includes downshifting, controlled braking, and long coasting.
- Just because the neighborhood speed limit is 25 doesn't mean you can't drive to your house at 20 MPH (especially if the ICE is off).
- Learn to coast at higher speeds with the engine off, even on expressways.
- Regulate your RPMs as much as possible. The difference between climbing an on-ramp fast versus more slowly is only about 5 to 10 seconds.
- At freeway speeds use the ICE primarily to maintain speed, sudden changes in speed hurt mileage.

As a side benefit, driving with fuel economy in mind will also make you a more defensive and safer driver as well. This is true even on our low speed neighborhood streets.