Latte's are on Mike!

 

Thanks everyone! The main point of my question was related to Time vs. Fuel used. If the net affect about the same used, then that works for me. I can see how that would make sense!!

As far as driving habit that can decrease your mileage is up to an individual preference. My wife drives the car hard and gets terrible mileage from time to time. I prefer to drive to get the best mileage possible.

I think it takes a combination of all things that can increase your mileage and get the most out of your hybrid. I am really impressed that some people are getting 700 miles per tank. I would like to hit that goal! I appreciate your input and I hope to make a contribution to the group as time passes.

Bill

 

I get my best gas mileage from 35 to 42 mph. I find not to drag out the acceleration very much when below 35.

Last year my wife would dump me at the movies on a Saturday matinée. She would go shopping for a few hours. Come back and the mpg would be down .5 to 1 mpg. I decided to tell her to keep the car at 42 or slower and easy on the takeoffs. From then on the car would come back in the warm summer with a extra .5 on the mfd.

 

It's simple. Just arrange your life so that you have a very long commute to work, on a 55 MPH (or slower) road, with little traffic, no significant hills, and no stop lights or stop signs.

Some people are lucky, in the sense that they have that sort of commute. The rest of us are just not going to get that kind of mileage.

 

Gee...I guess I'm unforuntate
I only have a 7 mile commute

 

I just filled up for the first time after a full tank where I got 36+ mpg. I have discovered that my car is more willing to flip to E when cruise control is employed. On a long stretch of deserted road Friday night I was rolling along at 40 mph w/o CC and the engine was running constantly. I flipped on CC and in a few minutes the car ran on E for long periods (very flat road, just a few ups and downs). The speed was identical, but the mpg difference was large. I'm going to start trying to use cc more often conditions permitting.

 

I'd have to disagree that time DOES enter into the equation because the instantaneous reading is based on the amount of gas the fuel pump is sending to the engine. Sending twice the volume per second for 1/3 the time will burn 2/3 the fuel.

 

I have a 15 mile commute through suburban towns or 20 miles on highways, either with plenty of hilly terrain (couple of big ones on my off-road route). I'm going through towns so there are lights/signs, though not like the area around home. I go off-road mostly because I would occasionally get stuck in major traffic which screws your mileage (when you can only inch forward a few feet at a time, you're always on battery, until you get too low and suddenly ICE comes on and runs fast to try to regenerate battery charge--while you're not moving. aka, 0 mpg at nontrivial fuel consumption rate), and I noticed that going through towns my mileage kept climbing even though I was doing well and over halfway through the tank before I started trying that route regularly.

In hot weather (summer) I can now get mid-40s no problem. Right now, when it's been cold but the sun's warming up the car through the day, I'm still getting close to 39 on the MFD (so probably 37-38 when I calculate).

No very long commute, no stop-less traffic.... But found a set of conditions for my commute that fit my driving style well and let me do great. Got several 700 mile tanks this way last summer, and looking forward to that kind of mileage again.

 

UTAlumnus — Nope, the time cancels out:

mpg = miles/gallons = (miles/time) / (gallons/time) = (m p h) / (gallons/hour)

The appearance of "time" is purely incidental, and does not directly affect the instantaneous-FE mpg calculation.

Stan

 

Time only cancels out at the end of the calculation. Flow matters and flow is time dependent, especially when after accelleration some of your miles traveled have infinite mpg.

Assuming accelerating @ 20mpg for 60 seconds results in the same end speed as 10 mpg for 20 secconds and assumed units for convenience. If anyone has data to substitute in for these please post it. I will be happy to re figure these with real numbers.

20mpg = 4oz/sec
10mpg = 8oz/sec

for the acceleration phase
@ 20 mpg 4*60=240oz
@ 10 mpg 8*20=160oz