After learning about how to get the Prius into electric only mode and hold it for short periods I decided to try my luck. I was able to get up to 91.6mpg for a 2 mile run on a slightly hilly road (no down hill coasting), with numerous stop lights. After my 30 mile trip my mileage reduced down to around 58mpg. Still not to bad considering I'm still learning about this car.

 

Hi,

Actually, you can achieve this with cruise control set to 31 mph:


One of the reasons I recommend a 0-38 mph speed range is to keep the car in a zone compatible with EV operation. Using cruise control encourages predictable loads so the hybrid ECU will automaticly seek an optimum mix between ICE and EV. But it is also important to avoid things that force ICE operation.

The ICE will run constantly at speeds above 42 mph. The NHW11 model will run the ICE constantly with defrost set or AC set to MAX.

Bob Wilson

 

Kind of hard to use cruise control in city streets with lots of stop lights and traffic.

 

Hi,
Exactly and route planning should be part of any plan to improve MPG:


I had actually tested several routes. There is one that actually has a little better MPG but it is so much longer that it doesn't make sense. I has the choice between 12 miles at say 50 MPG versus 10 miles at say 48 MPG. Since my ultimate objective is minimum fuel cost, I took the 10 mile route.

One trick mentioned in this forum that I adopted was to use the access road, rather than the divided, limited access road. It has a lower speed limit and folks are not so unhappy when you poke along the outside lane. It is also flat with good visibility to the next light allowing maximum glide and minimum braking losses.

Bob Wilson

Bob Wilson

 

I hear what you are saying but I'm not going to route plan just to run down to Home Depot. I mean come on.

 

Hi,
Route planning works best for repeating trips, like a daily commute. As for the ad hoc trips, about all you can do is string them together . . .

"Honey, I need to go to Home Depot. Do you need anything?"

On the weekend, I'll run a series of errands strung together. Where I can use known commute routes, I do. For example, I'll uses the warm-up route if I'm headed north. But on the weekend I also don't have nearly the time pressures and traffic. I actually get better weekend MPG because my average trip duration is longer.

In my case, Home Depot and Lowes are both within half a mile. I'll often take the dog for a walk and pickup the small things. But I also have a trailer for those big awkward loads.

Bob Wilson

 

Well I'm not at the tree hugger stage yet. So waisting some fuel on a one mile trip doesn't bother me. While the fuel savings and emissions are good for us, I bought my Prius because of the cool technology it has. The tree hugging stuff was just a side effect of the purchase.

 

"Tree hugger???" My Scot/Welsh background says otherwise. I bleed tartan plaid and Jack Benny was a spendthrift compared to me. Heck, if I ever figure out a way to convert a tree to fuel . . . I'll 'hug them' in a heartbeat an electric chain saw driven from my Prius:

http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/priups.html

I'd be happy to change to MPC (Miles Per Cord) and I do follow the technology including use of coal:

http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/power...ion/index.html


Bob Wilson

 

One thing to note about route planning is that often times it saves you money. Driving efficiently for FE often means going around stops which will speed up getting to your location as well.

When we take two cars to lunch I go one way and some guys go the other way because "I go in the wrong direction" Well, I'm ususaly there 2 or 3 minutes before them because the 1/10 of a mile I drive in the opposite direction gets me to a road where it is a straight shot with no lights.

Route planning can be fun because you can find out that a lot of what you think you know about driving and getting to your destination quickly are wrong.

I highly recomend it.

 

I wasn't implying you are a tree hugger, just that I'm not at the tree hugging stage. But your reply did crack me up.