Owch! I drive 10 miles and that is barely enough to get the car warmed up to an efficient temperature. Fortunately, about half of it is 'river bottom', fairly flat. One of the tricks our Japanese friends do is use a block heater year round. The morning commute benefits the most and the evening commute gains from the latent heat.

Do you have an outside outlet that could be used with a block heater on a timer? The heater will run about $75 and the extension cord and timer another $30. However, the fuel savings appear to be significant based upon my testing of a thermistor hack last winter.

Another approach, one I use, is to drive the first mile or so through my neighborhood at 25 mph before picking up a cross street. I also use a two lane, access road rather than the +50 mph divided cross road for the first 3 miles. The access road is also fairly flat whereas the divided cross road has overpasses every half mile. This maximizes my driving at low power settings so the ICE warms up before using higher speeds. Then at the end, I use a one mile, urban route that maximizes my use of battery, EV mode:


On the hills, it is best to go up as slowly as practical or at least a steady speed and avoid acceleration until after the crest of the hill. However, traffic patterns may make this difficult. This is called terrain driving but often impractical in busy traffic times.

How about the other aspects, tire pressure near max sidewall and oil level about 3/4ths of full? My testing indicates both have an effect on Prius efficiency.

Above all, it is important to have mileage records even if not recorded in GreenHybrid. A mileage history will give evidence about the impact of different changes. It is the one true path to engineering enlightenment. <grins>

Bob Wilson

 

I forgot to post my mileage - which is so far 4.9 l/100 km, or 56 MPG imperial, or 48 MPG US. Based on distance traveled since new over fuel purchased since new. I drive at or slightly above the speed limit (to avoid getting run over in SUV/minivan/PU truck rich Alberta), and I don't avoid freeways. My Prius warms up in 2-4 km, maybe less, as the only bar graph that is "bad" is the first 5 min one. No A/C impact, usually. Ambient temps here currently are around 25 C with two "hot" spells of 34 C so far (hot for us anyway ). Tire pressures at 40/38.

We'll see how it tanks in the winter soon enough.

 

That's pretty good. Better than what I was getting when I first got the car.

 

As I stated it is plenty warm here. My car sits outside and when I go to work during the mid day, the engine water temperature gets 160 to 180 degrees very fast. My tire pressures are 44psi front / 42psi rear. I actually have been getting better mileage coming home from work when the sun has gone down. Go figure.