How to get Better Gas Mileage

This spring I made a discovery that increased by gas mileage from 46 mpg to about 53 mpg. Quite simple. When you accelerate keep your eye on the instantaneous mileage bar. Accelerate slowly enough to keep it at 99 mpg up to about 18 -20 mph. Hard to do past that speed. Then you will be accelerating only on the electric motor. Also when coming down an incline at any speed, momentally take your foot off the accelerator till the bar goes to 99 mpg. Then reapply gas gradually trying to keep it at 99. I think that the gas motor stops when it is at 99 mpg.

I have noted that by doing this the battery charge levels remain lower, which means to me that they are being used more of the time. I am amazed how effective this is. You travel a little slower, but at significantly higher gas mileage.

MarkB

Reply to
mark b
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Why don't you reword that: "You piss off everyone around you by playing games in traffic, but f*ck 'em. Do what YOU want. It's YOUR life."

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

I think you're right, but there's another technique that lets you keep your eyes on the road.

Simply keep your foot off the -- -- brake.

Drive in such a manner as to minimize brake usage, and your mileage will improve significantly. The conversion of kinetic energy to electricity is very inefficient (better than nothing), but the conversion of kinetic energy to heat is a total waste.

That concept allows brisk acceleration when there's nothing in front of you, but it also means long/gradual slowdowns when something is. Applying this idea, you tend to look further down the road, and I think it adds a bit of safety as well as economy.

mark b wrote:

Reply to
notachance

Which is EXACTLY why Toyota designed the Prius with brake-by-wire.

The brake pedal tells the car how much to kick in the generators, which provides the braking power. Braking the car uses the more efficient kinetic energy to electricity conversion.

Two exceptions to this:

1) the car does engage the mechanical brakes below 7mph (all those funny noises you keep hearing under the hood during normal driving involve, among other things, the brake accumulator pressurizing) 2) emergency stops--the car knows when to apply the mechanical brakes regardless (see brake pressure accumulator concept above).

That the Prius drives like a normal car becomes more and more amazing as you delve into how it all is designed and works in daily use.

They started with a goal--minimize inefficiencies. With some thought, they managed to do just that. And they'll tweak things as time goes along.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

You can get the best mileage by leaving the Prius home and walking to work. That way the rest of us can get there also. Scott

Reply to
zonie

On Jun 1, 5:39 pm, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote: > In article , > mark b wrote: >

Nice to see you're as pleasant here as in "alt.tv.tech.hdtv".

I also have a Prius and found that modest acceleration is by far the biggest influence on MPG. I find that 2-3 MPH/second accel rate (10-15 seconds to get to 30) will piss nobody off and still do well on MPG. My Prius had 12855 miles as of the last fill up and has taken 248.127 gallons of gas total. The last 5 tanks have all been 500+ miles, 7

500+ mile tanks total.

The other 'trick' is to _not_ race to the next light as in 'don't give up your forward momentum' if you can avoid it. There is one yokel in a Tahoe who passes me several times every Friday, changing lanes and racing to the next light while I plod along 3-5MPH over the limit and keep passing this silly person. I count 'passing' as in more than 1 block ahead or behind me.

Remnember, you can recover some of the kinetic energy with the braking system but for any given velocity, the energy is a constant _regardless_ of how much was used to reach that speed.

Overall, the Prius has reduced the gas usage 13 gallons/week for the 2 cars while not traveling any fewer miles.

I call the Prius a "sit-in arcade game".

GG

Reply to
stratus46

Coasting also regenerates the battery. And coasting as far as you can uses less gas than keeping up speed and then braking hard.

Reply to
Michelle Steiner

Michelle, I consider you a Prius expert, but don't think coasting regenerates.

Reply to
Ike

Well, how about not playing the f****ng dashboard video game, and instead DRIVING. As in, paying attention to the world around you, and being part of it.

It's those of you who play the dashboard video game that give Prius owners a bad name.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

You don't need to think about it at all when you can see the display actually showing you that it does.

Reply to
Mike Rosenberg

On Jun 1, 11:32 pm, Ike wrote: > Michelle Steiner wrote: > > In article , > > "Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote: >

Foot off the gas regenerates. To actually 'coast', you need to lightly press the gas. The energy monitor will show nothing between the wheels, engine and battery. In this condition, it does nothing to the battery charge wise.

GG

Reply to
stratus46

I'm no Prius expert, but I do know that when I coast, there are green arrows from the wheels to the motor/generator, and from the motor/generator to the battery. Look at the energy screen when coasting yourself.

Reply to
Michelle Steiner

It all depends on the definition of "coast"; when your foot is off the gas, you're coasting. When the energy screen shows no arrows, you're gliding.

Reply to
Michelle Steiner

In my other cars, "coast" means foot off the gas pedal. It might be argued that engine braking requires that "coast" is in neutral. Uniquely to the Prius, "coast" might define that condition when there are no arrows.

The Prius has created a new glossary for drivers. So, "gliding?" OK.

Reply to
Ike

Elmo P. Shagnasty quoted the above but didn't seem to understand any of it.

Efficiency has nothing to do with it. What others were saying was that the best *economy* can be had by not spending energy than one is promptly going to shed with the brakes.

If one must shed energy with the brakes the Prius has a means of recovering *some* of that energy. Is not terribly efficient but its better *economically* than throwing it away as heat.

Reply to
David Kelly

Elmo understood all of it.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

MarkB: Actually, accelerating slowly is NOT the way to get the best fuel mileage in a Prius. You are better to accelerate rather quickly (not full throttle, but close to it) and then back off and "glide," letting the ICE shut-down. The Prius Atkinson-cycle engine has the best "specific fuel consumption", i.e. produces the most horsepower per gram of fuel used, when the power output is rather high, and the rpm is in the 2,000 - 2,300 range. This "Pulse and Glide" technique produces the best MPG figures.

Dick

Reply to
Dick Byrd

I remember a hundred years ago in High School that all vehicles were going to have flywheels to store that energy. But I was also going to be flying in a Jetson mobile, so I guess one vision canceled another.

Reply to
Tom Ricostronza

Gee Elmo, do ou piss people off on the road as much as on the web? I don't seem to have had that problem with my driving techniques. If I did, I would alter them. . . as you should.

Reply to
mark b

not NEARLY as much as a self-absorbed hypermiler who doesn't give a shit about living in the REAL world full of other people in traffic.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

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