Converting MPG into liters per 100 km

[mchaconcr]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 14 2007, 06:01 AM) [snapback]525395[/snapback]</div>

I have never seen a 5 minute bar taller than 8L/100km
[/b]

That tells me I'm not driving my prius correctly, or you live in a very flat place.... Because going uphill for more than 5 minutes definitively gives me a bar higher than 10k/100l (23.5 MPG). Also the first ten minutes with the A/C on normally give me a bar off the chart... And the right bar (the inmediate consumption at some times is showing only 10, when the numbers say that the actual consumption is over 25l/100k (9mpg).

Also... another disadvantage.... when the ICE is on, but your car is stopped (eg. when the battery is to low, at a red light, with A/C on). an "Imperial" Prius will show: 0 MPG.... mine shows 99.9l/km

I haven't even completed a tank on my Prius.... I've been around with it for only 600km (Still smells new), but so far the average consumption is 35.1 mpg... Is that bad?

[Shieldsy]

Originally Posted by mchaconcr

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 14 2007, 06:01 AM) [snapback]525395[/snapback]</div>


I haven't even completed a tank on my Prius.... I've been around with it for only 600km (Still smells new), but so far the average consumption is 35.1 mpg... Is that bad?

I have had my 2007 Prius for almost 1 year and have currently travelled 27000 km. To give you an idea of what to expect I have attached my fuel summary.

Also, it is very inefficient by design during the 1st 10 minutes. When the computer is cycling through the modes. It even idles at lights. I avoid this by turning on the car and then selecting EV (provided battery is good) and this prevents the warm-up mode until I get through the first set of lights. I then let the car do it's thing for the rest of my 40km daily commute and it seams to prevent the higher consumption in that first few minutes.

[doktorboogie]

Dood! There is a button on your Prius that will switch between miles or kilometers. I'm in front of my computer, but I believe its a tiny square button near the clock.

I'm a mathematician myself and love math, but if its as simple as pressing a button, why not just do that?

[The Tramp]

Originally Posted by mchaconcr

<Ina prius? Not really! I have a 2007 Prius in Costa Rica... It shows l/100km... But the consumption graphic looks inverted as yours!

May I disagree with you? l*100 km shows the graphic in bars - the smaller the less you consume. On the other hand, on a US prius you will not see more than 99 mpg (2.4 l*100 km) while we can go into a much finer detail.

If I can choose I'd choose l*100 km.

[The Tramp]

Originally Posted by doktorboogie

Dood! There is a button on your Prius that will switch between miles or kilometers. I'm in front of my computer, but I believe its a tiny square button near the clock.

I'm a mathematician myself and love math, but if its as simple as pressing a button, why not just do that?

Dood! Not all Prii have that button. I don't...

The Prii for the EU have a button to adjust the luminosity of the display.

[cleanspeed]

Originally Posted by deh2k

It appears that the formula to convert between miles per US gallon (MPG) and liters per 100 km (l/100km) is approximately 235.2 / x . The same formula converts in both directions. Beware that there is a difference between US and imperial gallons. Some tables, such as the Australian one above, use imperial gallons.

For whatever it's worth I believe that l/100km is a much better way to measure efficiency. Being the inverse of MPG, it makes the differences in inefficient cars more apparent.

I'm happy you pointed out the advantage of l/100km (or really any form of unit volume/distance travelled). Before I read your post, I registered here just to make this point, which I am trying to argue everywhere I can.

Here are a couple of examples of why this 1/100km (or even US gallons/mile) is a more useful measure:

Example 1: I've seen people express disappointment that a Prius 'only' manages 45 mpg or so, and won't it be great if a plug-in hybrid can go 100 mpg or better. I think someone thinking along those lines might be surprised to learn that an improvement from 45 mpg to 100 mpg saves the same amount of gas as an improvement from 20 mpg to 26.5 mpg. This is not a trick...it's apparent as soon as you flip mpg on its head and look at volume/distance.

Example 2: Improving mileage from 20 mpg to 30 mpg (an improvement of 10 mpg) saves the same amount of gas as improving mileage from 30 mpg to 60 mpg (an improvement of 30 mpg)!

To calculate this 'improvement factor', just plug mpg numbers in here:

gallons saved = miles travelled x (higher mpg - lower mpg)/(higher mpg x lower mpg)

I don't mean to discourage efforts to achieve 100 mpg (or higher). But if the U.S. is to make rational decisions about where to improve first, it's absolutely critical to look not at mpg, but its inverse (in whatever units you favor). Looked at this way, it becomes even more apparent that vehicles getting less than 20 mpg are awfully tough to justify.

If this doesn't impress, it means I haven't made the point very well...I'll keep working on it!

Thanks again for your post and for this forum.

Cleanspeed!

[priusuk2008]

I believe metric measurements are superior to mpg measurements, they're just not as widely known or followed in USA or Britain.

My key measure was the inverse, litres per 100 kilometres, the lower the better and I used this in South Africa all the time. Now, however, living in England mpg is the measure, same as USA, except that the volume of a gallon is different.... whereas a litre globally is still the same measure !

My Green Hybrid signature below shows mpg based on US gallons and to me it LOOKS poor, but in imperial terms it is about 20% better, which is very ok with me, compared to other UK cars.

However the litre / 100km value would be just under 6l / 100km (at time of post and still lots to learn) and while I know that is good compared to other normal cars, I know that 5 would be so much better

[The Tramp]

Originally Posted by priusuk2008

My Green Hybrid signature below shows mpg based on US gallons and to me it LOOKS poor, but in imperial terms it is about 20% better, which is very ok with me, compared to other UK cars.

Abandon Green Hybrid and adopt spritmonitor.de as they are Europeans and allow the user to choose l*100km, km/l, UK MPG and US MPG. What's more, you can record many other car related things@ To see an example, click on my 4.6 below.

[priusuk2008]

Originally Posted by The Tramp

Abandon Green Hybrid and adopt spritmonitor.de as they are Europeans and allow the user to choose l*100km, km/l, UK MPG and US MPG. What's more, you can record many other car related things@ To see an example, click on my 4.6 below.

Thanks Tramp, I'll have a browse on there later and maybe use it too. Watch my signature

[alanh]

Google Calculator is also useful if you want to relate US gas prices to those in other countries. For example, "160 ISK/liter in USD/gallon" returns "160 (Iceland kronur / liter) = 8.20435008 U.S. dollars / US gallon".