My longest tank so far

[AndyMartin826]

I'm starting to try and drive my Prius a little more efficiently, I've spent the last year or so basically driving it like a regular car and trying to pulse/glide where I could. When I first got the car, they must not have filled it up all the way or let it idle too much in the bay while prepping it, my first tank was about 30mpg. Of course my next tanks bounced around as I learned about how to consistently fill the gas bladder - went from 56 to 41 to 53 to 40. I got better at filling it, but my mileage still fluctuates a bit from tank to tank. After that disastrous first tank, I was able to join the 45mpg club in February of this year, generally filling tanks between 43 and 48mpg. Three weeks ago, though, I started visiting here again and decided to pay more attention when I'm driving to maximize the mileage. Certainly not hypermiling by any stretch, but in my perspective it's a good jump. Here's a pic of when I pulled into the pump this morning:



I was at 55mpg on the MFD before the weekend, but we generally do shorter trips on the weekend - the gym is pretty close, church is literally right across the street (and now that it's cooling off we'll start walking again) and I couldn't get much of it back on the drive in to work. Now, going by the pump calculation, I got 52.26mpg on this tank, which isn't my best tank by the calculations, but it's the first time I went over 500 miles, last pip started flashing at me on the drive in. Now that I don't have to run the AC so hard I can try to get 600 on my next tank

Andy

[Tideland Prius]

niiice congrats!

[treehggr]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AZTriGuy @ Oct 8 2007, 09:41 AM) [snapback]522751[/snapback]</div>

I'm starting to try and drive my Prius a little more efficiently, I've spent the last year or so basically driving it like a regular car and trying to pulse/glide where I could. When I first got the car, they must not have filled it up all the way or let it idle too much in the bay while prepping it, my first tank was about 30mpg. Of course my next tanks bounced around as I learned about how to consistently fill the gas bladder - went from 56 to 41 to 53 to 40. I got better at filling it, but my mileage still fluctuates a bit from tank to tank. After that disastrous first tank, I was able to join the 45mpg club in February of this year, generally filling tanks between 43 and 48mpg. Three weeks ago, though, I started visiting here again and decided to pay more attention when I'm driving to maximize the mileage. Certainly not hypermiling by any stretch, but in my perspective it's a good jump. Here's a pic of when I pulled into the pump this morning:



I was at 55mpg on the MFD before the weekend, but we generally do shorter trips on the weekend - the gym is pretty close, church is literally right across the street (and now that it's cooling off we'll start walking again) and I couldn't get much of it back on the drive in to work. Now, going by the pump calculation, I got 52.26mpg on this tank, which isn't my best tank by the calculations, but it's the first time I went over 500 miles, last pip started flashing at me on the drive in. Now that I don't have to run the AC so hard I can try to get 600 on my next tank

Andy
[/b]

Well good luck Andy. I just recently got my first 600+ mi tank. It's usually in the mid 500's. Have you thought about an Engine Block Heater? That is what helped me the most since my commute to and from work is only 16 miles each way. Something to think about.

[AndyMartin826]

I've thought about the EBH, my commute is 10 miles each way so it would certainly help with the trip to work in the morning. Nowhere to plug in at work. I have the Coastal EV mod and try to use it on the ride to church since it's so close, but always wind up killing the battery which in turn pays a steeper price in the overall mileage than it I didn't use it. With temps cooling off, I might look into the EBH. How much power does it use from the house when you keep it plugged in? I don't want to gain MPG at the cost of a larger footprint or power bill, you know.

[patsparks]

AZTriGuy,
Good on you for improving your fuel consumption, you are doing well.
I don't mean to sound like I am putting down your efforts however I think it's folly to try to squeeze the maximum miles from a tank but you need to aim for better figures on the MFD. I have found that without the fuel bladder the MFD fuel consumption is pretty well spot on correct.
Why do I say this?
Getting maximum miles from a tank only increases the danger of damaging the evaporative emission control system and increases the chance of environmentally damaging fuel spills. At the other end of the journey stretching the last few miles out of a tank can lead to a no fuel situation, if you keep driving on batteries alone you may cause them damage.

Summary, working toward low consumption is good, stretching each tank isn't the way to do it.
Congrats on your improved consumption!

I think the EBH and a cheap timer to run it for a few hours in the morning would be a great idea. Can't find a 240v version for Australia.

[mjms2b]

<-------jealous

[AndyMartin826]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 8 2007, 07:59 PM) [snapback]522939[/snapback]</div>

AZTriGuy,
Good on you for improving your fuel consumption, you are doing well.
I don't mean to sound like I am putting down your efforts however I think it's folly to try to squeeze the maximum miles from a tank but you need to aim for better figures on the MFD. I have found that without the fuel bladder the MFD fuel consumption is pretty well spot on correct.
Why do I say this?
Getting maximum miles from a tank only increases the danger of damaging the evaporative emission control system and increases the chance of environmentally damaging fuel spills. At the other end of the journey stretching the last few miles out of a tank can lead to a no fuel situation, if you keep driving on batteries alone you may cause them damage.

Summary, working toward low consumption is good, stretching each tank isn't the way to do it.
Congrats on your improved consumption!

I think the EBH and a cheap timer to run it for a few hours in the morning would be a great idea. Can't find a 240v version for Australia.
[/b]

Yep, I agree with the distance thing, I did start getting nervous when it hit one pip left, even before it started blinking. Just had to get it over 500 for once. Don't think I'll ever really get to 600 mi, don't have the guts to take that risk . After about 60 miles since the fill-up, I'm showing 62.1mpg on the display, though, so I'm definitely off to a great start on this tank. Got to try to get it high enough to buffer the short trips for the weekend and keep it over 60mpg. I'll probably go my standard 2 weeks before filling up, puts me at about 400-420 miles, if I can keep over 60mpg for that long then I'll feel that I really accomplished something.

I would love to get the EBH, but I'm seeing that no one seems to have it in stock anywhere. The Priuschat store doesn't have it, and I saw a couple of other suggestions in other forums but they were all out too. Anyone have any other ideas on where I might be able to pick up one of these mythical block heaters? I'm too far away to have Fireman come and install it for me so I guess I'll have to do it myself