Factors affecting MPG

[Rokeby]

rpg51,

Hurry-up quick read post #4 in this thread about how to use, and what to
expect from the Traction Control system:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-te...d-i-think.html

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by Rokeby

Further it was found that when a Prius is moving forward, the closest
thing to a true glide is to be in Neutral where the energy going out of
the HV battery is close to what would be expected to keep the
CPU(s), ECUs, etc. running.

I don't know what to make of it, but the term "no arrows glide" has
continued in use as if were correct. With this new information, the best
we can say is the no arrows "glide" isn't a true glide at all. It might be
truthfully called an augmented "glide."

You can "Read All About It!" here:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-te...s-neutral.html

This is why I go to N when I'm in the glide portion of P&G. During the daytime without headlights, the Scanguage reads a current draw of 1.0-1.1 amps coming out of the HV battery. At about 32 mph though, that starts to go toward 0 and will actually go to a small amount of regen around 35 mph. I have seen as high as 17 amps of regen while in a no arrows, neutral, ICE-off glide. When you reach 37 mph, the regen goes away and the current draw drops back to the standard 1 amp of draw from the HV.

[rpg51]

Yea, I've read all this stuff and - well - I don't want to pre-judge so I'll hold my fire until I have some experience with the thing in the snow and ice. I'm real skeptical though. I had a bad experience on two steep gravel driveways. I think a lot, not all, that you read is written by people who have driven in the snow but in fairly flat terrain. So, like I said, I'll hold my fire for now.

I got home and had a scotch and now I'm in the couch watching Chris Matthews thinking about another one, (scotch). Maybe I'll just take the Tundra tomorrow. Its cold and damp out there in the garage right now.

[opticell]

This is my first post... Love the prius; 4 years and 85,000 miles, and priuschat; a few days so far. Things that affect MPG… My hitch allows me to hook up toys and threaten my warranty.

I refer to my prius+trailer combo as my “35mpg pickup.” I decided to be the Guinea pig for the prius community and test my prius with all kinds of trailers of various sizes. My first trailer test was to creep very gingerly, moving my horse trailer within my field. It worked and nothing broke, yes. If anyone is interested, I have 1 year experience towing max loads at max distances, MPG stats, 35,000 miles, and no related problems yet. I always worried my 100,000 mile warranty would be in jeopardy, but at 109,000 and no warranty left or used, I love my Prius for its endurance, longevity, and resale retention.

At 85,000 miles, I had one problem: Enhanced VSC, (!), check engine (all amber), (and /?\ (Red), I think the VSC and (!) lights went off with restart. Anyway the Toyota service couldn't find any codes and reset the lights. At 107,000 the lights returned on I84 to Boise. Restarts made the two lights go out but driving made them come on again. Called Boise Toyota, they said not to worry unless driving on wet roads, etc. I Continued to Portland with mostly lights coming on, and resetting at convenient stops. Started reading posts and things VSC (Hobbit, Bob, etc) and found design problem under engine. On to Lewiston Idaho and returned to Utah continuing to fight the lights. I can’t find that post about the ill designed engine plate rubbing and damaging the computer data cable, but moved mine a little and took pictures, now the VSC light hasn’t returned in 130 miles of driving 2 days now.

Enough said, I welcome comments and help and all.

[opticell]

Just remembered. I agree not to use the "B" mode. After about 70,000 miles use(37k to 107k, it hasn't been detrimental to the transmission, but I recently read about how the brake pedal regenerates power before applying brakes. This convinced me to give up the "B" mode and use the brake pedal which I think has helped my MPG. I still have original brake pads at 109,000 miles

[uart]

Originally Posted by etobia

Driving example: I took a Toyota mechanic on a slow ride around the building and the lot. Guess what: the first two times the car was in 100% electric. Third time electric wouldn't kick in completely and showed 25 mpg! He couldn't explain why it was doing that cause nothing about the driver/driving environment changed. By the way.... the weather was optimum: 70 degrees, no humidity so no extras running.

Seems to me that the car should be able to maintain all electric in a parking lot. Same with driving on a road that is perfectly flat with a few stop lights. If it uses gas, it should be minimal and then "catch" the electric mode. the thing just won't do it enough.

Sorry but you can only go so far in all electric mode, even if you are only going slow. The batteries just dont hold that much usable charge (they're 200 Volt 6.5 amp-hour but I think that less than half that amp-hour capacity is actually used so as to maintain long service life). Even driving slow on flat terrain I think you'd only go a few km at most in all electric mode.

BTW. Does anyone have any more exact figures or reaseach on this?

[johnboywalton]

Originally Posted by KentD8888

What affects MPG besides the following?
Putting Climate on Manual
Using Cruise Control
Tire Pressure
Tire type (what gets best MPG?)
Using 'B' to brake (Is this a good idea?)
Drive speed (in town, freeway what gives best MPG?)
Grill shield
Synthetic oil
What other factors do you employ?

Thank you,
Kent

What tires get best gas mileage???

[johnboywalton]

What tires get the best gas mileage... I am in need of tires now.. thanks