Help with the Energy Screen

[aubergaz]

I'm sure the question has been asked many times and if there is the definitive thread, please lead me to it.

Can I get a SIMPLE explanation of the yellow bars on the engery screen.

I surmise that the vertical one is a current bar graph of 'instant' mpg. But I'm lost with the horizontal one showing 'minutes' and that some bars show the car icon and other don't.

How can I manage it? What is it telling me about my driving tendencies? What should my 'goals' be as I watch it?

Help educate this 10 day owner.

Thank you.

[efusco]

First, it sounds like you're describing the "Consumption" Screen, not the Energy screen. The Energy screen is the one with the ICE, motor, wheels, etc.

The consumption screen is a little odd, but it can be useful in some situations.

1)As you surmised, the bar on the far right is the instantaneous MPG...low when you're accelerating, high when coasting, somewhere in the middle at a stead cruise.

2)Bottom has trip miles and MPG--that will be for that specific/current tank if you have an '04/'05, or for the lifetime of the car or since the last manual reset if you have an '06.

3)Every 5 minutes of continuous driving a bar will appear. The newest bar always appears on the right side of the graph and pushes the previous bars over to the left.

4)Each of those bars is your average mpg over that 5 minute period. Thus, it's most useful if you were going a steady speed...let's say 55mph for that entire 5 minute period. Where your instantaneous mpg may have jumped up and down during that steady speed drive due to hills and such the bar graph will show you what your average mpg was during that time. By the same token, in stop and go traffic and during a 5 minute block where your speed varied a lot the 5 minute bar doesn't tell you much. If you averaged 60mpg during 3 minutes of that trip and were at a stop for the other 2 minutes your actual mpg was 60mpg, but the consumption graph will say it was closer to 40mpg.

5)The little leaf cars will only show up if you regenerated energy via the regenerative brakes. Thus, if you drive for 15min. on the highway without using your brakes to stop or coasting down any hills you'll have no regen leaves show up. If you're in stop and go city traffic you'll have a number of the cars or partial cars show up. Each one represents 50Wh of energy regenerated (enough to run a 50W light bulb for 1 hour).

Hope that helps.

[ScottY]

Each bar represents the average mpg over the 5 min interval.

The little green cars represent 50Wh (Watt-hour) regenerated.

The screen basically tells you the mpg trend over the last 30 min.

Edit: dang it, doc beat me to it. Don't u have ppl to save? :P

[aubergaz]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ May 8 2006, 01:52 PM) [snapback]251605[/snapback]</div>

First, it sounds like you're describing the "Consumption" Screen, not the Energy screen. The Energy screen is the one with the ICE, motor, wheels, etc.

The consumption screen is a little odd, but it can be useful in some situations.

1)As you surmised, the bar on the far right is the instantaneous MPG...low when you're accelerating, high when coasting, somewhere in the middle at a stead cruise.

2)Bottom has trip miles and MPG--that will be for that specific/current tank if you have an '04/'05, or for the lifetime of the car or since the last manual reset if you have an '06.

3)Every 5 minutes of continuous driving a bar will appear. The newest bar always appears on the right side of the graph and pushes the previous bars over to the left.

4)Each of those bars is your average mpg over that 5 minute period. Thus, it's most useful if you were going a steady speed...let's say 55mph for that entire 5 minute period. Where your instantaneous mpg may have jumped up and down during that steady speed drive due to hills and such the bar graph will show you what your average mpg was during that time. By the same token, in stop and go traffic and during a 5 minute block where your speed varied a lot the 5 minute bar doesn't tell you much. If you averaged 60mpg during 3 minutes of that trip and were at a stop for the other 2 minutes your actual mpg was 60mpg, but the consumption graph will say it was closer to 40mpg.

5)The little leaf cars will only show up if you regenerated energy via the regenerative brakes. Thus, if you drive for 15min. on the highway without using your brakes to stop or coasting down any hills you'll have no regen leaves show up. If you're in stop and go city traffic you'll have a number of the cars or partial cars show up. Each one represents 50Wh of energy regenerated (enough to run a 50W light bulb for 1 hour).

Hope that helps.
[/b]

Thank you so much. I hope it wasn't a stupid question.

Another participant made a rather demeaning note about me and a previous question or comment of mine.

I appreciate your patience with me.

[aaf709]

I understand that it's better to have little (or no) leaf cars. Is that true? If so, that would be a goal.

[jmccord]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ May 8 2006, 01:52 PM) [snapback]251605[/snapback]</div>

By the same token, in stop and go traffic and during a 5 minute block where your speed varied a lot the 5 minute bar doesn't tell you much. If you averaged 60mpg during 3 minutes of that trip and were at a stop for the other 2 minutes your actual mpg was 60mpg, but the consumption graph will say it was closer to 40mpg.
[/b]

Evan,
Doesn't being at a stop during part of the 5-minute interval cause your graph to display a higher value? I seem to recall seeing two maxed-out bars during a recent stop -and-go journey through a construction zone. It made me think, that with little or no fuel consumed, the computer is trying to divide by 0.

[qbee42]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(aaf709 @ May 8 2006, 03:13 PM) [snapback]251617[/snapback]</div>

I understand that it's better to have little (or no) leaf cars. Is that true? If so, that would be a goal.
[/b]

Never having to brake or slow down is always better, but not always possible. The leaf cars are showing regened energy from braking, slowing down, or holding speed while going down hill. On a normal car, all of that energy would be wasted as heat, but on the Prius about 40% is captured and reused through regenerative braking. It's a good thing that the Prius regens that energy when it has to, but it's even better if it doesn't have to.

Tom

[efusco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmccord @ May 8 2006, 02:26 PM) [snapback]251626[/snapback]</div>

Evan,
Doesn't being at a stop during part of the 5-minute interval cause your graph to display a higher value? I seem to recall seeing two maxed-out bars during a recent stop -and-go journey through a construction zone. It made me think, that with little or no fuel consumed, the computer is trying to divide by 0. [/b]

That's why that graph is so unreliable/unhelpful in most cases.

If you use even just a little gas during a 5 minute block you'll show nearly 0mpg, if you use no gas you'll show 100mpg, and if you're stopped part of the time it averages the mpg over that 5 minutes...just kinda weird, but amazingly it can be helpful. I find that over a routine/frequently traveled route I can/could make it a goal to get my mpg up over 50 or 75 or 25 or whatever for a particular 5 minute segment with the ultimate goal of improving my overall mpg.

[Kiloran]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ May 8 2006, 04:59 PM) [snapback]251701[/snapback]</div>

That's why that graph is so unreliable/unhelpful in most cases.

If you use even just a little gas during a 5 minute block you'll show nearly 0mpg, if you use no gas you'll show 100mpg, and if you're stopped part of the time it averages the mpg over that 5 minutes...
[/b]

That's why I'd like to see Toyota switch over to (or have a selectable option for) reporting average mileage over distance rather than time (say 1, 5, or 10 miles rather than 5 minutes). If you don't move, the screen wouldn't update and when you looked at the bar graph, you could accurately estimate your overall average mileage.

[brandon]

But you could also be running the ICE when you are stopped (and not accumulating mileage), so those results would be skewed, too.