coasting vs. gliding

harper42 · 07-27-2006, 10:36 PM

I read that the "ideal" is to pulse and glide; however, when I do so, I'm getting like 79 mpg. When I just coast, I get 99.9 mpg. So, why is the glide better? I'm still new at this, but it's fun trying out the tricks, seeing if I can raise that average.

edselpdx · 07-27-2006, 10:40 PM

If your car is warmed up and you are truly "gliding" (no arrows), you are using no gas and no electricity...should show "99 MPG". Coasting is green arrows which are charging your batteries and slowing you down slightly. Gliding is no arrows and no use. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.
Sonya

harper42 · 07-27-2006, 10:47 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(edselpdx @ Jul 27 2006, 07:40 PM) [snapback]293604[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

If your car is warmed up and you are truly "gliding" (no arrows), you are using no gas and no electricity...should show "99 MPG". Coasting is green arrows which are charging your batteries and slowing you down slightly. Gliding is no arrows and no use. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.
Sonya
[/b]

If coasting is 99 and charging my battery, and glide is 99 and doing nothing, why isn't coasting better. Sorry guys, just trying to understand all of this.

Cheap! · 07-27-2006, 11:25 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dulcimer @ Jul 27 2006, 09:47 PM) [snapback]293610[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

If coasting is 99 and charging my battery, and glide is 99 and doing nothing, why isn't coasting better. Sorry guys, just trying to understand all of this.
[/b]

Coasting is 99 MPG and charging your battery. The energy removed from your coast is sent to the battery, but you have lost some energy due to friction in the motor, and you've lost more due to friction in the wires, and you've lost more due to the chemical makeup of the battery. Now you get to a point that you need that power again and you press the accelerator to go faster, but you loose some energy in the battery, more in the wires, more in the motor, and still more due to wheel bearings, and finally more due to road friction.

Glide is 99 and doing nothing. You maintain your glide longer since there is no power generation friction. You go further longer and use less energy, and use the ICE less.

Conservation of Momentum: A.K.A. "Pulse and Glide Baby! Pulse and Glide!"

mssmith95 · 07-28-2006, 12:36 AM

The "best" way to feel this in action is when going down a prolonged hill.

Shift into Neutral and glide fpr a while .... and then shift back into D. You will feel the difference (the car feels like it is being held back, like you have downshifted).

Now if you tried this with gliding down the entire hill you would see that you will continue to travel very far at a great speed with no use of the motor.

If you try going down that same hill coasting in D, eventually you start to loose too much speed, and have to use the motor again. The gains you have received from being in D, do not carry you as far as just gliding alone.

It can be pretty tricky learning how to glide...and sometimes the car just won't cooperate...that's when I use NEUTRAL to force it to glide. Since the transmission is not hurt by doing that it is no problem (although most of the time I am able to get it to glide without using Neutral)

FireEngineer · 07-28-2006, 09:21 AM

True gliding should always return 99.9 MPG. Coasting will return 99.9 MPG but your travel distance will be much shorter than gliding unless your going down hill. Are you sure you are really gliding? At what speeds are you traveling when this happens?

Wayne

Cheap! · 07-28-2006, 09:47 AM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Jul 28 2006, 08:21 AM) [snapback]293763[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

Are you sure you are really gliding? At what speeds are you traveling when this happens?

Wayne
[/b]

Gliding

While going:
1 to 40 mph - No arrows at all they just blank out. Car feels like it is in neutral in turns and accelerates down hill.

41 to Whatever mph - A.K.A. Warp Stealth - Release the gas petal completely arrows go blue. Press ever so slightly, and I mean ever so slightly the arrows go to yellow as if your running on electric only at those high speeds. Actually you are coasting and no gas is being fed to the engine. The electric motor is kind of just spinning the drive train to keep up with the wheels. You can coast a long time this way.

I normally use Warp Stealth to exit the freeway. Driving 55 mph I start to glide with the yellow arrows, slowly slowing down to 41 mph. Then I don't change a thing and at 40 mph the yellow arrows go away and I keep gliding to the next traffic stop. (Hopefully I catch the green.) On the outskirts of Houston is can be over a mile from the off ramp to the next turn.

Skwyre7 · 07-28-2006, 10:26 AM

I had Prius Nirvana this morning going 49-51 mph with NO arrows! This only happened for about a tenth of a mile and then the yellow arrows came back. This made up for the fact that I was running 20 minutes late for work.

eagle33199 · 07-28-2006, 10:36 AM

oddly enough, i've been getting no arrows between 45-55 extremely often lately (my commute is almost entirely 50 MPH speed limit)... they usually don't last terribly long (maybe 1/8-1/4 mile), but even when it's not lasting too long, it just tends to fluctuate slightly, giving me periods of nothing interspersed with extremely short periods of green and yellow.

Now i just need to find someplace to live thats actually on a lake so i'm not constantly putting my kayak on top of the car... it just kills my mileage.

harper42 · 07-28-2006, 11:01 AM

41 to Whatever mph - A.K.A. Warp Stealth - Release the gas petal completely arrows go blue. Press ever so slightly, and I mean ever so slightly the arrows go to yellow as if your running on electric only at those high speeds. Actually you are coasting and no gas is being fed to the engine. The electric motor is kind of just spinning the drive train to keep up with the wheels. You can coast a long time this way.

Hmm. this part is new to me. I thought the coast always produced a "no arrows" screen. And I didn't think I could do it over 40 mph. Guess I'll have to work on this one. Right now I'm getting 46.9 mpg on my first, dealer provided, tank of gas. Beats that 26 mpg (tops) on my old Ford Taurus. When hubby drives it this evening it'll probably drop down some though.

07-28-2006, 12:36 AM	#5
mssmith95 "I think my Dad's gone CRAZY!" Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 533 My Car: Package: Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	The "best" way to feel this in action is when going down a prolonged hill. Shift into Neutral and glide fpr a while .... and then shift back into D. You will feel the difference (the car feels like it is being held back, like you have downshifted). Now if you tried this with gliding down the entire hill you would see that you will continue to travel very far at a great speed with no use of the motor. If you try going down that same hill coasting in D, eventually you start to loose too much speed, and have to use the motor again. The gains you have received from being in D, do not carry you as far as just gliding alone. It can be pretty tricky learning how to glide...and sometimes the car just won't cooperate...that's when I use NEUTRAL to force it to glide. Since the transmission is not hurt by doing that it is no problem (although most of the time I am able to get it to glide without using Neutral) __________________ "mssmith95" stands for Mike / Suzy Smith 1995 (year we were married) - and Mike's got the Prius </span> 2006 Silver Package #7 <span style="color:#663300">Sigma Hood Deflector, Metro Moldings, Coastal EV, Rear Bumper Protector, BT Stiffening Plate ABS Prius Hood MFD Shade, Mud Flaps, Cargo Net, No wheel Rings

07-28-2006, 10:36 AM	#9
eagle33199 Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,648 My Car: 2006 Prius Package: #7 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	oddly enough, i've been getting no arrows between 45-55 extremely often lately (my commute is almost entirely 50 MPH speed limit)... they usually don't last terribly long (maybe 1/8-1/4 mile), but even when it's not lasting too long, it just tends to fluctuate slightly, giving me periods of nothing interspersed with extremely short periods of green and yellow. Now i just need to find someplace to live thats actually on a lake so i'm not constantly putting my kayak on top of the car... it just kills my mileage. __________________

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07-27-2006, 10:36 PM	#1
harper42 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 178 My Car: Package: Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	I read that the "ideal" is to pulse and glide; however, when I do so, I'm getting like 79 mpg. When I just coast, I get 99.9 mpg. So, why is the glide better? I'm still new at this, but it's fun trying out the tricks, seeing if I can raise that average.

07-27-2006, 10:40 PM	#2
edselpdx Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 184 My Car: 2005 Prius Package: #4 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	If your car is warmed up and you are truly "gliding" (no arrows), you are using no gas and no electricity...should show "99 MPG". Coasting is green arrows which are charging your batteries and slowing you down slightly. Gliding is no arrows and no use. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here. Sonya

07-28-2006, 09:21 AM	#6
FireEngineer Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: SW-Side of Chicago, IL Posts: 792 My Car: 2005 Prius Package: #6 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 4	True gliding should always return 99.9 MPG. Coasting will return 99.9 MPG but your travel distance will be much shorter than gliding unless your going down hill. Are you sure you are really gliding? At what speeds are you traveling when this happens? Wayne

07-28-2006, 10:26 AM	#8
Skwyre7 What's the catch? Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 2,302 My Car: 2005 Prius Package: #4 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 1	I had Prius Nirvana this morning going 49-51 mph with NO arrows! This only happened for about a tenth of a mile and then the yellow arrows came back. This made up for the fact that I was running 20 minutes late for work.

07-28-2006, 11:01 AM	#10
harper42 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 178 My Car: Package: Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	41 to Whatever mph - A.K.A. Warp Stealth - Release the gas petal completely arrows go blue. Press ever so slightly, and I mean ever so slightly the arrows go to yellow as if your running on electric only at those high speeds. Actually you are coasting and no gas is being fed to the engine. The electric motor is kind of just spinning the drive train to keep up with the wheels. You can coast a long time this way. Hmm. this part is new to me. I thought the coast always produced a "no arrows" screen. And I didn't think I could do it over 40 mph. Guess I'll have to work on this one. Right now I'm getting 46.9 mpg on my first, dealer provided, tank of gas. Beats that 26 mpg (tops) on my old Ford Taurus. When hubby drives it this evening it'll probably drop down some though.