Hymotion fuel economy updates

[mymimi]

Originally Posted by Arthur

I've had the mod for 8 months.

A couple months ago, I bought a Kill-A-Watt meter and have been tracking my electricity use since then.

My data shows that I am averaging 110.6 kWh per month for charging my car. That has added $8.54 to my monthly electric bill (at a rate of $0.0772/kWh, not including set fees).

Since I am probably averaging about 3.3 mi/kWh overall (a wild guess), my miles travelled by electricity are probably about 370/month. My total miles for local driving are probably between 500 and 600 per month. Longer trips (all gas) are probably about 300 miles/month. I'm sure my total is less than 1000 miles/month.

Arthur

from your data:
at $2.50 per gallon. 370 miles / 3.4 gallons= 108 mpg on electricity

[F8L]

Thank you two for gathering and presenting these data for us. As the costs of the Prius comes down I think more people will be looking to convert to plug-ins.

[Arthur]

I'm trying to post a chart that shows the range of my daily MPG over the last 2 months.

If the chart doesn't show up, perhaps someone can give me some suggestions.

Arthur

[finman]

Very interesting data! Please keep it up. and for many people the dollars and cents (bottom line) will also be very important. The average joe and jill public want the cheapest option out there...think Wal-Mart mentality (unfourtunately these same folk have NO idea the real Wal-Mart costs, the real costs of gasoline, etc...sorry, that's another thread...)

So, basically what would be nice is a spreadsheet showing cost per mile in the real world put into MPG-like terms...does that make sense? Maybe the cost up front to install the Hy-Motion, then the actual cost to operate using a "normal" mix of electricity at x cents per kWh, etc. I know there are smarter people than me on here that could help with this!

I think at this point many are clueless as to the "cheapness" of travelling electrically, the initial 10 grand notwithstanding. Also the HUGE MPG improvement which lowers gasoline costs at the same time lowering tailpipe emissions.

[Arthur]

I find this extremely annoying:

If you go to Google News (Google News)and type in "Hymotion Prius," this blog article comes up at the top of the list:

REPORT: 115 Plug-in Toyota Prius test cars fail to crack 50 mpg average in year-long test

To see my response, scroll all the way to the bottom of the comments and then click "most recent." Then, scroll all the way down again.

For the past 3 weeks (15 days, since I haven't been driving on weekends), I've been keeping track of my miles, my gas use, and my electricity use. I drive in EV mode most of the time. My data does NOT include miles that I traveled AFTER my Hymotion battery ran out. On most days, I don't exceed the range of my battery anyway.

For 15 days of driving, I racked up 258.4 miles while using 1.2 gallons of gas and 71.4 kWh of electricity. The average per day is 17.2 miles on 0.08 gallons and 4.76 kWh.

That comes out to well over 200 MPG (if you ignore the electricity used). According to my best approximations, I am probably averaging about 15.6 miles from electricity (3.3 miles/kWh) and 1.6 miles from gas (20 MPG). (That includes some days when I give the battery a second, partial charge-up.) The gas MPG is low because a lot of it is useless engine idling or uphill climbing.

For cost calculations, I use $2.84/gal as the current price of gas and $0.0772/kWh as my electricity cost (ignoring base fees). With that in mind, my 15 days (258.4 mi) cost me $3.44 for gas and $5.51 for electricity. If you total that up and calculate the MPG for an equivalent number of dollars of gasoline alone (same miles), you end up with a "cost-equivalent MPG" of 82 MPG.

For my daily average of 17.2 miles, I am spending $0.60 ($0.23 for gas and $0.37 for electricity).

I estimate that less than 20% of my energy use is gasoline (in terms of the number of useful miles that that gasoline could have gotten me, if it was used normally).

Considering that I go up a 600-ft hill at least once a day (usually in EV mode, at between 10 and 20 MPH), my results are really very good.

Anyone who claims that they drive a Hymotion Prius and can only get 50 MPG can feel free to contact me for driving lessons.

Arthur

[toddwking]

Originally Posted by Arthur

...feel free to contact me for driving lessons.

Arthur

Actually, I am getting a pack (not Hymotion, but one from eBay - the "enginer" pack) installed in a couple weeks, and have been wondering how to drive it to maximize fuel economy? Any driving pointers? I'm going to install the 34mph EV mode.

Here are my driving challenges:
- Very hilly (live in San Francisco)
- Highway commutes (there's no going 50mph on the 101, at least when traffic is flowing)

[Arthur]

Originally Posted by toddwking

Actually, I am getting a pack (not Hymotion, but one from eBay - the "enginer" pack) installed in a couple weeks, and have been wondering how to drive it to maximize fuel economy? Any driving pointers? I'm going to install the 34mph EV mode.

Here are my driving challenges:
- Very hilly (live in San Francisco)
- Highway commutes (there's no going 50mph on the 101, at least when traffic is flowing)

1) Learn all the quirks of your PHEV system. Every time it uses gas, make sure that you understand what triggered the engine to start. Then, at least you can decide whether that trigger can be prevented by changing your driving habits.

2) Develop a routine for routes that you travel often. In some cases, you can take alternate routes, depending on how much charge you have left in your battery. For short distances, you can take city streets (in EV mode) when you have lots of charge and highways when you don't. Pulse and glide is still useful in some circumstances (but is pointless for a PHEV running in EV mode). I get the car up to 55 mph on the freeway and then ease off of the accelerator to "coast" (with the engine idling in the background but with the energy display showing only battery use) through a 45 mph zone for about a 2 miles until I get to a stop sign. With a PHEV, you can do this indefinitely (on level roads, or downhill grades, or even slight uphill grades). It actually uses very little gas and uses less battery power than going slow in EV mode.

3) Drive at a moderate speed on the highway. (I use 57 mph and get over 150 mpg on the highway with my Hymotion system.)

4) You're going to have trouble with the hills. Keep in mind the mileage that a regular car would get going up the same hill. Then, it won't seem so bad that your PHEV is getting 35 mpg (or a little less) on that hill. If you can, try driving up hills when traffic is lighter. The only way to avoid using significant amounts of gas is to stay in EV mode on most of your uphill driving. Depending on the grade, you will probably need to stay between 8 mph and 20 mph to keep it in EV mode. That's why traffic is a problem. If traffic is light, you can try pulling over (but not stopping) to let other drivers pass (unless, of course, you're on a 2-lane road with no shoulder). That seems like extreme behavior, but it's the only way you're going to average over 100 mph.

5) In colder months, a lot of people have had great success with grill-blocking. It keeps the engine temperature up and allows you to stay in EV mode more of the time. I wouldn't try it in the summer, though.

6) I keep my tires inflated to about 37 psi (front and back). Some people go higher than that, but you start to lose traction that you might need to stop in an emergency.

I hope this helps.

Arthur

[boxer93]

Here are my latest fuel mileage stats.
1086.7 miles on 9.967 gallons(6-May to 2-July). I average 3kwh a day. Weekends are low usage. This tank also included the 5k oil change (Done by Toyota Dealer), Hymotion was shut off for the dealer.
I've attached 3 pics, 2 are from the fillup MFD and Dash. Since the last pip was blinking it was off when the pic was taken. The 3rd is my normal MFD screen for my commute home. This has no EBH. Trip MPG is 105-120MPG. My daily round trips are averaging 115-130MPG. Hopefully the sun will come out a bit more and we'll see some summer temps. I am also still running a full grill block. I usually see a high fWt of 177F.
Chris

[Arthur]

Originally Posted by boxer93

Here are my latest fuel mileage stats.
1086.7 miles on 9.967 gallons(6-May to 2-July). I average 3kwh a day. Weekends are low usage. This tank also included the 5k oil change (Done by Toyota Dealer), Hymotion was shut off for the dealer.
I've attached 3 pics, 2 are from the fillup MFD and Dash. Since the last pip was blinking it was off when the pic was taken. The 3rd is my normal MFD screen for my commute home. This has no EBH. Trip MPG is 105-120MPG. My daily round trips are averaging 115-130MPG. Hopefully the sun will come out a bit more and we'll see some summer temps. I am also still running a full grill block. I usually see a high fWt of 177F.
Chris

Great mileage, Chris! I've never managed to get that many miles on a single tank because I always end up going on some out-of-town trip before I get that far.

Yeah, it's definitely been cool lately. We saw a low temperature in the upper 40's on the 4th of July!

Arthur

[gkalkas]

Originally Posted by boxer93

Here are my latest fuel mileage stats.
1086.7 miles on 9.967 gallons(6-May to 2-July).

That is pretty darn good. It inspired me to pass this on. My tank is on 6 bars. I might be getting fanatical about this, as, now, I take my wife's car if I think I'll be going further than 25 miles. Hope this upload works.

George