1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

driving question

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by red07gen2, Apr 25, 2015.

  1. red07gen2

    red07gen2 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2015
    71
    13
    4
    Location:
    The South
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Been driving about 2 tanks of gas into my (new to me) 07 prius touring
    my question i am trying to get good MPG and try to use hints and tricks I have read about
    today : I was driving in a 40 zone, long flat road , under 40mph trying to get the motor to pull the car instead of the engine and I was going from regen with pedal all up push a little and get into coast mode push a little more and the motor would start but then a sec or two later the engine would kick in ...
    I tried letting up and pushing the pedal again (think this is the pulse) but again the engine would kick in over and over even when I had a little downhill going in my favor ....My hybrid battery was 3/4 full and color blue ...
    What i'm i doing wrong or is the car out of tuned ....motor to engine balance
    i dont know i have logged about 450miles so far so this is still a little new to me but i have been avg. around 44-47 MPG .....thank you in advance for any and all help

    07 prius "cannot change to EV mode now" | PriusChat
    reading this post did answer some of my questions ...possible battery too hot , dont drive it in ev mode forcefully ....etc etc.
     
    #1 red07gen2, Apr 25, 2015
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2015
  2. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2012
    7,447
    3,751
    0
    Location:
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    My question is why? Do you think you will get better MPG trying to do this? If so, it is a common noob mistake. The short answer is, don't try and out smart the HSD. It is cleverly programmed and if it is doing this, it has good reason to. Just relax and go with it.

    It sounds like it is actually Glide. Pulse is when you press the accelerator (and engage the ICE, not the electric motor) to gain speed up to your target top speed. You then glide until your speed reaches your bottom target speed. Rinse and repeat. P&G works best on flat or a slight down hill. Up hill, pretty much a lost cause.

    No, the car sounds perfectly fine. There are many things that seem incomprehensible to the noob, and even seasoned owners. The one thing we all eventually come around to is to let the car do what it needs to do. It really does know best.

    Also, as a noob, read the link in my sig, the 5 stages of hybrid warm up. That will make some things click into place once you understand what is going on with the warm up stages.

    Above all else, just enjoy driving your Prius.

    hope this helps.
     
    #2 dolj, Apr 25, 2015
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2015
    red07gen2 likes this.
  3. tanglefoot

    tanglefoot Whee!

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2007
    625
    188
    0
    Location:
    Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    It sounds like you're just giving it a little too much pedal for glide. Likely, that stretch of road and other conditions weren't optimal for glide. Practice finding and holding the position in the go-pedal when energy flow is close to zero (no arrows). Glide isn't always possible or practical. It works best in warm weather, on stretches that are slightly downhill, after the car has been driven 10-15 minutes, with the climate control off or at a low setting.

    As mentioned, the goal isn't to use electric drive as much as possible, the goal is to use it strategically.

    It's most efficient to only use electric glide when power demand is low (low speeds and light pedal pressure in parking lots, some residential streets, some downhill feeder streets, slow traffic, etc on level or downhill grades). You don't want to be causing too much voltage draw-down, otherwise the engine needs to recoup that storage, and there are energy losses in that process.

    It's most efficient (and the system is programmed this way) to use engine direct-drive at times of moderate-to-high power demand.

    Also, the touring usually doesn't get quite the fuel economy of the non-touring, so your MPG figures are a great start.
     
  4. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 11, 2004
    14,816
    2,496
    66
    Location:
    Far-North Chicagoland
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    I'm just going to agree with what the others have said so far.

    1) If the car wanted to go into stealth mode and run off battery then it would have.
    2) It's possible that you were either not waiting long enough for the engine to shut off or was applying too much pedal pressure.
    3) A charged battery is a happy battery and a happy battery makes for a happy Prius.

    It's not JUST about running on battery as much as possible because too much of a good thing will come back and bite you in the MPGs later.

    On a personal note, 450 miles is not long enough. Run through about 3 - 4 tanks and then start worrying about your mileage. You cannot start improving on the car until you are familiar with the car.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    on a 40 mph road, i just hold the pedal steady and per her do her thing. tough to beat the computer on a road like that.
     
  6. red07gen2

    red07gen2 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2015
    71
    13
    4
    Location:
    The South
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    thank you all .....and I agree working on finding that sweet spot in the go pedal to glide
    and only that during a downhill grade......working with only that
    was able to get over 50 MPG on my 40 mile ride home from school
     
  7. Dimitris

    Dimitris Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2015
    5
    3
    0
    Location:
    Thessaloniki Greece
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Greetings people,
    I agree that you need to learn how to drive this car to get results.

    I think that apart from P&G when you move in a relatively straight level you can use a downhill to gather all the kinetic energy you can at a low instant consumption so that you can be prepared for an upcoming uphill.
    I used this technique and I could get up to 90mph at instant consumption of 3.8lt/100km or 62mpg.
    When I used the P&G last week in a relatively level ground with a lot of red traffic lights the computer showed average 3.6lt/100kms or 65mpg for a distance of 20kms just right after filling up. Speed could not exceed 50mph cause of the lights. I was a bit slower than other cars but then again what is the point of speeding towards a red light? So I was catching up with them with no loss as far as time is concerned.

    Yesterday after a small drive of 600kms(360miles) with 100kms(60miles) of mountains with up and down hills I only needed 26lt (filled till it could take no more). That was 54mpg.

    Today after 450kms (280miles) the car only needed 3little boxes of fuel.

    I had diesels before but this is something else. I TRULY LOVE MY CARMEN!!!
     
    Pantelis likes this.
  8. uart

    uart Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2009
    4,215
    1,200
    0
    Location:
    Australia
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    That sounds good red07. :)

    Referring to your sometime difficulty in getting it to glide, there could be a number of factors at play.

    1. The ease or reluctance of getting the prius to run EV (electric only propulsion) is very much related to the SOC. You say it was about 3/4, but the exactly level (5 or 6 bars) will make a difference. Still, even at 5 bars it should still run EV fairly readily on flat or slight downhill.

    2. Sometimes I find the road gradient can be a bit deceptive. I notice that when I drive on sections that are mostly uphill for a long time, that sometimes a flat section will seem like a slight downhill (to me, but not to the car) and I wonder why it's not "gliding" as well as it should.

    3. Finally, and this one is important, if your speed was under 35 MPH then it is possible that the engine was running the whole time! Even when you had your foot right off the gas and the electric motor was regenerating - the engine could still have been idling. In this state unfortunately the energy monitor display gives absolutely no indication that the engine is actually running, but it will start fuel injection and engine power as soon as you apply even a very slight accelerator pedal input.

    BTW. This is sometimes called "Hybrid stage 3a" and you can read about it here: http://www.techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/five-stages.txt
     
    #8 uart, May 3, 2015
    Last edited: May 3, 2015