Newbie Lessons Learned

Hi all,

I just registered for the site but have been reading for months. I’m new to Prius-land, having just purchased my 2010 Prius a few months ago. Thanks to this site, I know what pulse and glide is, I know how the Power Split Drive works, and I have a coat of Zaino on my car. This site has been a godsend.

I mostly use my Prius for a 40-mile roundtrip commute through the hills and valleys of Atlanta. My fuel economy has gotten better with each passing week as I gain more experience. At first, I got 54mpg and my response was “Wow!!!â€. (Newbies are so cute, aren’t they?) Over time, I’ve begun averaging almost 60mpg on the commute, with my all-time best being 69mpg this week.

Being a newbie, I thought it might be helpful to describe some of the main lessons I’ve learned to get my mpg up. I’m sure that the response from the experienced folks on this site could be a collective “duh!†and maybe a few “wrong!â€s, but I’m offering this info in the hope that it might help other newbies and spur discussion. I’d love to hear responses from others on what they’ve learned. I don’t feel like I’ve come anywhere near to the maximum efficiency of my Prius.

Here goes:

1. Pulse and Glide. This was by far the hardest thing for me to get used to. From my old engine-only days, I was programmed to get the best efficiency by finding the “sweet spot†in the gearing and then to stay there. My goal was to stay at a consistent speed and to NEVER punch the gas pedal hard. When I got my Prius, the “glide†part came easily but the “pulse†part didn’t. It seemed so counter-intuitive that I should ACCELERATE crisply (while still staying in the ECO range of the HSI) in order to IMPROVE fuel economy. The result was that I’d do only the bare minimum mini-pulses, which meant that the ensuing glide was almost non-existent before another pulse would be needed. For example, on a 35mph road, I’d mini-pulse to 35 but could then only glide to 32 before the traffic behind would start to stack up. Now, I pulse to 42 and can then glide for a long time down to around 35 without impeding traffic. (Yes, I know this is speeding, but Atlanta traffic goes fast!)

2. Regenerative Braking. Likewise, it took a while for me to get more energy storage out of braking. I knew all about the “CHG†area on the HSI, but I tended to hold off braking until almost the last moment. The result was that the “CHG†area would be almost full for a fairly brief amount of time. After watching RadioMan’s most excellent YouTube video, I started to brake earlier so that the “CHG†area was only half-full but for a much longer time. I found this especially helpful when braking on a slight downhill. The result seems to be that the battery recharges much more quickly than before. (I hadn’t expected this because I assumed that a high-short charge would be the same as a lower-longer one. But, perhaps there are differences in charge acceptance or the percentage of friction braking in the two scenarios. I have no empirical evidence for any of this, so this would be a good place for a more knowledgeable person to set me straight if needed.)

3. Low Engine Mode at 50 mph and above. I bet there’s an official name for this, where the HSI is filled to just past the midpoint. This spot on the HSI is my new best friend at speeds of approximately 50 mph (46 mph?) and higher. In cases where I can’t maintain speed by gliding or where the terrain makes pulse and glide problematic, I’ve found that letting off of the accelerator until the HSI is just past the midpoint can still net around 75mpg for a while. This seems to work best on flat terrain or on a slight decline. Even then, I often tend to slowly bleed off speed until I have to press the accelerator more. I’m finding that my mpg’s are going up as I build this into my approach.

I’ll stop there, and see what others have to say. Thanks again for this forum!