Best highway acceleration method - some numbers

I wish people would accelerate to highway speeds... One of my pet peeves is being stuck behind some idiot who wants to merge into 65mph to 85mph traffic going less than 45mph. Effectively makes the rightmost highway lane the onramp and reduces capacity to 2 lanes of "normal" traffic which then all get bogged down and screw everything up.

 

Not to spoil the party, but I don't see how these results are relevant to anything other than your specific route. It is precisely the lack of information of how steep and long an incline might be that prevents us from measuring the optimally efficient operation of the GenII at different temperatures. The problem is further complicated by the differences in desired speed.

For example, climbing the mountains surrounding the Shenandoah valley one doesn't need to reach 50 mph.

I'm not sure there's a way to generalize findings simply because there are many parameters that are variable (desired speed, pedal depression) and others that are impossible to calculate (uphill steepness, uphill length). I also think that many experienced and tech-savvy Prius drivers who post here have tried to obtain empirical data but haven't managed for the above reasons. It is only after several years of Prius ownership that posters who know the Prius inside out have managed to come up with a sound calculation about engine efficiency and highway acceleration and speeds and support their theoretical findings with proposed practices.

Empirically, speaking I think that gas depression is important and that it should vary on each trip: Before each trip the driver should contemplate:

1) what time they need to arrive at their destination and thus derive their Warp Stealth highs and lows. For example, driving at super highway mode speeds outside the Baltimore Beltway is certain to get someone killed.

AND

2) The terrain. I think that before heading into an incline it is important to set speed expectations for entering the incline and finding oneself at the top of it. Now these speed expectations will depend on traffic, legal minimum speed, and length and steepness of an incline.

I think Hobbit's 6.1 ms inj timings is as close to an "efficient" measurable parameter as we will get for speeds >30 MPH

 

Mike, no control for traction battery SOC change ?

I'm surprised you call 45% depression of the fuel pedal aggressive. Does pedal on the floor register as 100% depression ?

 

There is no best way to accelerate up to highway speed based on
MPGs. This would be backwards thinking.

I think it best to remember that getting the best mileage is an optional
exercise. It becomes irrelevant in cases where being a safe driver is
paramount, like when merging from an onramp into high speed traffic.

My approach is to forget about MPGs from when I enter the onramp,
until I'm settled into the traffic stream, at whatever the established
velocity is that day.

FWIW, I also don't look at the MFD or my ScanGauge when going up a
hill in traffic. The numbers suck, but it doesn't matter, so why get all
wrapped around the axle.

In both cases, it's part of the larger and very more important matter
of driving safely and courteously.