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Another good short trip for my C

Discussion in 'Prius c Fuel Economy' started by hoarybat, Aug 23, 2012.

  1. hoarybat

    hoarybat Junior Member

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    Although short trips are not indicative of real mpg it sure is a lot of fun. I have been able to do the below in half my trips on distances of 10-30 miles. I rarely get to drive the car, only 13 times in 3 months. I use ECO mode always use pulse and glide and when traffic is light such as seen below tonight I put the car into EV mode to ascend hills. In EV mode once you hit 25mph the ICE turns on so I kept it at 24mph to ascend them. Only once did it say it couldn't enter EV mode because the battery was too low. So far on all my trips which have been back roads with me hypermiling distances 10-30 miles with average posted speed limits of 25mph-45 with me never exceeding the limit I have averaged 81 mpg. Tonight I almost hit the 99.9. I love this car. Also the car was still warm from my wife arriving 2 hours before I used it so that helped too:

    [​IMG]
     
    #1 hoarybat, Aug 23, 2012
    brucepmiller likes this.
  2. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    While it's true short high mpg trips don't impress us much, they are still important learning tools. You eventually learn how to string all of these short trips together to create a single high mpg tanks. It's like baby steps. :)
     
    #2 F8L, Aug 24, 2012
  3. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Well done :)
    Your results should improve if you avoid the EV temptation. You are quite accomplished, if your total time in a hybrid is a handful of drives.
     
    #3 SageBrush, Aug 24, 2012
  4. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Agreed. These c drivers are freaking me out. :)
     
    #4 F8L, Aug 24, 2012
  5. brucepmiller

    brucepmiller Member

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    Looking at your fuelly details I am most impressed with your Ave MPG. Would you please share the techniques you are using on the highway? How fast do you drive? Are you on the expressway or back roads? Any other tips?
     
    #5 brucepmiller, Aug 27, 2012
  6. ufourya

    ufourya We the People

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    All you have to do is commandeer the car drive the same route about 80 tines and you'll have a 900 mile tank! Congratulations!
     
    #6 ufourya, Aug 27, 2012
  7. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Hello Bruce. :)

    Most of my miles are spent on the freeway (high speed multi-lane roads). My commute is approx. 49miles one-way. It consists of 1/2mile of city streets near my house then another 1/2mile of city streets near my work. The remaining 48miles is all freeway. The speed limit is 65mph but because there is always at least 2 lanes (traveling in the same direction) I drive at 60mph. My morning commute at 5am-6am starts at about 50ft. ASL and climbs to 1,200ft. ASL. My evening commute at 2-3pm is reversed. So my average mpg in the morning uphill climb is 53-56mpg and my downhill mpg is 76-85mpg. Occasionally I'll do even better but those are average numbers is see. With just this commute I average 64-65mpg indicated. I keep my speed steady but when climbing large overpasses I may lose 1-2mph and then just as I crest the hill I go into Warp Stealth mode and glide down the other side for as long as I can until my speed drops to 60-59mph then I reapply throttle to maintain speed. If there was no traffic I was use the Driving With Load (DWL) technique but it doesn't work when there is traffic behind you.

    If I alter my return route to include lower speed rural road driving and toss in a little pulse & glide then I see 68-70mpg indicated for the tank. Unfortunately I have not been on the back roads lately so no 68mpg tanks for me. My uphill and higher speed commute makes really high mg numbers difficult. My average speed for a tank is 44-47mph. There is also a stretch of rural road that parallels the freeway for about 5 miles. I usually take this road in the evening so I can avoid that stretch of freeway because the speed limit climbs to 70mph and with only two lanes even diesel trucks would be forced to pass me.

    In summary, drive as slow as possible while remaining safe and courteous. Use warp stealth on all hills and overpasses. Use warp stealth and gliding on all off ramps. :)

    *edit* ohh and I cheat because I overinflate my tires to 47/45psi and I am using Energy Saver A/S tires which are around 2mpg more efficient than the OE Yokohama S33D tires.
     
    #7 F8L, Aug 27, 2012
  8. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Don't encourage him. I don't need another Prius c on that list. ;)
     
    #8 F8L, Aug 27, 2012
  9. brucepmiller

    brucepmiller Member

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    Thanks for the info. Many good tips I'll put into practice!
     
    #9 brucepmiller, Aug 27, 2012
  10. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    You'll be rockin' big numbers in that c! :)
     
    #10 F8L, Aug 27, 2012
  11. hoarybat

    hoarybat Junior Member

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    Fall update! UH oh. I just reproduced this same trip on 4 separate days over a 3 week period as temps drop here in NewEngland. With everything the same in my driving style and conditions except for outside temperature here is what I got with pre-warming engine and then resetting the trips when leaving home for work:

    Car parked outside each night as it had in the summer when I did this original post:

    Avg. Temperature from out to work and back home with car sitting and off for 4 hours at work. Hypermiling of course and I had the heater on 70 degrees recirculate.

    65 degrees: MPG: 75
    60 degrees: MPG: 71
    57 degrees: MPG: 67
    47 degrees: MPG: 60

    A far cry from my summer 80-99 MPG trips.

    My Lead foot wife who commutes in this car nearly every day's mileage 70% highway during these days was:

    MPG 54
    MPG 51
    MPG 49
    MPG 46

    Obviously this car loves warm temperatures and especially for hypermiling. I guess this is inherent in all prius's and most cars for that matter. Far worse winter mileage? I am about to read some threads on blocking cold air into the engine compartment/front grille to see how much that could help.

    Love this car though!
     
    #11 hoarybat, Oct 13, 2012
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