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Other techniques besides P&G?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by Starship_Enterprius, Sep 5, 2014.

  1. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    thanks... but that was due mostly from my 3.6l/100km (65mpg) prior the trip. I was cringing all the time seeing how much she was wasting. My wife has zero understanding of hypermiling. She never lets go off the pedals.... it's either gas floored or brakes squished - nothing in between. In the Prius we were either red painting the pwr bar, or setting the chg bar ablaze. Poor car couldn't even decide whether to turn off the ICE or not. We spent more energy stumbling the ICE around more than we ever regen'd.... not that it would have mattered anyway as the battery was topped up from all the max acceleration we did.

    To her credit she finally did attempt regen braking, the 1st lesson i was trying to teach her but to no effect yet as we were too near the car in front to make any difference. Maybe in a years time we might make some progress, that's how long it might take to do it diplomatically.
     
  2. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Ouch

    May I suggest you do not volunteer ANY driving techniques; just leave the 'per trip' meter on and hope that one day she asks you how you end up with results so much better. Then start from the the simplest and see how far she will change. Your wife is a severe case ;)
     
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  3. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    Thanks Ron. Looks like i'm doing most of these already. I seem to have done the SHM correctly as per your description. I was running not more than 55mph (the max i allowed to minimize the extra energy to push air at highers speed) and inching (SHM'ing?) away or towards the rear of the car in front, then gliding ICE off if i get too near. The best part was in the glide because due to the SHM using very little energy, by the time i glided the trip MPG would immediately go down. The SHM part i knew i was exactly using just the minimum energy because the battery bar was at 4bars and it never went up or down even during acceleration.
     
  4. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    Thats right. Put her on trip B, while i stay on trip A. Hmm!.... the only thing i won't make is the 800mile club whenever she drives (lol).

    Come to think of it, we would be prime candidate for an adjustable regen aftermarket. I can set the regen to max whenever she drives, and she would probably end up not even using the brakes.
     
    #24 Starship_Enterprius, Sep 8, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2014
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    You should bear in mind, if she reads this, your @ss is gr@ss. ;)
     
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  6. kiwiscoot

    kiwiscoot Junior Member

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    We have winter here "Down Under" with 4 degC/39F mornings and my commute to work is the worst possible for MPG. 7 km/4mile trip to work in start stop traffic. I found keeping the the CC off helps the engine to heat up quicker. Then P&G the cabin temperature by switching the fan on to bring heat into the car when the ICE is running and switching it off when ICE is off. Helps the MPG heaps.
     
  7. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    Starship, rather than tell her how to do it, try this. Have her read the pages that Wayne Gerdes posted on Clean MPG. The links are in my signature. Then leave it up to her to decide if she want's to save money at the pump or just drive the *(@* out of the Prius.

    Honey works better than Vinegar...

    Ron
     
  8. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    Thanks for all the replies. Been too busy right now so can't really post as much as i'd like to. So far i'm practicing shifting to N when gliding and learning to pulse much better when P&G. So far i can't say it's making much differenc to my MPG yet. I think this is my best at this current skill level so anything after this will have to be done by the sweating every detail so practice practice practice. I'll be referring to this thread and asking more questions later.

    But while googling to check how well rated my LRR tires were, imagine how embarassed i was to discover i had non LRR tires and snows at that hahaha. Never had Toyo tires before and didn't really spot the tiny m+s on the sides...oh boy. Anyway at least i can look forward to improved MPGs once i get my Michelin Energy savers.... after all if i can get 3.6l/100km(65mpg) on gummy bears, imagine what i can do with REAL tires lol.
     
  9. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Any all-season will say M+S, that does not make it a snow tire. A snow tire will have the mountain and snowflake symbol.
     
  10. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    your right mendel eh? i should eyeball it again before i drive home tonight.... but then why does it pop up as snow tires whenever i google Toyo Observe G-02 plus....unless there are 2 versions of the exact same tire, an all weather and a snow tire.
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Oh, I stand corrected: that does look like a winter tire. Siped to the hilt, aggressive tread.

    Does it have a mountain/snowflake symbol too? Must have.
     
  12. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    if it does i probably missed it. my parking is half a click so can't really check until its time to go home.

    Going back on topic, i find when i glide in N sometimes the instantaneous MPG shows 2 bars even if the energy monitor shows no arrows anywhere. Also when shifting back to D i sometimes need to step on the gas pedal a bit to try to match the drive train speed to the wheel speed. Oh and once when shifting back to D, i smelled something like a puff of hot electric motor windings or maybe hot battery smell.

    Is this normal when doing N glides? Hope i'm not accelerating my car to its point of inverter failure.
     
  13. OzPrius

    OzPrius Junior Member

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    The ICE nearly always engages when over 70 kph (44 mph) when I shift to N I coast to just above, hold the speed, then let it start the ICE then let it switch off and engage N.
     
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  14. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    Thanks Oz. That also answered my other question on when to shift to N. I noticed at the beginning i was shifting too soon and was probably missing on the regen when the ICE is spooling down and still putting electrons back into the battery.

    One thing nice about learning to N glide is now i realize absolute zero D glides (in the HSI bar) isn't really the regen free zone. You need to be showing a bit of of energy use (a little bit to the right of zero) when simulating regen free glides in D.
     
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  15. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Other techniques?

    Well...don't let this get out. But sometimes I start out Pulsing and Gliding...then switch to Gliding and Pulsing.
     
  16. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Below 42 mph with the engine off, "N" is completely energy free. Above 42 mph with the engine running, the fuel burn is exactly the idle rate, the lowest that exists.

    There have been claims that it is possible to 'feather' with the engine spinning and achieve lower than idle fuel consumption. I have not been able to replicate it. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen, just I've not observed that behavior so we'll blame it on the "safety software patch," the current, Prius Judas goat.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  17. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    Thanks Bob. Heres another question.

    Back when i was driving ICE only cars if red lights were too short to have any advantage turning engine off, i normally shift to N. That was so the ICE wasn't wasting gas trying to move forward (plus being used to manual shift, i really hate the feeling of fighting creep).

    With simulated creep in the Prius, i almost do not feel any fight with the creep forward right? My guess is when stepping on the brakes, the Prius system probably turns off creep to the degree it doesn't really matter much. Is this correct?

    I've noticed tho that in slightly inclined roads, N stops makes more energy sense. I can see arrows from the battery trying to keep the car from rolling backwards whenever i become too relaxed on the brakes. I remember reading from the manual to push on the brake lower to prevent it from rolling backwards so that must be it.
     
  18. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    Edited out: I posted a question after this but then found the answer myself in the internet.

    Are you talking about warp stealth?

    Seems to be too much iffy effort just to simulate N glide. But very useful for situations when you are in traffic and just need to be able to quickly transition between states of energy free glides, regens, or acceleration. I find shifting in and out of N glides in those situations too difficult.
     
    #38 Starship_Enterprius, Sep 11, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2014
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  19. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    Thanks for this nugget. If it is true CC will not push HSI to PWR in ECO going up hill, then i will definitely experiment with this next.
     
  20. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

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    So what do you do for the rest of terrains (ie. flat rural terrain) do you use CC or do you P&G there also? 85mpg is i number i want to get.