San Diego mileage?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lagreca @ Jul 16 2007, 11:23 PM) [snapback]480057[/snapback]</div>

 

I average between 45 and 52.

 

I've had my '06 Prius for a year. When I first got it, it took a while to get to 40MPG. Now I'm doing about 44 through San Diego. I live up in Scripps Ranch, and all I do is go up & down hills back and forth from work.

 

It depends, my commute is I-15 (from the SDSU area) and Pomerado Road (into Poway). It can be between 44 and 52, depending on weather, tire inflation, etc.

 

I have 3,000 mile, until the last tank of gas, I got 46 now I am getting 51. The only thing I can think of is I am driving the Prisu with my wife on vacation. Using a different gas (76) or the engine breaking in.

But I drive it very gingerly.

Nathan

 

Congratulations on your new Prius! You're gonna love it!

My mileage ranges between 48 and 51 in the summer even with the A/C running full blast. When it's cold outside, the mileage drops to as low as 44.

These numbers would be better if I didn't have to navigate a steep two mile grade 3 or 4 times a week. The battery doesn't have the needed capacity for this grade, and it doesn't provide much help on the way up. On the way down, it maxes out, and the car goes into an engine braking mode to avoid overcharging the battery. For the rest of the way down, there's no more regeneration, and the engine continues to consume fuel. So this grade cuts into my mileage when I go up, and again when I come back down.

To get the best mileage, you have to stay focused, and you have to pay close attention to the Consumption and Battery screens on the LCD display. There's a button on the right side of the steering wheel that will let you toggle between the two screens. display, which you can access with a button on the right side of the steering wheel. You need to learn to access this button by feel, without looking down.

(BTW, Package #2 doesn't include this button. I don't know about Packages #3, #4, and #5. For me, this button alone is worth the upgrade!)

Be forewarned — you're going to incur the wrath of large pickups and SUVs. Let them by when you can, but don't let them intimidate you into driving faster and eroding your gas mileage. This is particularly true when you are approaching a traffic light that you know will still be red by the time you arrive.

The vertical bar on the right side of the Consumption display is your primary source of feecback. When it's topped out, it usually means that your running on the battery with the engine off or barely running. When you can, you want to keep it topped out, but always keep it as high as possible while keeping up with traffic.

The basic trick is to accelerate moderately as you start out, then when you reach a moderate speed, gently ease on the accelerator. The Consumption display should top out at least momentarily. You can then apply just enough pressure on the accelerator to maintain your speed while keeping the Consumption display topped out. You'll be running on the battery, and if you're on level ground, you may be able to go for two or three miles before the battery discharges enough to force the engine to start.

This only works if the drive battery isn't low to begin with. You can check the battery level by toggling to the battery display briefly, then toggling back again to the consumption display. You need to stay aware of the battery level via frequent checks of the battery display.

The drive battery is recharged in any of the following ways:

• by going downhill
• by slowing down
• by applying the regenerative brakes
• by running the engine

You want to maximize the first two and thereby minimize the need for the last two:

When you go downhill, you want to let up completely on the accelerator whenever possible, unless the battery is maxed out. Again, you can check this with the button on the steering wheel. This will give you the maximum recharge of the battery, and it helps you to limit your downhill speed without having to apply the brakes.

When you slow down, say for a traffic light, lift your foot off the accelerator. The electric drive motor becomes a generator and provides a long gentle deceleration. Begin slowing early and minimize the use of the brakes.

The regenerative braking system recovers about 50% of the energy that you would normally lose during braking. While this is much better than conventional braking systems, it still represents a significant energy loss. By anticipating your stops, you can minimize the use of the brakes.

Here are a few other tips, most of which apply to hybrids and non-hybrids alike:

• Look ahead. Try to spot developing developing traffic situations early so you can avoid having to make a hard stop.
• Put gravity to work for you. If you're heading uphill toward a stop, ease off early and let gravity slow you down instead of pressing harder on the accelerator to maintain your speed, then having to use your brakes.
• When you go uphill, keep a close eye on the Consumption display. If traffic permits, let your speed drop until the display shows optimum mileage. If you need to accelerate, try to wait until you're over the crest.
• Try to choose a route with the fewer hills. When you go uphill, your gas mileage plummets, even with a hybrid.
• Try to choose a route with fewer stop signs and traffic lights. Stopping, then starting loses energy.
• More generally, choose the route you would use if you were riding a bicycle instead of driving.
• If you have a big SUV or pickup behind you, let him by. Once he's ahead of you, he'll provide a significant draft.
• Keep your Prius tires inflated to 40 lbs. to reduce rolling resistance.
• Watch your speed. Treat speed as an expensive resource to be used sparingly.
• Try to ajust your speed to when you approach a traffic light to arrive when the light is green. Keep your eye on not only the one you are approaching, but the one beyond.

I hope this helps. Enjoy your Prius!

 

For the 30min RT commute from SR to Sorrento Valley via Mira Mesa, I get 50MPG. To from LA, I get 60MPG if I drive below 55mph. Otherwise I get about 55MPG around 65mph. My dream is to increase my efficiency to 55 or 60MPG on my regular commute. To that end I'm getting the EBH and starting to push my car out of the garage in the morning. We'll see what happens.

 

My commute is 12 miles, the majority of which is freeway. I'm about a mile from the freeway. I'm installing an EBH to see if I can improve the mileage since I spend most of my commute warming up the car. I'm hoping to get at least a 5 mpg improvement regardless of time of year.

 

we visit our daughter in Poway.
We get good mileage from Huntington Beach to San Diego.
Our route is: 405 to 5 to the 78 to the 15. We get off the 15 at Marguerite Poway, and thats when the mileage gets bad. Its all up and down from the 15 to Pomerado Road. Our Prius uses more gas to go up than we make up by coasting down. Your 40mpg is just a bit low, but not bad. We average about 43 in that area over an extended period of time.

 

I just bought my 2007 a month ago and am getting around 48mpg overall, based on 80% driving a 5 mile relatively flat commute to work and back each day on side roads, and 20% freeway. This is from the MFD, as calculating it manually will give wildly fluctuating readings unless done over a long period of time. What kind of mileage are you (and other San Diegans) getting these days?

 

I've averaged 48 mpg since I purchased my 2006 in September of that year. But my commute is a very short 10 minutes, just 4 miles each way to work, with about a dozen stoplights. The short commute is killing my mileage since the engine remains on for half of the trip in order to warm up. For my weekly 1-mile trip to church, I'll get 35mpg. I notice that for longer trips, my mileage significantly improves. For example, a typical 30-minute drive somewhere will net me 55-60 mpg. I find that the numerous hills in San Diego also kill my mileage.

One change I recently made to try and improve things is that I just upgraded to Mobil 1 oil a couple weeks ago during my 10k oil change. In the 200 miles since then, I am averaging 52mpg, a decent improvement from 48mpg, but too short-term to be truly representative.

Another couple things I'm seriously contemplating are:
1. Install the EV mode switch (sold by Sigma Automotive), which I would use for extremely short trips (such as driving a quarter mile from one store to another), or for intentionally drawing down the traction battery at the top of a big hill to allow more "charging room" in the battery on the way back down. Many discussion threads on the EV mode at PriusChat.

2. Install an Engine Block Heater which should reduce the amount of time my engine needs to run for warmup. The idea is that the household electricity used is cheaper than the cost of gasoline that would have been required to heat up the engine an equivalent amount of temperature. I've read that normally these EBH's are more beneficial in cold climates. However, I think there would still be a benefit in a moderate San Diego climate due to my really short commute. I need to do more research on this to convince myself before I take the EBH plunge.

Don't be discouraged, however. Rest assured you are getting 25%-35% better mileage than if you drove a standard gas engine, similar-size vehicle on the same routes using the same driving habits. That's the way I look at.

 

Here's a reasonable summary of the milage I was getting in my 2005 when I lived in San Diego:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-m...y-mpg-s-vs-17x7-215-45x17-s-2.html#post485767

I lived in Ocean Beach, commuted daily to Rancho Bernardo. I could generally count on 50mpUSg on the commute (65mph on I-8 / CA-163 / I-15), with 50mi round trip needing a fill every two weeks (~500mi).

More milage stats at:
Gas Tank History

(Although I don't know which tanks were "pure commuting", as I was often taking road trips.)

 

In routine weeks commuting between CV and RB, 50 mpg, week in, week out. If I have to do a lot of short gopher trips on the weekend, it will drop down to 46-48 mpg. Couple of traffic jams, I'm up to 52-54 mpg, but no enjoying it.

 

Wouldn't that be a fine opportunity for a nice weekly walk in our mild San Diego climate? Think of the mileage!

Bob N.

 

I drive into Irvine from Carlsbad everyday, and have been averaging about 50 mpg.
I do get less on short trips around town, but most of the driving is on the freeway... (pulse and glide!)