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Consumption screen?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by massman, Aug 26, 2009.

  1. massman

    massman Junior Member

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    At a bit of a loss. My 2009 had no manuals with it, alas waiting for their arrival. In the meantime, I have deciphered most of the info on the MFD, but am still unclear as to the consumption graph. I do understand the right had vertical bar display, more confused by the horizontal kwh screen.

    Also, did my first bit of commuter driving today...was on EV for most of it. I looked at my battery display and it was down to three bars. If I had not had a clear space and a chance to go a tad faster and use the ICE, how would I keep a charge on the HV battery?

    Dealer says book, radio antenna and tonneau cover will be end of this week. Guess what I get for buying the last 2009 on the lot, and it had been there awhile. Almost 800 miles when I picked it up, and a TX inspection sticker from March.

    THANKS
     
    #1 massman, Aug 26, 2009
  2. Politburo

    Politburo Active Member

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    The ICE comes on as necessary to charge the HV.

    The graph shows MPG for the last 30 minutes in 5-minute block averages. The green cars represent energy recaptured through regenerative braking.
     
    #2 Politburo, Aug 26, 2009
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  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Just drive. The control system will charge the battery as needed. Even if you are sitting still, the ICE will come on and charge the battery if required. A common rookie mistake is to panic in stop and go traffic when the battery drops to purple bars.

    The consumption screen shows your mileage in five minute bars. Every five minutes the data shifts left to make room for the most recent five minutes.

    Tom
     
    #3 qbee42, Aug 26, 2009
  4. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Dealer says book, radio antenna and tonneau cover will be end of this week :eek:.


    Not that it matters but i'm surprised the antenna isn't installed already.

    Just drive it. It'll take care of itself. The engine will come on to recharge if necessary.

    for the Consumption Screen, the right bar is the instant FE readout as you've probably figured out. The rest of it is kinda like a histogram.

    It shows you your average consumption for the past 30 mins in 5 min interval. It'll also show you how much you've recharged via regenerative braking using the leaf cars. Ideally, you don't want any leaf cars because that means you were able to minimise the amount of braking, thereby conserving momentum and thus not having to waste fuel accelerating back. However, if you had to brake, then you'd want the leaves so that you know you're capturing as much as you possibly can.

    Also keep in mind that the bars are in intervals of time, not distance. If you sat in traffic for 5 mins, you'll see 99mpg (unless that one time you had the engine on, then it'll probably show something like 20 mpg or whatever it averages out to) so it's more useful if you're actually moving. You can see how that hill you drove up affected mileage and then see how the downhill portion affected mileage.
     
    #4 Tideland Prius, Aug 26, 2009
  5. Rokeby

    Rokeby Member

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    Massman,

    In my opinion, the Consumption screen is a near total waste of space.
    A number of folks have different opinions. YMMV

    That's OK. Here's a thread I started about it:

    http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-fuel-economy/42280-mfd-energy-graph-mpg-h-better-way.html

    FHIW, some of the possible changes/improvements identified by posters
    have been implemented in Gen III, such as shorter time intervals, 2 min,
    IIRC.
     
    #5 Rokeby, Aug 26, 2009
  6. massman

    massman Junior Member

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    Not that it matters but i'm surprised the antenna isn't installed already.

    I suspect my 2009 was the ugly stepsister on the lot...oh this one didn't have a manual, take it from her...the antenna is broken, that one over there has an antenna, just take it. My salesperson laughed very hard when I made that analogy.

    Just did my first real fillup, and it was 51.3 on the MFD and 50.2 in reality...or least bladder tank, rubber filler hose reality. :D
     
    #6 massman, Aug 26, 2009
  7. john5396

    john5396 Junior Member

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    if your in a hurry for access to the owners manual, you can access it electronically by registering at toyotaownersonline.com while you wait for your printed paper version.
     
    #7 john5396, Aug 27, 2009
  8. Matt Herring

    Matt Herring New Member

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    The suggestion of just driving the car and letting the ICE take care of recharging the battery is sound advice for new drivers...but not the most efficient way to operate the vehicle...and something you will want to refine within your driving style to boost mpg's and get the numbers you expect from your Prius.

    Obviously, EV mode uses no fuel while expending battery. However, when the state of charge (2-4 bars) on your battery is lower you will make the ICE work harder to send power to the wheels because some of the work is being diverted to the battery to keep it charged at an efficient level.

    If you want to test this drive in EV until your battery is at 3 bars. Using the gas engine accelerate a little quicker than your used to and notice how the car does not have as much giddy up as usual (especially up hills). Do this same test with the battery at 6-7 bars and you will see the car has much more horsepower in relation to the speed at which you are accelerating because most of the work being applied is going directly to the wheels to propel the vehicle and little work is being applied to the battery for charging.

    I use a Scanguage II to assist with my driving style and with this you can see how rpm's are affected by State of Charge. At lower SOC my rpm might read 2200 up a hill. At higher SOC my rpm might read 1800 on the same hill with the same throttle position.

    Also watch your display to see what the car is doing when you are in EV, accelerating, braking, etc. On the screen you will be able to graphically see when applying brake or coasting while in drive that the wheels are sending energy to the battery for regen. In EV mode you will see energy flowing from the battery to the wheels...draining your battery in the process.

    When I first started driving my Prius I though "the more EV driving the better" as it was gas free. However, what I failed to take note of was how low SOC affects the car when using ICE. Maybe a little more advanced that your looking for now but something to consider while driving for efficiency. My first couple tanks were in the low to mid 50's for mpg. My last 10 tanks have been in the 60's including my last tank of 66 mpg.
     
    #8 Matt Herring, Aug 27, 2009
  9. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    You eventually learn, in the general case, the less EV driving the better, and the less regeneration the better.

    Tom
     
    #9 qbee42, Aug 27, 2009
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