How do you do it???

Moderate gas pedal is not going to hurt your MPG. One trick I do when I want to accelerate slowly -- e.g., staying in EV on a long decline -- is to leave at least a car length empty to the car stopped ahead of me. I start moving when the car *two* ahead of me does. I still fall a couple of car lengths back by the time I am up to speed, but close enough not to annoy the person behind me.

 

Ain't that the truth! Elevation change is a huge part of it, so unless you return to the same spot (or know for a fact that the start and end points are at the same altitude), the numbers are really meaningless. It only takes a couple hundred foot change in altitude between start and end points to seriously skew the numbers on a trip.

Battery charge is also a big part of it too, particularly on trips less than 20 miles or so. On those shorter trips, if you stop with more charge in the battery than you started with, your mileage will be lower because you used some fuel to charge the battery. And if you start with a full battery, but run it down by the end of the trip, you'll 'cheat' your MPG numbers up higher for that trip. I say 'cheat' because you'll only have to replace that charge next time you drive - there ain't no free lunch - so if you do that, you've only made the numbers look good for now (feels nice though!) at the expense of your next trip.

So long story short, the only meaningful MPG numbers (without going all crazy scientist controlled about it) are trips where you start and stop at the same place and the SOC (charge) on the batteries is pretty similar at the start and end of the trip.

 

Absolutely. The trip computer acts as if driving in EV is free. If you want to boost your displayed MPG for a given trip, drive around the block slow enough that the ICE doesn't turn on. Of course, you're "stealing" that extra MPG from the next drive.

 

I'm lucky with my commute, its about 40 minutes, but I've gone 3/4 through my tank and am averaging 58 MPG. I find the trick is to drive manually (not using DRCC), and 'hill surf'. I saw the picture about the pulse and glide where youd stay in the beginning area and the end area of eco, but I found that its more beneficial for me to stay closer to the left of the middle, even over a little (still very fuel efficient, but you're not loosing as much speed as a typical glide). I am always in the right lane, and usually go 50-65 depending on the terrain (damn Merritt Pkwy in CT is terrible for this).

 

on starts at lights, i used to have to get out of the battery only and in to the ICE section of the HSI sooner than i wanted to (because of people up my butt). i realized i wasn't getting on the pedal soon enough (liek the poster above said - when the car 2 in front starts) and i wasn't getting on it HARD enough. By that I mean get on the pedal quickly and hard enough to bring the HSI bar up to but not over the midpoint where the ICE kicks in. In eco mode, as people have said, the computer is "sticky" at the junction points (it wants to stay at or below the midpoint and at or below getting into the red.) So by quickly taking the HSI bar right up to the midpoint i am eccelerating a lot faster than i was before, but staying in battery longer.

 

I'm averaging displayed mpg in the mid-50's (55-56) using PWR mode at all times. I just got sick of crawling along in ECO. :ballchain:

PWR requires a very light foot to stay in the pulse-glide zones since the "stickiness" referenced above for ECO mode goes away, however, I think the use of very brief rapid acceleration helps, rather than hurts. Maybe the electric motor is used more in combination with the ICE to help you get off the line in PWR mode?

Anyway, I find myself doing this:

About a three-second burst halfway into the orange power zone to get me going ahead of the expectations of the guy behind me.

Relaxed pressure to the 3/4 HSI mark until up to speed limit + 3-5 mph (usually a 35-45 mph zone) or until the guy behind me catches up and presses the issue.

Use foot to maintain speed with HSI left of center as long as possible, then quick-pulse and repeat as needed.

I find this less annoying to other drivers and to me. I think the quick pulses of PWR mode actually allow me to glide longer since I have more momentum than I had crawling along like a slug in ECO.

Watch your mpg meter too... if you think your foot position should have you in electric mode and you're not, back off to shut down the ICE and try again.

A slightly less aggressive approach might use normal mode. I haven't tried it.

I also agree with those who recommend planning your trips around what proves to work best for you. For me, my largely downhill commute seems to work best on the highway... 60-65 mph often gliding with the HSI dark. Alternately, I use cruise control and slight pedal pressure whenever it tries to slip into regen. This achieves mpg's in excess of 70 mpg for the 15 mile trip.

My largely uphill return trip seems to work best if I follow a side-street route, zig-zagging up the hill to take advantage of the slower speeds (can drive in electric more up to 45 mph) and occasional dips on the cross-hill portions where I can glide.

I reset the trip meter at the end of each tank, so these averages are holding up over several hundred miles of mixed city, highway, uphill and downhill, stop-and-go, etc. I'm seeing improvements of about 2 mpg over my attempts in ECO over the last month.

Anyone else with similar practices?