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best method(s) for going uphill?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by muddyglass, Oct 19, 2013.

  1. muddyglass

    muddyglass New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2013
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    Location:
    new york
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    i've had my prius for a couple of months now and thanks to techniques learned here on priuschat, i'm starting to get around 61-62 mpg on my commutes, mostly highway miles. (on one trip, i even saw 66.5 mpg on the display when i turned off the prius!)

    my question is regarding driving uphill. on one part of my commute there's a long steep hill that i need to climb and it's probably the least fuel efficient portion of my commute. i usually drive at around the speed limit of 50 mph, but there's merging traffic coming in near the base of this steep hill so i often end up slowing down to 35 mph or under, depending on the traffic flowing in. this kills a lot of my forward momentum right before the climb.

    trying to climb this hill is painful. i feel like a noisy snail doing this climb. typically, i try to keep the hsi bar under the red power range. sometimes i'd bite the bullet and dip into the red range, yet it still feels like i'm a noisy snail going up this hill, despite the extra gas being used.

    what's the best way to approach this situation? is it better to just floor it and go far into the red range, trying to decrease the total amount of time spent on this hill? thanks for your input.
     
    #1 muddyglass, Oct 19, 2013
  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2005
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    Location:
    Huntsville AL
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    The problem is we don't know the grade which along with velocity defines the energy needed to climb any individual hill. So I'll offer this ad hoc approach:
    • use energy display and avoid 'from battery' arrow - going up a hill at highway speeds, the best state avoids borrowing energy from the traction battery. Let the very efficient 1.8L engine provide the hill climb energy (traffic permitting.) Slack off accelerator just enough to stop drawing traction battery power and my testing indicates you'll be doing about as good as can be done.
    • Without borrowing traction battery energy, enter base of hill with maximum, permitable kinetic energy.
    • Use semi-trailer trucks as pacing vehicles when climbing.
    GOOD LUCK!
    Bob Wilson
     
    #2 bwilson4web, Oct 19, 2013
    retired4999 likes this.
  3. Reetz

    Reetz Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2013
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    Location:
    Seattle
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I have an 8 mile commute to work. I live in Seattle and have one big hill and several smaller hills to get to where I am going. I have had my 2013 Prius 4 about 2 1/2 months and it seems like my to and from commute is about 47mpg no matter how I drive it. Times where I have freeway and street combo driving I am around 50mpg. I cringe when my hubby gets in to drive because he is a lead foot and my mpg goes to hell in a hand basket.

    I try to keep it out of the power range on the smaller hills but there is no way in commute traffic to not get into the power range on the big hill. This is a 35mpg zone with on traffic light mid hill. I'm happy with it for now but always looking for good advice on how to be more efficient.
     
    #3 Reetz, Oct 20, 2013
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