Drive efficiently and some observations on my MPG

Driving a Prius can have only 40MPG or less if not taking care of how to manipulate the force on the gas and brake pedals. I have been paying great attention to practicing driving my Prius in an efficient way.

My first tank is like 50MPG and somehow 45MPG for the second. Since then, the MPG went up gradually. I think I have had over 57 MPG on every tank since tank 4.

I'm an ultrarunner and always compare ultrarunning to driving a Prius and vice versa. Both need to be exercised efficiently to run well. Last weekend I went for the longest trip for my Prius. I went to Lake Tahoe from Bay Area (Fremont, CA) for an ultra running event - Tahoe Rim Trail 50 miles (7/16).

I filled up the tank Friday (7/15). I left for Spooner Lake, NV at the east side of Lake Tahoe. It was 60 MPG when I got to Sacremento on I-80. After that, it was climbing all the way until Donner Summit (7000+ft) at I-80 and then Blockway summit (7200ft) at CA-267. The MPG went down little by little. I estimated 1 MPG loss for every 1000ft climb. When I arrived at Spooner Lake, it was 52.2 MPG.

I came back through South Lake Tahoe and then CA-50. It was mostly long downhill except a few climbs over the Sierra Nevada when leaving the Tahoe basin. The battery was mostly green and nearly full. The gas engine was, of course, shut down and quiet for most of the time. I turned on the AC for fear of overcharging the battery. It was amazing that the fully-charged battery could sustain the power at 60 MPH over slow downhill without turning on the gas engine. Otherwise, the battery normally can not handle the speed over 35MPH at the flat surface. It seems that the battery power output is constrained by the battery charging level.

The traffic was very good and it took me only 4 hours to get home. I then immediately went to a gas station nearby (Newark, CA),. The screen showed 59.5 MPG for the entire 460 mile trip. There were three levels left at the fuel guage. I did not want to try any further on how long I can drive for the remaining fuel. Instead, I'd like to see how much gas was consumed. It took 7.8 gallons to fill it up. (Btw, I always use Chevron regular.) - near 59MPG.

Today I have 196 miles and 60.7 MPG showing on the energy monitor after this week of 5 daily communites between Fremont and Sunnyvale (880 and 101). It's a 42 mile round trip, 5 miles of which is normally powered by the battery only thanks to the bad traffic. I hope I can set my record on the MPG. My best one is about 59. Also my best mileage of one tank is 586 miles, which took 10.5 gallons to fill up.

(95 Prius - salsa red)