Highway Commuting Tips and Tactics

On highways I use the MFD screen that shows the instantaneous MPG as a bar graph. It is interesting to observe that there is usually a big jump in MPG between the mode when the car is running at max fuel efficiency and that when the car is running at the next best fuel efficiency. The former (max efficiency) is referred to as "superhighway mode" by some. I try to stay in this mode. The only problem is if there is ever so slight sloping up in the road the speed will drop in this mode. So just try to stay in this mode as much as possible. Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

Excellent start. For even more mpg, try the following links.
Read the following articles:
Beating the EPA - The Why’s and How to Hypermile - CleanMPG Forums
Pulse and Glide plus Warp Stealth in the Prius II for maximum FE … - CleanMPG Forums
and practice super highway mode:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-fuel-economy/38590-highway-driving-in-prius-ii.html
and for cold weather:
A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide - CleanMPG Forums

Good luck.

 

wow, lots of technical information here, i'm sure the scan gauge, charts and all would be a great deal of help, NO DOUBT>

however, here's what my suggestion is............look at the energy and consumption gauge. driving a prius the regular, old fashioned "steady the throttle" way is not good for mileage. i think a lot of people drive the prius with a steady throttle and wonder why economy is not good. on the highway, get to highway speeds WITHOUT constant load on the engine. maintain speeds and if you can, lift off the throttle when possible.

now, when you are going up a grade or up a hill, then all bets are off and you gotta use throttle otherwise you're going to be a moving road block for the other cars.

hope that helps.

cheers

 

Following is a copy of my post.
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I've tried Warp Stealth and SHM, but the mpg gain is very limited.

A rule of thumb on highway = slower is better

Usually a highway driving is a long trip. My recommendation is driving with cruise control and be just relax, comparing to strain your nerves for these techniques.

Ken@Japan

 

Try 40-42 in the front and 2 psi lower in the rear. Might pick up another mpg or two.

 

I agree. If you can drive 25 or 40 on highways where you drive, that will easily beat whatever techniques you apply at higher speeds. If you must drive faster, then learning to selectively apply the advanced techniques offers some benefit for those inclined to perfect them.

 

I do highway commuting too. I find that there are two distinct phases.

Phase 1 is warmup. 25 mpg is not unusual.

Phase 2 is after warmup. I find I consistently get over 50, 60, and sometimes 70. It takes no effort.

Why do I separate this into 2. That's because no matter how carefully you drive in phase 2 has no effect on phase 1.

I suggest you drive 3 miles. Stop. Calculate your mpg. Restart and drive the rest of the trip every day. If you want to improve your overall average, try being more careful in phase 1. Phase 1 pulls your stats down real fast. I find I can improve phase 1 merely by parking in a garage at night.

So there you have it, putting your car in the garage has more effect than all the careful driving.

Of course, this is all a game and I like playing it. In the real world, you are putting a lot of effort to save a few pennies.

 

Dry roads in good conditions at 50 CC should return better than 51 mpg. I'd expect 60 mpg.

 

+1 on increased tire pressure. Take it as high as is safe (check max on sidewall) and see if the ride bothers you. I'm at 43-41 (F-R) and don't notice any discomfort.
With so many high speed miles, air is your main enemy. Try driving in a vacuum. ;-) There are a ton of attempted mods to improve cD that you can look up, but it'd be up to your judgement about what makes sense. Do you have many hills? I keep the cruise control at 65 but when climbing a steepish hill I gradually feather it back under 60 until I reach the top, just avoids the ICE going into that strained sounding high RPM. Then on the way down the other side it's easy to bump up the CC lever a little at a time and regain the speed for free. I climb faster than the truckers, slower than the left lane, so it can get tricky in traffic.

- D

 

I was hanging around my tire shop for a bit this week while they were swapping my all seasons for snow tires... they had a poster on the wall with lots of arguements for why you should only put the pressure listed in the door jam. I didn't pay any attention and they didn't argue at all about putting them at 40/38 (sidewall says stay at 40 or less). I've heard it said snow traction is better with soft tires, so I may lower it in snowy weather.

 

I have a 2012 prius c II purchased on Oct 26 2012. L & S at Beckley WV excellent dealer for Toyota. First 8000 miles lived in WV. Moved to GA and now have 15000 miles on it. No repairs required to this date. Car was keyed in Sept 2013 had Riverfront Toyota repaint the side perfect match of paint by there body shop. My only highway trip so far was 575 miles from Beckley WV to Columbus Ga. Averaged 52 mpg.

 

With the small hills on the highway, you can do a little driving-with-load (DWL), allowing speed to bleed off near the apex and then picking it back up on the decent. It's more efficient than keeping speed constant with the cruise control.

Video Series: Driving for fuel economy: Driving with load (DWL) | Green Lights Hudson Valley

When in heavy traffic, "play the accordion" with the space in front of you to try to keep the electric crawl speed as constant as possible. It's much more efficient than going, stopping, going, stopping. It also improves things for the cars behind you.

Leave lots of following distance so you can anticipate slow-downs and not have to use the brake pedal. It also helps the traffic flow at entrance ramps by easing the merge for the vehicles entering the highway.

I like to set up a long-draft with a high-profile vehicle in the right lane. Even at a safe following distance, the air seems to be less turbulent behind something big than when driving out in the open. High-profile vehicles also tend to drive-with-load, an added bonus.