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New Prius cross country journal

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by dipper, May 16, 2005.

  1. dipper

    dipper Senior Member

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    Hi.

    I am in my hotel right now in Burlington, Iowa writing this up this log.

    Started on Saturday (5/14 at 4am) in San Jose.

    Challenged the Sierra and there in Reno at 8:15am. The Prius did great most of the way. The battery came down to two bars only once (near the top of the climb). Slowed down to 60mph and the battery recharged properly. Gas refueled.... Prius said averaged 42mpg.

    Tracking through Nevada on I80. Still trying to figure out best way to not have battery drained. Had a few times gone to 2 bars. Found out that the reason it happened was because of unnecceary accel/decel. But slowing down (to 55mph) to recharge the battery for a few minutes and all was well. Averaged 47 mpg.

    Now understood better how to use the Prius. Cruised between 68-73 (speed limit is 75). Attacked the Rocky Mountains with only two times with 2 bars at very steep climbs. :cussing: (ended up driving 45mph to get the system start to recharge one very steep climb). But really a lot easy drive most of the way. Averaged 48 mpg. Muched eaiser climb than the Sierra.... mainly because the Rocky Mountains on I80 was rollercoaster like. So the battery got a chance to recharge.... the Sierra has little to no rollercoaster hill climbs.

    Once passed the Rocky Mountains... Nebraska and part of Wyoming were a cake walk because of pancake terrains. Cruised at speed limit (75 mph). Avearged 49 mpg. Would have gotten EPA Highway average if driven at 65 mph instead.

    The Toyota Nav decided to have me go on US34 :guns: .... ended up cruising at 55-60mph (speed limit is 55mph or town speeds). Averaged 54 mpg. :lol:

    So sitting in my Hotel room in Burlington, IA now. Looked up yahoo maps... and found out Toyota Nav SUCKS... could have continued on I80 and take US6 and then I74..... :cussing: [and the worst part of ALL, I could not scroll through the way points... something my Magellan can do all day long.]

    I don't know when I will be updating this the next time around. Will certainly update you guys next Monday if I have no Internet access before then. :wave: [going to sleep now]
     
    #1 dipper, May 16, 2005
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

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    Ok folks...listen up. Do NOT worry about your battery SOC. Do NOT change the way you drive to try to keep it higher or lower. If you find that you are changing your driving habits based on the indicated SOC then change to the Consumption screen so you aren't looking at it.

    Anything you do to try to alter that battery SOC will have a negative impact on the efficiency of the hybrid system and fuel economy (except for slowing down and staying slow which will always help).

    The battery SOC is NOT an indicator of how well the Prius is doing or how good your gas mileage is or anything at all for that matter other than the current, approximate, SOC of the battery--which is quite irrelevant to all those things.

    I pay as much attention to technique and the Energy screen as anyone out there...the one thing I worry about least of all is the battery SOC. It's interesting. I like to see when I can predict when it will be all green or when I'll drop to just 3 bars, but I do not alter my driving based upon that SOC.
     
    #2 efusco, May 16, 2005
  3. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Also, Dipper, check how you have your preferences set up on the NAV. The defaults are a little funky. The average speed defaults in particular make little sense.

    If you check those you may find you are not set up to use freeways as a prefered route, or may avoid toll roads or something like that. The NAV is decent (not great), but if it isn't set up the right way it will definately do weird things that don't seem to make sense.

    For instance, if the freeway speed is defaulted to 55mph and highway is 50 and it's just a little shorter to take the highway it may show that as the quickest route. But if you bump the freeway speed to 70mph and drop the hwy to 45 when the system calculates the faster route it will show the freeway. And watch for other quirks.

    That's also why I try to take a careful look at the 'overview' of the route before I just blindly follow the directions.
     
    #3 efusco, May 16, 2005
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