Primed at 12,000 feet

Just a fun post: My wife had a conference in Keystone CO, so an excuse to see how the car does crossing the continental divide. Compared to any of my previous cars (all less than 100HP including my Gen1 Prius of 20 years), it was a dream drive with not even a hint of stress climbing the hill. I drove like a Prius driver, basically setting cruise control to the speed limit (not speeding) and the car just did its thing and not even hearing the engine whine. Never even to the level like if I floor it, so clearly horsepower to spare. Some day it might be fun to try that hill NOT driving like a Prius driver and see how it does.

For those that don't know that part of I-70, the main interstate caps at about 11,000 feet with a long tunnel going under the continental divide. An alternate route, US-6 bypasses the tunnel going over the divide (12,000 feet) instead. It is used by skiers (three in the area) and hazmat trucks who can't use the tunnels. We took that route on the way back just for fun. Pictures attached. Alas no easy way to park next to the official sign showing the altitude.

Also, the trip meter going from Keystone to the divide didn't look so good (HV only), but it made up for it on the way down, 68MPG overall to home with a 6,500 foot drop.

will

 

fuzzy1: It is a pretty drive and it was a pretty day after 2-ish days of cruddy mucky snow/slush. The call to take the pass was dependent on the weather and luckily it cleared up just that morning.

My Gen1 struggled with that hill. It would maintain speed easily for the first bit until the traction battery died, then the squirrels would get very loud trying to keep up. After a while of not being able to keep up, the cruise control would suddenly disengage which was a shock!

Fun side story: On the trip to Keystone I was happily cruising up to the tunnels and some older SUV was passing me. On that last bit where the hill gets even steeper his SUV petered out and he fell behind me! That is something that NEVER happened in any of my other cars! Between occasionally out horsepowering a few cars and actually catching people staring at mine, this is not a normal thing I'm used to as a long time Prius driver!

will

 

Mountaineer: Going down the west side of the tunnels the traction battery went from "a little" below the EV/HV threshold to 16% at the exit in Dillon. Going down the east side back home it only got up to 8% on the first hill, drained during the part where there isn't much change, then back up to 8% again on that last hill down into Metro Denver. While totally unfair given the overall altitude drop, the car claimed 67-ish MPG for the total return trip from Keystone (9,000 feet) up to Loveland Pass (12,000 feet), then to home (6,000 feet). That was starting with no EV reserve too, so all gas for energy.

will