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The Eco Meter Explained

Discussion in 'Prius c Fuel Economy' started by chicagoaficionado, Oct 3, 2012.

  1. chicagoaficionado

    chicagoaficionado Junior Member

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    It just clicked for me. Through experience, Interesting Mileage Observation Today | PriusChat, and props to Revan86, I have realized running EV too much was killing my (was 65 avg) mpgs.

    So before I forget what it was like to be in that noobie state, here is my attempt to bridge the experience gap so it is easy for new C owners to hop on this forum, and on one thread get some sort of answers. (this may seem unnecessary but sometimes it takes different forms of the same info to reach someone before it CLICKS for them. Hopefully this will be a better, more condensed way than just lengthy text. And Specific to the C)

    If I may make some rules... Post only what the instantaneous MPG's are for a given spot on the Eco score meter, held at certain speeds and battery level. Everything will be taken as flat, windless, and no weather and car is warm). Format: mph/eco bar reading/battery level = ins. mpg

    For example.

    25 mph/halfway between charge and eco (EV)/ 4 bars = 100+mpg
    41mph /just a tick over eco or on eco (no EV)/5 bars = 75-90 mpg
    41mph/just a tick over eco or on eco (no EV)/ 2 bars = 40-45mpg

    This may not be a perfect way and there is a lot of room for error but it will bring so much knowledge from the guys with scangauges and trickle it down to the masses. I hope the newer C folk can see how big a difference the battery level makes in what they are gettting (reinforcing to not drain the battery!) Also if you want to throw in RPMs, scangauge guys, please!

    Let's see how this goes. Let the help (or maybe rage) begin!
     
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  2. chicagoaficionado

    chicagoaficionado Junior Member

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    On the way home
    30mph /just a tick over eco or on eco (no EV)/5 bars = 25 mpg
     
  3. winnertakesteve

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    Perhaps i am misunderstanding, but wouldn't that be rather poor economy given those conditions? You followed your own restrictions regarding flat terrain and a warmed up vehicle?
     
  4. chicagoaficionado

    chicagoaficionado Junior Member

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    Yeah... it is. I observe about 25 at that point. I don't understand your question maybe

     
  5. winnertakesteve

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    I guess it was just disconcerting to see that even with a full battery and conservative speeds, you'd still ba getting half the mpg one would expect! Admittedly, I am still quite green when it comes to all this, so perhaps it's obvious!
     
  6. chicagoaficionado

    chicagoaficionado Junior Member

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    Exactly. At this point your car is accelerating so would be lower mpg.

    My hope is to acquire a lot of data on speed vs eco meter and the resulting mpg to get a chart that will pinpoint what you should do in a given situation. It will help people see the differences in change of battery level and get a sense of where they should be if they want to get the best efficiency. So far no one is helping.... More work for me!
     
  7. Revan86

    Revan86 Animal nerd and alt car guy

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    First off thanks for the props man

    Some thoughts on your thread.

    The eco meter is very very dependent on speed to give you a given mpg. Meaning if your going at 40mph at just over the eco line you get something around 50 mpg. Going 42mph you'll be getting some where around 65mpg. this very odd occurrence is because of the CVT transmission. The thing you really want to look at is the RPMs the engine is running at. which will cost ya because the car does bot have a read out of it, you have to get a scangauge or ultragauge, or something of the like. Something els to think of is the road quality. In my drive to work the is a part a road that has been repaved this year and is very smooth. I pretty normally is a 10mpg bump in the instant mpg while on this part of the road.

    The other this is that some of the time P&G is better than steady state driving. I hope you can get data of how best P&G can and when to be used. I think its going to be very hard to do.
     
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  8. chicagoaficionado

    chicagoaficionado Junior Member

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    Correct me if I'm wrong, but im talking about three general variables here. Speed, Eco meter reading, and Battery level. I understand different speeds get you different instant mpgs at different eco readings (all different at different battery levels too!). This is basically just repeating what you said to me right. So My hope was to chart all different conditions (for eco meter level maybe just 8 divisions of total eco bar) and see resulting instant mpgs.

    The rpms you speak of would not necessarily need to be tracked then, because they would correlate t0 a given eco reading and speed. You could track rpms and figure out best instant mpgs also, but for anyone just looking at a basic C the eco meter is the only option.

    A given speed, and eco meter reading at a battery level will give you a data point (instant mpg). This will be the same no matter what, same time, everytime (assume constant enviornment). Tweaking the speed and eco and battery will give you a collection of data points. These will basically show how to drive your car optimally for best mpg.

    I also understand road conditions vary and they do screw up things, but for the average joe you can't do much about that. Indian trail is pretty smooth!

    Lastly yes... this all seems super hard. Especially when the last week has been super extraordinarily windy.
     
  9. Revan86

    Revan86 Animal nerd and alt car guy

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    If the C had a 5 gear auto trans I would say YES. Eco meter, speed, and battery level would give you a consistent data point. I have seen differences of over 1000 rpm with all of meters reading the same (speed Eco battery) which in turn gives you a pretty different number as far instant mpg. I say take a avg over a longer distance but its pretty hard to hold everything perfeactly.

    I'm not trying to say your idea won't work it. Probably will he just fine and I'm looking too hard into it. I know this would not be the first time I have over thought something.
     
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  10. Revan86

    Revan86 Animal nerd and alt car guy

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    I took note this as I headed off to work of my intent mpg right as i started the car and got going. About 2 min after starting BOOM(my car C) at 41 mph with the Eco meter just over the Eco line, And a full battery (not really full 2 bars down but as full as it basically goes) my scangauge readout said I was getting 48mpg. Scangauge also said the front end coolant as 77F and my RPMs was around 1800ish.

    Later in my in my drive I repeated. The differences were temp was 196F, RPGs at 1050ish and MPG at 90.

    So to follow the rules . . . kinda sorry

    41mph/just over eco bar(no EV)/5 bars/ temp 77/ RPM 1800 =ing 48mpg
    41mph/just over eco bar(no EV)/5 bars/ temp 196/ RPM 1050 =ing 90mpg
     
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  11. chicagoaficionado

    chicagoaficionado Junior Member

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    This is cool! I did mention warmth in my OP. When the car is heating up you never get as good mileage. It is running at higher rpm to get warm (i guess) and after that would it be consistent for a a given speed,eco, etc... right?

    I want you to prove me wrong saying that "I have seen differences of over 1000 rpm with all of meters reading the same (speed Eco battery) which in turn gives you a pretty different number as far instant mpg."!!!

    I saw you pass me today at an intersection! I couldn't catch up to you though :p
     
  12. Revan86

    Revan86 Animal nerd and alt car guy

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    Yes you did say at full temp. I was just kinda trying to reinforce why. Also something I did not point out befor but I have my grill blocked. Per grill blocking he max temp I saw was 188 after grill blocking it gets up to about 195-203. I did not watch it all that closely befor but the higher temp I THINK has helped my mpg.

    It happened last week one morning when it was really cold and I had to park outside so the engine was like 34F. I will explore ways to try and snap a pic while not getting myself killed also but, less important to me, anyone else. It could be a while though because its not really all that cold yet and I do no intend to leve my precious BOOM outside just to prove it. That being said it will no dought happen soon or ( fingers crossed) later.

    I don't know how you could of spotted me with out me seeing you as your color kinda sticks out lol. I also am surprised you could not catch me lol. Although your probably diving just the same as I am =-)

    One other thing I'm going to point out and probably piss you off with is tire pressure. I keep mine at max side wall on the tire. Mine are 51psi. The car came with it at about 35psi I think I'f I remember correctly. I saw at lest a 7mpg bump after pumping up my tires.
     
  13. Jefreestyles

    Jefreestyles Junior Member

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    "One other thing I'm going to point out and probably piss you off with is tire pressure. I keep mine at max side wall on the tire. Mine are 51psi. The car came with it at about 35psi I think I'f I remember correctly. I saw at lest a 7mpg bump after pumping up my tires."

    51psi? Are those tires standard? I got a Prius C package 2 and I believe my standard tires say 42psi. I've pumped her up to 44psi.
     
  14. Revan86

    Revan86 Animal nerd and alt car guy

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    I have a 4 so it might be different. I know I have different wheels than you for 100% sure just dont know about tires. My pal chicagoaficionado has a 2 though. Maybe he gave enlighten us.
     
  15. chicagoaficionado

    chicagoaficionado Junior Member

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    I think the tires are 51 max. That's kinda risky though IMO. You never know what you might roll over.
     
  16. Revan86

    Revan86 Animal nerd and alt car guy

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    Sorry for double quote. Im wondering if tire type and brand are different in different georgic reagents. i mean what come with the car. Jefreestyles Where are you from?
     
  17. chivazo

    chivazo Junior Member

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    I believe the max on my stock tires reads 44psi, I inflated mine at 41psi and did get about 5-6mpg more on the freeway. Be careful not going over the max since your car will be bouncy and not have good control over the road.