The Four Stages of Prius Enlightenment

Thanks for reposting this. When you first posted this I was just transitioning from 2 to 3. Actually I was in limbo going back and forth between the two. I am now firmly in stage 3 and every once in a while glimpse stage 4 for a second, but then I think about it and bam it’s gone. I hope other will appreciate you insight. Now I am going to save this so it does not get lost.

 

I think I'm in stage III, but since I never was in stage II I might actually be in stage I. The consumption screen has always seemed singularly useless to me, except for a brief glance at the 5-minute bars (which convey misleading information, since 5 minutes in electric at 5 mph looking for a space in a crowded parking lot will get you a meaningless 100-mpg bar). The instantaneous-mpg is available on both the consumption screen and the energy screen.

But your post made me realize something I never thought of before: since I don't have NAV I've never had to choose between energy and NAV. Now that I have the Street Pilot I have navigation but without having to shut off the energy screen. But folks with the built-in NAV must forego the energy screen to consult the NAV.

 

Evan:

Not to burst your diagnostic abilities but I clearly am in a stage not documented:

Prius Anticipation Syndrome or PAS

This was first diagnosed in another thread and am clearly afflicted with it. In my case, however, I will transfer to your Stage 1 upon delivery of my new Barcelona Red Package #8 (NW) right after the New Year. I have had PAS now for at least 4 months and nothing appears to alleviate the symptoms. I have merely dealt with the pain alone as my wife thinks I have gone over the edge. She says you guys obviously have too much time on your hands. She indicates I am a complete basket case.

Evan, you may wish to add a prescription to help deal with the symptoms.

Sincerely

p.s. My wife is an Registered Nurse.

 

I agree with Daniel. After having my Prius for just over four weeks, the Consumption screen has become little more than a novelty.

I'm stuck on the energy screen 95% of the time, trying to improve my skills in the "here & now".

I'm also spoiling her with new tinted windows & a thorough Zaino detailing

 

I also am surprised to hear some people are avoiding the Consumption screen. I find it the single most useful screen on the MFD! It tells me far quicker and much clearer whether I am successfully feathering or not, and does it all at a quick glance.

The 5-minute bars are useful in seeing trends, such as one route, technique, or temperature against another. I also like seeing hits or misses live and in person on my 'overall' MPG.

The only thing I use the Energy screen for is to check overall battery charge, and if there was a battery indicator on the Consumption screen, I would probably never go there, except maybe to entertain my passengers.

 

I suppose, but we only look at NAV at 'unfamiliar' turns for the most part (we have voice guidance), and at turns we aren't interested in energy consumption, we have other things to think about.

 

Ah Grasshopper. You are in stage two and do not realize that sometimes when you are seeing 99.9 mpg you are not gliding and your ICE is on. Practice with me ICE on, ICE off. You yet may move back to the energy monitor. Then ScanGage or CAN View.

 

Yea, but if I can't shut it off feathering on the Consumption screen, do I have ANY other ability to shut it off? Isn't it just useless info at that point...? Techniques appreciated.

 

Evan:

I certainly meet your categories to a tee. I cannot exactly remember how long I spent in each of the first three stages, but your descriptions are spot on.

Before winter set in, I was mulling over turning the MFD off. Partially because I am rarely wrong nowadays in my gliding, but I think more to try and enjoy the scenery going by rather than focusing incessantly on the MFD + conservation of kinetic energy.

Seeing my tank FE drop below 60 plunked me right back into OC mode. It is also much harder to glide in really cold weather. Till spring ..

 

Watch the energy monitor. When the car is warmed up when you feather you will get the no arrow condition, i.e. no energy moving anywhere, true coasting. Start on slight down hills. Then you can work on "dead banding" accelerating with out any energy going to or from the battery. It is just the next stage and you need the energy monitor on the MFD or other secondary monitor such as the CAN View or ScanGage to see when this is happening. I really started to push this in August after I read about the group that exceeded 100 mpg in a stock Prius using these techniques. One of the things you can do is imagine ( or use a real one) fresh egg between your foot and the gas, the break to for that matter. Don’t break the egg!

 

I do look at the consumption screen, but since it only changes once every 5 minutes, and displays 6 segments, you only need glance at it once every half hour, or just before getting to your destination, because the instantaneous mpg is shown on both screens: as a bar on the consumption screen, and as digits on the energy screen.

My new Street Pilot also has spoken directions. But I like seeing the map, which shows me the streets as I approach them, and gives me a visual clue as to how close to the turn I am. In Spokane not all intersections are clearly signed, and when I relied on the print map alone I sometimes missed a turn. But I still like to see the energy arrows even as I approach turns, not to mention the battery SOC, which (along with instantaneous mpg) tells me if EV mode is called for. (I use EV at low speeds when SOC is high and instantaneous mpg is low, which tells me that it's charging the battery.)

It's nice not to have to choose between NAV and Energy. I can have both at the same time.

 

Thanks!

I am a prospective Prius buyer. My DH would probably say I am in PAS. LOL We made the decision to buy a new car and make it a hybrid back in the Fall (although we knew it would be a hybrid two years ago). We got on the waiting list earlier this month. At first, we were planning to take delivery as soon after 1/1/06 as possible. Now we are weighing out some other financial considerations and may postpone until Spring. I'm okay with waiting since my car is doing fine. DH thinks I am obsessed because I keep reading everything I can find and spend more time on this board (and other hybrid sites in general) than anywhere else online these past two weeks.

 

I think we're all in GO mode (Glorious Obsession)!

 

Thanks, Dr. E!!!

Hmmm... I think I'm in stage 2, since I'm trying to fine-tune my skills, but I keep the MFD primarily on the Energy Monitor. I'll switch briefly to the Consumption screen several times during a trip to check my overall MPG.

The 5-minute bars, though... that confuses me a bit. I noticed that as each bar appears, the bars before it change. I don't understand why. (Most of my trips are 20-30 minutes.)

I'm trying to perfect Pulse & Glide, but the roads 'round here are hilly (or more like "wavy"). I'm learning the best spots to pulse and the best to glide. But I'm still unsure what's the best acceleration for pulse: slow, moderate, rapid, or floor it. Should I go from 30 to 39 in 5 seconds or 1 second? Or should I glide down to 35 instead of 30?

I haven't achieved dead-band (and actually thought that was no-arrows until reading this thread). Maybe I have briefly a few times, but most of the time when I get ICE-only, I still have the arrow to the battery (5-7 bars*).

I recently noticed I can raise my overall MPG by easing off the pedal during acceleration. I'll accelerate rapidly (not flooring it) to about half the desired speed, then start easing off until I reach the speed with a high current MPG. Basically I'm controlling the CVT, right? I can hear and feel it shift. This is my most recent experiment, and it is improving my MPG even as it gets colder.

I was planning to post this in a new thread, but this seems a good place for it. I'd appreciate any more insight and/or analysis of what I'm doing from all you experts. BTW, I have an appointment for Monday to get my first oil change, and I'm switching to full-synthetic. Already got the tires inflated 42/40. A block heater isn't practical for me because of my work (see my sig). I am thinking about blocking the radiator, though I'm still not sure what to use -- someone mentioned industrial carpet in another thread.

Thanks for such a wonderful forum!!

*EDIT: Originally wrote "6-8 bars" but meant "5-7 bars." I don't know what I was thinking.....

 

Evan I have seen this term "dead banding" a few times but I'm not sure I see the benifit of using the ice for power without the batteries being involved?

I thought I read somewhere where the ice will actually rev up to its optimum rpm so as to provide power "and" charge the battery at the same time for efficiencys sake?

Are you talking about at higher speeds?

Please elaborate if you will.

thanks....

 

Some folks are obsessed with the idea that there are always effeciency losses when the battery is in use. Energy is lost both in charging and in discharging. They therefore try to avoid both conditions.

I feel, as you point out, Windstrings, that the Prius is designed, just as you say, to run the engine at optimal rpms, and feed excess energy into the battery, or draw needed energy from it, more than counterbalancing those effeciency losses.

But, to give the other side its due, if the car itself decides, for a brief time, to make no use of the battery, then presumably it is running the engine at optimal speed, and creating the best possible condition.

I suspect, though, that we need to take the energy flow display with a grain of salt, and that it is not always giving an accurate picture. Note, for example, that the diagram only shows one motor-generator.

In any case, I see dead-banding so seldom that I don't concern myself about it. Something that happens so seldom will not have a significant effect on overall mileage. I concern myself more with trying to avoid the condition where SOC is high, instantaneous mpg is low, and the battery is being charged even though it's already very full. When that happens I either engage the EV (if I'm going slower than 34 mph) or try to feather into electric mode (if I'm going faster than 34 mph.)

(The above condition usually only happens when the car has not yet entered Stage 4 operation. One of my greatest complaints is that the car can be completely warmed up, but won't enter S4 operation without a 10-second full stop, and depending on traffic conditions and stoplights, this can delay S4 for a considerable time.)

 

Ah... I understand this is just fun stuff for major fine tuning, but so as to understand....
So when the battery is charged this would be benificial?.. because if the battery needs a charge, why would it be good to be effecient for the moment and ignore the needs of the battery?, knowing there will be no battery for you later to give efficiency when needed and therefore force the ICE to come on or rather stay on?