Your a/c vs fuel efficiency?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tomdeimos @ May 27 2006, 09:51 AM) [snapback]261790[/snapback]</div>

I've only had my Pruis for 4 weeks with one fillup so far so no real statistics yet. The MPG for the first fillup was 37.6. I was a little dissappointed but most of the milage was short trips. We keep the AC set to 75. Living in Arizona, we have high temps (100+) 6 months out of the year (at least). I use a sunshade on the windshield and have the darkest tint allowed by law.

I also just installed wind deflectors so I can keep the windows down a little when parked and don't have to worry about a monsoon thunderstorm popping up and drenching the interior. Keeping the windows open a little should help keep the interior slightly cooler.

As one post said, we can get hung up on mileage. All I have to do is remind myself that my Chrysler Town and Country (which I traded) was getting less that 20 MPG around town.

 

I would like to hear from a Prius expert on the fan. Many auto fan setups take the same amount of current from low to high. The fan switch changes how much goes to the motor and how much to a resistor. If this is the case you might just run the fan at full speed. Are there any experts out there?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LongRun @ Nov 26 2006, 09:35 AM) [snapback]354059[/snapback]</div>

The Prius fan motor speed is not such low tech using wasteful resistor.
It is controlled by PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) and is very efficient at any speed.

Ken@Japan

 

if being all sweaty and uncomfortable in exchage for a few pennies of gas is acceptable to you, by all means dont run the a/c.