Posted by Tomes on April 24, 2008, 1:24 am
>> Tomes wrote:
>>> "Lon" ...
>>>> My '04, purchased in late '03, has about 52k miles on it and has
>>>> averaged about 43mpg since new - less in winter, more in summer. I'm in
>>>> S Calif, so "winter" is a period on the calendar rather than a season.
>>>> 90% of the time there's just me aboard, so I benefit from the HOV
>>>> sticker! The tires are inflated properly (+2psi) and the wheels are
>>>> aligned.
>>>>
>>>> I envy those who consistently report 10-20% better mileage than I have
>>>> attained, and suspect that the deficiency is in my driving.
>>>>
>>>> My "technique" is to stay off the brakes, doing a lot of coasting and
>>>> careening around corners, on the theory that neither regen nor friction
>>>> braking are as good as using kinetic energy to continue moving. That
>>>> means I must take my foot off the gas as soon as it becomes evident
>>>> that the car will have to stop.
>>>>
>>>> What else can I do to improve mileage?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Lon Ranger
>>>
>>> Hi Lon,
>>> Here is what I do that I believe gets me more MPG. As much as I can I
>>> try to get it to run in stealth mode at all speeds. All speeds on flat
>>> or downward slopes. To do this I use what I call PriusFoot. I get up
>>> to my speed and then lift the foot off of the pedal for an instant.
>>> This shuts the motor off. Then I lightly press on the gas pedal again
>>> only so much that it engages the battery drive, but not the engine.
>>>
>>> This takes a trained foot and it took me a bit to get it reliably right.
>>> I do it without thinking now.
>>>
>>> I do it as much as I can. I am almost always generating more
>>> electricity than I use, so I try to use as much as I can.
>>> Tomes
>>
>>
>> I can "force" electric drive in either of two ways. For example, I
>> installed a red LED that illuminates only when the fuel pump is ON. I
>> could add a switch to the circuit that powers that pump, but the total
>> energy in the traction battery is about equivalent to a martini glass
>> full of gasoline. And, of course, there's Pin 27.
>>
>> I'll discover that "Priusfoot" thing today and see if it's feasible
>> without becoming an obstacle to others.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Hi yo, Silver!
> I'm really not sure that it is a good idea to "force" the electric drive.
> The car has several primary directives built into it's management systems
> and one of the most important (so I read) is to manage the battery for
> long life. I'm not at all convinced that dragging every spare watt out of
> it (deep cycling) on a regular basis will do it a lot of good. Why not
> just drive the thing and let it look after itself, as designed. Early
> battery failure is likely to be the alternative outcome.
> Chas
PriusFooting works within the bounds of the battery maintenance protocols
designed into the car, it just maximizes return.
Tomes
Posted by Chas Gill on April 24, 2008, 8:08 am
<text snipped for brevity>
>> I can "force" electric drive in either of two ways. For example, I
>>> installed a red LED that illuminates only when the fuel pump is ON. I
>>> could add a switch to the circuit that powers that pump, but the total
>>> energy in the traction battery is about equivalent to a martini glass
>>> full of gasoline. And, of course, there's Pin 27.
>>>
>>> I'll discover that "Priusfoot" thing today and see if it's feasible
>>> without becoming an obstacle to others.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> Hi yo, Silver!
>>
>> I'm really not sure that it is a good idea to "force" the electric drive.
>> The car has several primary directives built into it's management systems
>> and one of the most important (so I read) is to manage the battery for
>> long life. I'm not at all convinced that dragging every spare watt out
>> of it (deep cycling) on a regular basis will do it a lot of good. Why
>> not just drive the thing and let it look after itself, as designed.
>> Early battery failure is likely to be the alternative outcome.
>>
>> Chas
>>
>>
> PriusFooting works within the bounds of the battery maintenance protocols
> designed into the car, it just maximizes return.
> Tomes
No real problem with that - it was the idea of wiring in fuel pump cut-outs,
etc that prompted my response.
Chas
Posted by Tomes on April 25, 2008, 12:33 am
> <text snipped for brevity>
>>> I can "force" electric drive in either of two ways. For example, I
>>>> installed a red LED that illuminates only when the fuel pump is ON. I
>>>> could add a switch to the circuit that powers that pump, but the total
>>>> energy in the traction battery is about equivalent to a martini glass
>>>> full of gasoline. And, of course, there's Pin 27.
>>>>
>>>> I'll discover that "Priusfoot" thing today and see if it's feasible
>>>> without becoming an obstacle to others.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!
>>>>
>>>> Hi yo, Silver!
>>>
>>> I'm really not sure that it is a good idea to "force" the electric
>>> drive. The car has several primary directives built into it's management
>>> systems and one of the most important (so I read) is to manage the
>>> battery for long life. I'm not at all convinced that dragging every
>>> spare watt out of it (deep cycling) on a regular basis will do it a lot
>>> of good. Why not just drive the thing and let it look after itself, as
>>> designed. Early battery failure is likely to be the alternative outcome.
>>>
>>> Chas
>>>
>>>
>> PriusFooting works within the bounds of the battery maintenance protocols
>> designed into the car, it just maximizes return.
>> Tomes
> No real problem with that - it was the idea of wiring in fuel pump
> cut-outs, etc that prompted my response.
> Chas
Cool.
Posted by Elmo P. Shagnasty on April 23, 2008, 2:11 am
> My '04, purchased in late '03, has about 52k miles on it
> and has averaged about 43mpg since new - less in winter,
> more in summer. I'm in S Calif, so "winter" is a period
> on the calendar rather than a season. 90% of the time
> there's just me aboard, so I benefit from the HOV
> sticker! The tires are inflated properly (+2psi) and the
> wheels are aligned.
>
> I envy those who consistently report 10-20% better
> mileage than I have attained, and suspect that the
> deficiency is in my driving.
You are driving your car like a normal car, like everyone else on the
road drives, and that's fine. You're getting good mileage.
If you want to get what those other people are reporting, you can (a)
lie (like most of them), or (b) start driving very, very weirdly and in
the way in traffic.
Do you want to be the dweeb who's screwing around in traffic, playing
his dashboard video game?
Posted by Mr. G on April 24, 2008, 10:48 pm
Shagnasty (elmop@nastydesigns.com) says...
> <snip!>
> > I envy those who consistently report 10-20% better
> > mileage than I have attained, and suspect that the
> > deficiency is in my driving.
>
> You are driving your car like a normal car, like everyone else on the
> road drives, and that's fine. You're getting good mileage.
>
> If you want to get what those other people are reporting, you can (a)
> lie (like most of them), or (b) start driving very, very weirdly and in
> the way in traffic.
>
> Do you want to be the dweeb who's screwing around in traffic, playing
> his dashboard video game?
I am doing neither a) nor b), and average well over 50 MPG. (actual fuel
use vs. miles driven, not based on the MFD.) I'm sure a big part of
that is my commute is 36 miles each way. As mentioned before, one of
the MPG killers are short trips, since MPG is poor in the first 5
minutes or so of driving. So on a short trip that will be a significant
factor in the overall mileage, whereas on a longer (45 min-1 hr) trip,
it's largely offset. My tires are at 40/38 psi, which I check
regularly. I block my grill to varying degrees depending upon the
weather, and I use an engine block heater year-round, which is a big
help with the initial mileage.
I don't drive in a way that impedes traffic. In fact, I've noticed that
if I get behind a particularly slow driver, my MPG actually suffers a
bit (based on the MFD history.) I accelerate smoothly, try to keep a
steady speed, and begin to slow down as soon I see I'm going to need to
stop ahead. I DON'T do the pulse & glide (which is I think what was
being referred to here as 'PriusFoot'. In fact, I engage the cruise
control as much as possible. I do try to maintain stealth or warp-
stealth on long downgrades, but never slowing to the point where I'm
below the speed limit if someone is behind me. In fact, it usually
isn't necessary to slow down... just a light touch on the throttle.
The only drivers I seem to piss-off are 1) ones that apparently think
everyone should be doing 10+ over the speed limit, and 2) the idiots who
think you need to race up to the stopped traffic as quickly as possible
so that you can jam on the brakes. Then again, I've encountered such
drivers long before I started driving a Prius.
The fact is, I've always had sports cars or sporty sedans, and my
driving style was to go as fast as I thought I could without getting a
ticket (radar detector was required equipment.) Now that I stick to the
speed limit, I find I'm much more relaxed, and even long trips don't
take significantly more time.
You can choose to assume I'm exaggerating the mileage I'm getting. I'm
just hoping that I can help others improve their MPG, since it *is*
possible to regularly get over 50 MPG without resorting to stunt
driving.
>>> "Lon" ...
>>>> My '04, purchased in late '03, has about 52k miles on it and has
>>>> averaged about 43mpg since new - less in winter, more in summer. I'm in
>>>> S Calif, so "winter" is a period on the calendar rather than a season.
>>>> 90% of the time there's just me aboard, so I benefit from the HOV
>>>> sticker! The tires are inflated properly (+2psi) and the wheels are
>>>> aligned.
>>>>
>>>> I envy those who consistently report 10-20% better mileage than I have
>>>> attained, and suspect that the deficiency is in my driving.
>>>>
>>>> My "technique" is to stay off the brakes, doing a lot of coasting and
>>>> careening around corners, on the theory that neither regen nor friction
>>>> braking are as good as using kinetic energy to continue moving. That
>>>> means I must take my foot off the gas as soon as it becomes evident
>>>> that the car will have to stop.
>>>>
>>>> What else can I do to improve mileage?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Lon Ranger
>>>
>>> Hi Lon,
>>> Here is what I do that I believe gets me more MPG. As much as I can I
>>> try to get it to run in stealth mode at all speeds. All speeds on flat
>>> or downward slopes. To do this I use what I call PriusFoot. I get up
>>> to my speed and then lift the foot off of the pedal for an instant.
>>> This shuts the motor off. Then I lightly press on the gas pedal again
>>> only so much that it engages the battery drive, but not the engine.
>>>
>>> This takes a trained foot and it took me a bit to get it reliably right.
>>> I do it without thinking now.
>>>
>>> I do it as much as I can. I am almost always generating more
>>> electricity than I use, so I try to use as much as I can.
>>> Tomes
>>
>>
>> I can "force" electric drive in either of two ways. For example, I
>> installed a red LED that illuminates only when the fuel pump is ON. I
>> could add a switch to the circuit that powers that pump, but the total
>> energy in the traction battery is about equivalent to a martini glass
>> full of gasoline. And, of course, there's Pin 27.
>>
>> I'll discover that "Priusfoot" thing today and see if it's feasible
>> without becoming an obstacle to others.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Hi yo, Silver!
> I'm really not sure that it is a good idea to "force" the electric drive.
> The car has several primary directives built into it's management systems
> and one of the most important (so I read) is to manage the battery for
> long life. I'm not at all convinced that dragging every spare watt out of
> it (deep cycling) on a regular basis will do it a lot of good. Why not
> just drive the thing and let it look after itself, as designed. Early
> battery failure is likely to be the alternative outcome.
> Chas