Over some 75k miles, I've been able to maintain just over 50 lifetime MPG in
our "big car," a red, '08 Prius Touring, AMAPOLA, "poppy" in Spanish. In our
mostly urban driving it takes using hyper mileing tactics to get/keep that
number. OTOH, my wife never does much better than low/mid 40's MPG. Despite
my gentle urgings to follow my example, she just drives the Prius like the car it
replaced, an older Maxima. Since the Prius doubles the MPGs we got earlier, she
sees no reason to go all out. And since the gas gauge goes down so slowly, she
never felt any pressure to try. She found the ScanGuage distracting at best, and
more like no use whatsoever. (The only issue then and now is remembering to
glance at the "guess gauge" at least once a week to prevent running out of gas!)
Enter our red, all-electric, Think City, ESPERANZA, "hope" in Spanish, our little car."
We got her in May '12 and since then my wife uses it almost exclusively. We
were very happy with the range we got through the summer and early fall,
IIRC up to 60 miles between 30% SOC and fully charged. As the temps dropped
in late fall, and more so in the winter, my wife started to notice increased SOC
use on her typical 15 mile round trip daily commute. With some careful observation
over time she was able to identify increased SOC use/reduced range
due especially to the heater, but also the headlights and even the wipers. I was
slack-jawed with amazement and pleasure. She was finally starting to "get it,"
as to energy use all on her own. So, we talked about things diverse about how
the Think was different from the Prius.
Later she reported the she had switched to using E(con) drive exclusively. This
was significant because earlier she had found the dragfrom regen when slowing
down in E unsettling, "weird" even. She had absolutely refused to use E, using
only D(rive), no regen, and the brakes as needed. This even though I had
explained that E would capture some small portion of otherwise about to wasted
excess potential energy through regen which saved $$, though realistically it was
only pennies. And on her own she discovered that by keeping plenty of distance
ahead between cars and planning ahead for lights and stops she could use regen
for most brakeng, just like I did. She really liked "driving with one pedal," her
terminology. So, we talked about the benefits of "driving without brakes" --
drifting is better than regen, regen is better than brakeing, and braking is infinately better than a collision -- and other tactics. I was careful not to mention
"hyper mileing" for fear of spooking her.
And what of our beloved Prius, the big car? We have to remember to use her for
the longest errandruns on weekends to keep the 12V battery topped up. Or on
the rare occasions when we both have to be on the road going separate ways.
My hope of course is that she will transfer her newfound realizations to driving
the Prius. And I'll have to wait patiently to see if she discovers on her own that
regen is mostly in the brake pedal, not the acceleraor.
We both like our little red Think immensely, and use her every chance we get,
literally every day of the week. My wife is looking forward to getting back to the
lesser SOC use that she saw in the "wine and roses" days of late spring and
summer. (For the most part we used the air cond. very little last sumer. I said
nothing about it's SOC hit and I am waiting to hear when she figures it out. I see no
need what so ever of trying to hustle things along and risk reducing the
excitement that we have both felt and shared.
Today
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