New Prius Driver - Asking for Help with Technique

[Matt Herring]

Hey guys,

Just purchased my 2009 Prius base yesterday and will pick it up on Tuesday. I've been doing alot of reading and video watching online trying to educate myself about the best ways to max out a Prius on mpg. Alot of the suggestions are easy ones that transfer from my old car to the Prius but I did have a couple questions about hypermiling in the Prius that may differ from a non-hybrid.

Here's a couple I found online but wasn't sure if they are completely correct...

Thanks for all the help!

*** Gliding (least aggressive) – While traveling, remove foot from accelerator. Then, ever so slightly, re-apply pressure until all arrows disappear from the Energy screen. You'll a feel slight surge forward. This technique will only work when the car is warmed up.
You can glide at any speed, but it's difficult to get the arrows to disappear at speeds higher than 40 mph. At the higher speeds, even if you are gliding, the internal combustion engine will spin in order to protect the smaller electric motor from getting damaged. Above 40 mph, the engine is spinning but no gas is being used. Under 40 mph, the gas engine is not spinning. (Some Prius drivers report a "sweet spot" at 39 mph.)

*** Idle versus Shutdown
If you need to remain stationary for no more than ten minutes or so—stopping to run quickly into your house or pick somebody up—place the Prius into park, but don't shut down.
Turn off the heating, cooling, lights, and other electric accessories. Push the "Park" button.
The goal is to avoid shutting down and restarting, at which time the Prius will run through a startup cycle that uses gas.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi Matt,

You should try to use the B (brake) setting on the shifter to slow the car, or use light brakes, to gain regenerative energy to charge the batteries. If you use the brakes too hard, then it uses the mechanical (conventional) brakes and you don't gain back as much energy.

For coasting where you want to carry speed, just shift into neutral.

I found that using the heat (and would assume the A/C) caused the engine to run a lot more, at the beginning of a drive. If you wait until it warms up on it's own, then a little heat can be had without a noticeable affect on the mileage.

I drove my Mom's 2005 Prius and I did not find a way to calibrate the dashboard mileage gauge, and it was way too optimistic (by 10-20%?). If you have a SGII, you may still want to use it.

I found it pretty easy to ecodrive, after driving my standard shift xA -- I got 52.5 and 53.4 on two tanks. (The dash gauge indicated over 60mpg for much of this...)

[PaleMelanesian]

On coasting, do the Glide procedure first before shifting to N. If you just go straight into N, the ICE may not shut down. If you do the gas pedal trick to get no arrows on the display, then you're gliding. ONce you're gliding, you can either hold that pedal position or shift to N.

I lost several MPG in a competition by missing that on a couple glides.

[Matt Herring]

Thanks for the info Neil! This will take some time to find optimum driving style but I'm excited to tackle the challenge (especially with warmer weather on the way). I still plan to use my SGII in the Prius so that should move my progress along a little quicker than without instrumentation.

Some of the vids I watched on YouTube said 30 mph is the best speed for a Prius to maximize mpg. I even saw a guy set his cruise at 30mph and get 99.9 mpg readout on the energy screen until the gas motor kicked in and he still got 60 mpg on the readout. Interested to see what the SGII says about that. Alot of talk online about using the cruise at 39mph or below (if possible) to maximize mpg...seems so counter-logic to driving in my former 4runner...not sure what to believe until I'm able to test it in the car.

[Matt Herring]

Great info. Pale! Thanks! I test drove a Prius the other day and went about 5 miles on pretty hilly terrain and didn't get the numbers I thought I would (about 44 mpg with the stock car off the lot) but I also just coasted in neutral without tapping the pedal after starting coast to get into the "dead band."

[PaleMelanesian]

For the very best information specific to the prius, I have to recommend the articles at cleanmpg.

Doing a low-speed pulse&glide - pulse at 20-25 mpg up to 30 mph or so, glide down to below 10 - should get you above 100 mpg.

Once the warmup hit is past. You have to hit 157F water temp (I think), and then at a stop allow it to auto-stop the engine. After that, everything will be running in top form. It cripples some of the functions before that, in the interest of faster warmup. That's why you want to leave it powered up instead of a full shutdown for a quick stop. It'll go through the whole warmup process again, including the forced 1-minute engine-on at first startup.

[Matt Herring]

I drive an 11 mile commute to work (mostly 35-45 mph roads...small hills along the way). I'm guessing moderate acceleration up the hills before disengaging the ICE and shifting into neutral is the way to go. My former 4runner was a v6 so the v4 Prius might need more aggressive pedal to stay at or near speed before cresting the hills.

If the 39 mph sweet spot is true (will confirm with SGII) then the first 5 miles of my trip on 45 mph roads should yield some good results (and maybe some angry drivers behind me)!

When I purchased my 4runner 2 years ago I went against my prior logic (drive it until it won't drive any more to get the loan out of the way and live off no car payment for awhile) because I knew I would be in a Prius before the 5 year loan was paid off. I imagine (barring horrific accident) that I will be in this Prius for the length of the 5 year loan and beyond.