|
(Going from memory of when I drove my parents' 2005 Prius for five-ish years until a year and a half ago.)
Here's all I did: coasted at every opportunity (I made a game of trying to roll through every light), gradual acceleration (no idea what the RPM was, I just went by feel and sound), and I took full advantage of the battery.
A big part of it for me was keeping an eye on how charged the hybrid battery was, and knowing when to coast and brake to ensure a lot of battery charge. If it was at least half charged and I was going speeds that was just a smidge too fast for the engine to shut off, I would slow down and purposefully run off battery power until I needed to get it charged again. This was especially effective when I knew my route.
For example, when driving home I'd use the red lights on the highway to coast the entire time and keep rolling when they turned green; coming up to my exit I'd coast on the incline of the overpass to help me slow down, then brake on the decline and exit and go around 25mph before coasting to the stop sign; and then on the secondary highway I wouldn't get to highway speed but to a higher speed that was still easy on gas (50mph). By the time I got to the gravel road leading to my home, the battery would be charged enough for me to drive around 25mph and run purely off of the battery the rest of the way.
Speeds where the engine would typically shut off for me (roughly, by memory): 0-28mph, 37-40mph (touch and go when the battery isn't more than half charged), and 46-53mph (as long as there's no head- or crosswind, so this especially worked on sheltered roads).
It was normal for me to get 52mpg in the summer. In winter it was 46mpg (can't do much about Canadian winters, sadly).
Good luck!
|