Toyota Prius: How to get Better Gas Mileage

In article <googlegroups.com>,
mark b <com> wrote:
 

Why don't you reword that: "You piss off everyone around you by playing
games in traffic, but fuck 'em. Do what YOU want. It's YOUR life."

I think you're right, but there's another technique that lets
you keep your eyes on the road.

Simply keep your foot off the -- -- brake.

Drive in such a manner as to minimize brake usage, and your
mileage will improve significantly. The conversion of kinetic
energy to electricity is very inefficient (better than nothing),
but the conversion of kinetic energy to heat is a total waste.

That concept allows brisk acceleration when there's nothing in
front of you, but it also means long/gradual slowdowns when
something is. Applying this idea, you tend to look further down
the road, and I think it adds a bit of safety as well as economy.





mark b wrote: 

In article <f3qeau$mh0$motzarella.org>,
notachance <to> wrote:
 

Which is EXACTLY why Toyota designed the Prius with brake-by-wire.

The brake pedal tells the car how much to kick in the generators, which
provides the braking power. Braking the car uses the more efficient
kinetic energy to electricity conversion.

Two exceptions to this:

1) the car does engage the mechanical brakes below 7mph (all those funny
noises you keep hearing under the hood during normal driving involve,
among other things, the brake accumulator pressurizing)

2) emergency stops--the car knows when to apply the mechanical brakes
regardless (see brake pressure accumulator concept above).

That the Prius drives like a normal car becomes more and more amazing as
you delve into how it all is designed and works in daily use.

They started with a goal--minimize inefficiencies. With some thought,
they managed to do just that. And they'll tweak things as time goes
along.

You can get the best mileage by leaving the Prius home and walking to work.
That way the rest of us can get there also. Scott

On Jun 1, 5:39 pm, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <com> wrote: 
time. I 
at 
playing 
life."

Nice to see you're as pleasant here as in "alt.tv.tech.hdtv".

I also have a Prius and found that modest acceleration is by far the
biggest influence on MPG. I find that 2-3 MPH/second accel rate (10-15
seconds to get to 30) will piss nobody off and still do well on MPG.
My Prius had 12855 miles as of the last fill up and has taken 248.127
gallons of gas total. The last 5 tanks have all been 500+ miles, 7
500+ mile tanks total.

The other 'trick' is to _not_ race to the next light as in 'don't give
up your forward momentum' if you can avoid it. There is one yokel in a
Tahoe who passes me several times every Friday, changing lanes and
racing to the next light while I plod along 3-5MPH over the limit and
keep passing this silly person. I count 'passing' as in more than 1
block ahead or behind me.

Remnember, you can recover some of the kinetic energy with the braking
system but for any given velocity, the energy is a constant
_regardless_ of how much was used to reach that speed.

Overall, the Prius has reduced the gas usage 13 gallons/week for the 2
cars while not traveling any fewer miles.

I call the Prius a "sit-in arcade game".

GG

In article <usenetserver.com>,
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" <com> wrote:
 

Coasting also regenerates the battery. And coasting as far as you can
uses less gas than keeping up speed and then braking hard.

--
Support the troops: Bring them home ASAP.

Michelle Steiner wrote: 


Michelle,
I consider you a Prius expert, but don't think coasting
regenerates.

In article <googlegroups.com>,
com wrote:
 

Well, how about not playing the fucking dashboard video game, and
instead DRIVING. As in, paying attention to the world around you, and
being part of it.

It's those of you who play the dashboard video game that give Prius
owners a bad name.