499.5 miles
7.924 gallons
$3.599/gallon
63.04 mpg
3.73 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Nothing exciting to report. Getting very difficult to control mileage with weather getting cold and highway driving...
Showing posts with label fill-up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fill-up. Show all posts
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Fill-up, Sunday, October 16, 2011
499.8 miles
8.612 gallons
$3.619/gallon
58.04 mpg
4.05 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
It was a low tank, with the MFD reading around 63 of 64 mpg, but I was really surprised by the very low calculated result of 58 mpg for the tank, which I haven't seen in regular (i.e. not a roadtrip) driving since last February in the freezing weather. This was a tank of 60°F weather!
But...it wasn't altogether accurate, as the bladder somehow filled A LOT, and then some, with some fuel spilling out at the end. We'll stick with the official numbers anyway, good motivator to do better next tank!
8.612 gallons
$3.619/gallon
58.04 mpg
4.05 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
It was a low tank, with the MFD reading around 63 of 64 mpg, but I was really surprised by the very low calculated result of 58 mpg for the tank, which I haven't seen in regular (i.e. not a roadtrip) driving since last February in the freezing weather. This was a tank of 60°F weather!
But...it wasn't altogether accurate, as the bladder somehow filled A LOT, and then some, with some fuel spilling out at the end. We'll stick with the official numbers anyway, good motivator to do better next tank!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Fill-up, Monday, October 3, 2011
494.2 miles
7.73 gallons
$3.599/gallon
63.93 mpg
3.68 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Colder weather, shorter trips...
Had a killer 20-mile ride I was excited about somewhere in the tank, looked like this:
Yeah, yeah, it's net downhill :-) Still, on the way there I can get 60 mpg on the uphill, so not bad overall.
7.73 gallons
$3.599/gallon
63.93 mpg
3.68 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Colder weather, shorter trips...
Had a killer 20-mile ride I was excited about somewhere in the tank, looked like this:
Yeah, yeah, it's net downhill :-) Still, on the way there I can get 60 mpg on the uphill, so not bad overall.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Fill-up, Wednesday, September 21, 2011
500.8 miles
7.502 gallons
$3.679/gallon
66.76 mpg
3.52 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I have pictures of the tank sitting on my camera, but I've just moved and apparently haven't taken the USB cord with me (EDIT: they're here now!). They'll be edited in soon. Interestingly, the Prius MFD actually read 66.8 mpg, which is exactly what I got. First time for everything!
Mid tank, looking good.
End of the tank, little down.
My new life (read: new location and thus commutes) is full of short, mileage killing trips. The tank started out nicely up in the low 70s and slowly declined to 66.8 mpg as I did short trips between clients' houses and cold starts just to go the grocery store. I participate in a food co-op, so multiple people have jobs to do. I can't just go when the car is warmed up and most efficient, I have to wait for a time to open up with someone else's schedule.
I also have a new trip of about 30 miles or so which will happen roughly twice per tank, of 60+ mph speeds over very hilly terrain. After that part of the trip there is some pulse and glide, but the two times I've done it so far I've gotten 60 mpg and 57 mpg, so it's a huge drain on gas.
I'm certainly not complaining. A commercially available vehicle netting 67 mpg in less than ideal fuel economy conditions? Sounds pretty good to me :-) I just need to mentally deal with the fact that 70 mpg is very unlikely to happen these days with the new commutes. First day of autumn today, too, and those lower temps are eating away a little at every trip's mpg...
7.502 gallons
$3.679/gallon
66.76 mpg
3.52 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I have pictures of the tank sitting on my camera, but I've just moved and apparently haven't taken the USB cord with me (EDIT: they're here now!). They'll be edited in soon. Interestingly, the Prius MFD actually read 66.8 mpg, which is exactly what I got. First time for everything!
End of the tank, little down.
My new life (read: new location and thus commutes) is full of short, mileage killing trips. The tank started out nicely up in the low 70s and slowly declined to 66.8 mpg as I did short trips between clients' houses and cold starts just to go the grocery store. I participate in a food co-op, so multiple people have jobs to do. I can't just go when the car is warmed up and most efficient, I have to wait for a time to open up with someone else's schedule.
I also have a new trip of about 30 miles or so which will happen roughly twice per tank, of 60+ mph speeds over very hilly terrain. After that part of the trip there is some pulse and glide, but the two times I've done it so far I've gotten 60 mpg and 57 mpg, so it's a huge drain on gas.
I'm certainly not complaining. A commercially available vehicle netting 67 mpg in less than ideal fuel economy conditions? Sounds pretty good to me :-) I just need to mentally deal with the fact that 70 mpg is very unlikely to happen these days with the new commutes. First day of autumn today, too, and those lower temps are eating away a little at every trip's mpg...
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Fill-up, Thursday, September 8, 2011
520.0 miles
7.748 gallons
3.899/gallon
67.11 mpg
3.50 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Surprisingly I got over 67 mpg. I say surprisingly, since I thought the last fill-up was partial, but even if it was, it looks like the summer blend or something is boosting my mileage nicely, since for a couple fill-ups now the actual numbers have been high relative to the Prius display.
This tank also includes some new trips which will become habitual for me, including a weekly several mile jaunt which will probably get me 30 mpg each way (ouch). I have a new 20 mile trip over which I only managed 57 mpg, and that was in warm weather! No way to hypermile around hills other than to find an alternate route, so I'll work on that for this week.
Pictures may or may not be coming, computer was on the fritz, may have lost the data for some time...
7.748 gallons
3.899/gallon
67.11 mpg
3.50 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Surprisingly I got over 67 mpg. I say surprisingly, since I thought the last fill-up was partial, but even if it was, it looks like the summer blend or something is boosting my mileage nicely, since for a couple fill-ups now the actual numbers have been high relative to the Prius display.
This tank also includes some new trips which will become habitual for me, including a weekly several mile jaunt which will probably get me 30 mpg each way (ouch). I have a new 20 mile trip over which I only managed 57 mpg, and that was in warm weather! No way to hypermile around hills other than to find an alternate route, so I'll work on that for this week.
Pictures may or may not be coming, computer was on the fritz, may have lost the data for some time...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Fill-up, Wednesday, July 13, 2011
about 484.0 miles
about 7.562 gallons
unknown $/gallon
about 64.00 mpg
about 3.68 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
A friend borrowed my car for a romantic dinner with his lady friend, and when he returned, he had oh-so kindly filled up the tank for me (I'll have to buy him a drink or something...), so without the receipt I'm estimating mpg based on Scangauge (62.8 mpg) and Wentworth (65.0 mpg). Close enough, probably off by a couple hundredths of a gallon at most.
Nice figures considering all the mountainous driving I did since getting here. Roundtrip to Burlington one day got me only 56-57 mpg or so. Other days had some low 50s when I was trying to test some things related to regenerative braking up and down hills, and I know when my friend drove it they got 45 mpg for the 32 mile roundtrip. It continues to impress me, here because the car can get 45 mpg in Vermont when driven normally.
I believe one pip was down already, possible it was a bladder-instigated partial fill, we'll find out if the next tank (in August!) is lower than expected.
(Note to self, subtract 17.1 miles from next tank)
about 7.562 gallons
unknown $/gallon
about 64.00 mpg
about 3.68 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
A friend borrowed my car for a romantic dinner with his lady friend, and when he returned, he had oh-so kindly filled up the tank for me (I'll have to buy him a drink or something...), so without the receipt I'm estimating mpg based on Scangauge (62.8 mpg) and Wentworth (65.0 mpg). Close enough, probably off by a couple hundredths of a gallon at most.
Nice figures considering all the mountainous driving I did since getting here. Roundtrip to Burlington one day got me only 56-57 mpg or so. Other days had some low 50s when I was trying to test some things related to regenerative braking up and down hills, and I know when my friend drove it they got 45 mpg for the 32 mile roundtrip. It continues to impress me, here because the car can get 45 mpg in Vermont when driven normally.
I believe one pip was down already, possible it was a bladder-instigated partial fill, we'll find out if the next tank (in August!) is lower than expected.
(Note to self, subtract 17.1 miles from next tank)
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Fill-up, Sunday, June 19, 2011
511.4 miles
7.392 gallons
$3.839/gallon
69.18 mpg
3.40 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
June 2011 average officially at 70.00 mpg! OK, 69.995... :-)
I filled up at the same BP station. MFD read 70.5, actual was only 1.8% off at 69.2 mpg, so I'll continue to fill up with this magic gas that nearly eliminates the overestimation of the computer. Scangauge said 67.2 for the tank. I'll keep it down there, actually, I prefer to have conservative readings to keep me motivated.
Of course, in my writing down of figures from different devices, resetting trip meters and consumption displays, texting Fuelly to get instant mpg, I forgot (again!) to take a goshdarn picture.
So as soon as I remembered, I caught one of the gas station to work. This was my tank mpg this morning over...a whopping 2 miles :-)
I did actually take a picture a couple days back (just remembered it) cause I finally got the MFD back up to 70 and wanted to record that magic moment.
I sadly had to put 70 miles on the new tank today, and some more coming this week, but then just 230-240 miles to my summer job where I stay fairly automotively stationary, so I likely won't fill up until July or August. New one sitting at 75 mpg on the display, but we'll see how the mountains of Vermont affect that number.
7.392 gallons
$3.839/gallon
69.18 mpg
3.40 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
June 2011 average officially at 70.00 mpg! OK, 69.995... :-)
I filled up at the same BP station. MFD read 70.5, actual was only 1.8% off at 69.2 mpg, so I'll continue to fill up with this magic gas that nearly eliminates the overestimation of the computer. Scangauge said 67.2 for the tank. I'll keep it down there, actually, I prefer to have conservative readings to keep me motivated.
Of course, in my writing down of figures from different devices, resetting trip meters and consumption displays, texting Fuelly to get instant mpg, I forgot (again!) to take a goshdarn picture.
So as soon as I remembered, I caught one of the gas station to work. This was my tank mpg this morning over...a whopping 2 miles :-)
I did actually take a picture a couple days back (just remembered it) cause I finally got the MFD back up to 70 and wanted to record that magic moment.
I sadly had to put 70 miles on the new tank today, and some more coming this week, but then just 230-240 miles to my summer job where I stay fairly automotively stationary, so I likely won't fill up until July or August. New one sitting at 75 mpg on the display, but we'll see how the mountains of Vermont affect that number.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Fill-up, Sunday, June 5, 2011
Holy crap.
523.9 miles
7.399 gallons
$3.899/gallon
70.81 mpg
3.32 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I think this pretty much puts to rest claims of any other sort of car matching hybrid mileage, but I digress... :-)
I paid $28.85 to drive 524 miles. Insane!
The weather was getting warmer, and I specifically went for a record tank. I almost would have thought it's a bladder fluke, but for several reasons:
1. The last couple tanks I modified pulse and glide style, and all of them have shown much better results.
2. The average of my last three tanks is now standing right at 68 mpg hand-calculated, and 70 mpg fits right in there.
3. I've now calibrated Scangauge hopefully once and for all around the numbers for the last several tanks (I didn't reset it the entire time), so I was expecting numbers slightly higher than what I'd been seeing. I estimated around 68 for tank on the "low" numbers, so 70 again is quite realistic.
4. I did have some awesome longer drives (to and from Boston, seen here and here), so that brought up the mpgs some, but also some short trips that averaged those nice figures down a little. May not be reproduceable in my normal commute, we'll see.
What this means for me is that I'll continue to pulse somewhat gradually, dealing almost exclusively with terrain instead of RPMs, kW, whatever. I aim for the speed I want at the top of the hill, that's it. I use RPM sometime for accelerations from low to higher speeds, that's it. Longer pulse means better battery charging, and I watch SOC to make sure it's not too low, and it makes a good difference. Besides that, the cool thing is that I barely need the Scangauge for my driving. 71 mpg just driving. I actually use the engine much more these days than a few months back, and also feel myself more with the flow of traffic.
Of course, when no one else is on the road, I pull out the crazy hypermiling.
Second big conclusion is that I now am a fan of BP Invigorate gas. Whether it's really something special or just the summer gas mix is in effect I don't know, but it's irrelevant. I've been filling up at a BP station and getting this mileage, so that's going to continue. I filled up at a different BP station than normal today to compare to my usual one.
EDIT: I hadn't reset my mileage consumption screen in three tanks. It showed 68.8 mpg I believe (had a camera in the glovebox for the occasion, forgot to take picture amid all the math I was doing at the pump) over the 1500 or so miles, and actual calculated was 67.98 mpg. This is scarily accurate, I believe the quality of the gas has something to do with it, since Tom explained very nicely on PriusChat how computer mileage calculations would be exactly the same even if you threw water in your tank.
523.9 miles
7.399 gallons
$3.899/gallon
70.81 mpg
3.32 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I think this pretty much puts to rest claims of any other sort of car matching hybrid mileage, but I digress... :-)
I paid $28.85 to drive 524 miles. Insane!
The weather was getting warmer, and I specifically went for a record tank. I almost would have thought it's a bladder fluke, but for several reasons:
1. The last couple tanks I modified pulse and glide style, and all of them have shown much better results.
2. The average of my last three tanks is now standing right at 68 mpg hand-calculated, and 70 mpg fits right in there.
3. I've now calibrated Scangauge hopefully once and for all around the numbers for the last several tanks (I didn't reset it the entire time), so I was expecting numbers slightly higher than what I'd been seeing. I estimated around 68 for tank on the "low" numbers, so 70 again is quite realistic.
4. I did have some awesome longer drives (to and from Boston, seen here and here), so that brought up the mpgs some, but also some short trips that averaged those nice figures down a little. May not be reproduceable in my normal commute, we'll see.
What this means for me is that I'll continue to pulse somewhat gradually, dealing almost exclusively with terrain instead of RPMs, kW, whatever. I aim for the speed I want at the top of the hill, that's it. I use RPM sometime for accelerations from low to higher speeds, that's it. Longer pulse means better battery charging, and I watch SOC to make sure it's not too low, and it makes a good difference. Besides that, the cool thing is that I barely need the Scangauge for my driving. 71 mpg just driving. I actually use the engine much more these days than a few months back, and also feel myself more with the flow of traffic.
Of course, when no one else is on the road, I pull out the crazy hypermiling.
Second big conclusion is that I now am a fan of BP Invigorate gas. Whether it's really something special or just the summer gas mix is in effect I don't know, but it's irrelevant. I've been filling up at a BP station and getting this mileage, so that's going to continue. I filled up at a different BP station than normal today to compare to my usual one.
EDIT: I hadn't reset my mileage consumption screen in three tanks. It showed 68.8 mpg I believe (had a camera in the glovebox for the occasion, forgot to take picture amid all the math I was doing at the pump) over the 1500 or so miles, and actual calculated was 67.98 mpg. This is scarily accurate, I believe the quality of the gas has something to do with it, since Tom explained very nicely on PriusChat how computer mileage calculations would be exactly the same even if you threw water in your tank.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, May 25, 2011
Last week's partial fill-up:
493.6 miles
7.000 gallons
$3.919/gallon
Plus this weeks fill-up:
511.7 miles
8.095 gallons
$3.999/gallon
Equal the total:
1,005.3 miles
15.095 gallons
66.60 mpg
3.53 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I can't believe these numbers. I want to say it's just the bladder, but if it is, my gas tank is getting smaller by a gallon a week. I did very conservatively adjust the Scangauge so that the numbers I see are likely just below the real mileage, but this seems like too much.
Then again, I did just implement some new pulsing and gliding the last week or so, and I've been getting mileage 5-10% better than usual as a result.
I also have been filling up at a BP pump, the gas that comes with BP's Invigorate additive. Supposedly more energy content to the fuel.
Maybe it's possible. Maybe it's not. In any case, I do hope the numbers are accurate, since I'm going for a record this coming tank (already at 65 mpg after a day of driving, including a short trip), and would love a precise record of it if all goes well.
493.6 miles
7.000 gallons
$3.919/gallon
Plus this weeks fill-up:
511.7 miles
8.095 gallons
$3.999/gallon
Equal the total:
1,005.3 miles
15.095 gallons
66.60 mpg
3.53 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I can't believe these numbers. I want to say it's just the bladder, but if it is, my gas tank is getting smaller by a gallon a week. I did very conservatively adjust the Scangauge so that the numbers I see are likely just below the real mileage, but this seems like too much.
Then again, I did just implement some new pulsing and gliding the last week or so, and I've been getting mileage 5-10% better than usual as a result.
I also have been filling up at a BP pump, the gas that comes with BP's Invigorate additive. Supposedly more energy content to the fuel.
Maybe it's possible. Maybe it's not. In any case, I do hope the numbers are accurate, since I'm going for a record this coming tank (already at 65 mpg after a day of driving, including a short trip), and would love a precise record of it if all goes well.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, May 17, 2011
493.6 miles
7.000 gallons *partial fill-up*
$3.919/gallon
Wentworth's complete fueling history
The gas station was closing. I don't think it was the fuel bladder for once, I think the guy inside cut me off at exactly seven gallons - I had under one gallon to go, and also several minutes until they were supposed to close. Now it will be another two weeks before I find out my actual mileage. It's nice getting good mpgs, but I never need to get to a gas station.
Trip A showed 493.2 miles with two of the ten pips left (plus the 0.4 miles before I remembered to reset the trip odometer from the last fill-up, for 493.6 total miles), but I went for the cheap gas day. Plus I have to drive a cat to Boston tomorrow and needed to be sure I could last 130 miles or so. Long story :-)
MFD shows 66.5 mpg over 493 miles for the tank, thus my estimates of about 62-63 mpg. Earlier in the day it had been up to 66.9 mpg for the tank, but coldish temps (high 40s°F) and some downpours/wet roads quickly put a damper on it finishing up. Wentworth was surprisingly of little help - I had to stop the car once on the drive home and restart since Wentworth was doing his temperamental coolant thermos filling or some such nonsense - I was in stage 4 but could not get the engine to shut off for a glide. Thus the 75 mpg bar below for the first five minutes - the engine was already warmed up. The others, you can see, are rather mediocre in that weather. This is what that route can look like, even in cold weather.
And this is what it looked like today...
Ouch!
7.000 gallons *partial fill-up*
$3.919/gallon
Wentworth's complete fueling history
The gas station was closing. I don't think it was the fuel bladder for once, I think the guy inside cut me off at exactly seven gallons - I had under one gallon to go, and also several minutes until they were supposed to close. Now it will be another two weeks before I find out my actual mileage. It's nice getting good mpgs, but I never need to get to a gas station.
Trip A showed 493.2 miles with two of the ten pips left (plus the 0.4 miles before I remembered to reset the trip odometer from the last fill-up, for 493.6 total miles), but I went for the cheap gas day. Plus I have to drive a cat to Boston tomorrow and needed to be sure I could last 130 miles or so. Long story :-)
MFD shows 66.5 mpg over 493 miles for the tank, thus my estimates of about 62-63 mpg. Earlier in the day it had been up to 66.9 mpg for the tank, but coldish temps (high 40s°F) and some downpours/wet roads quickly put a damper on it finishing up. Wentworth was surprisingly of little help - I had to stop the car once on the drive home and restart since Wentworth was doing his temperamental coolant thermos filling or some such nonsense - I was in stage 4 but could not get the engine to shut off for a glide. Thus the 75 mpg bar below for the first five minutes - the engine was already warmed up. The others, you can see, are rather mediocre in that weather. This is what that route can look like, even in cold weather.
And this is what it looked like today...
Ouch!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, May 3, 2011
478.0 miles
7.687 gallons
$4.029/gallon
62.18 mpg
3.78 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
A quite disappointing tank by a couple mpg, was thinking it would easily be 63 or 64 (MFD read 66.2 MPG for 478 miles). Had to re-calibrate the Scangauge down a bit more, probably the bladder playing tricks again.
Somedays you just want to move somewhere where it's flat. Yes, Rhode Island has a surprising number of hills in certain spots. In most spots it's relatively flat, but how do you think we get anywhere? We take bridges over water. Steep, steep, bridges.
I'd like to illustrate a little terrain lesson. There are hundreds (thousands?) of people who ask at PriusChat: why do I only get 45 mpg?
Well...
Besides the 10,000 variables (that's an approximate figure) that could play into it, terrain is enormous. Three days a week I get 25 mpg over the first 2 miles of my commute going up a big hill while the car's not yet warmed up. To do that, I use:
0.08 gallons of gas
I then can usually get over 100 mpg for the next 6.4 miles (I know these figures cause it's the distance to my Toyota dealer!). Once I calculated 136 miles per gallon on this segment when I got all green lights! It's wonderful for gliding after you get up that first hill. 6.4 miles divided by 136 mpg =
0.044 gallons of gas
Together, that's 8.4 miles on 0.124 gallons of gas, or 68 mpg or so.
Let's pretend I could get 50 mpg on the first two miles, say if that large hill weren't there and I could hypermile somehow. That would be 0.04 gallons of gas, plus the above second segment of 0.044 gallons of gas, for a total of 8.4 miles travelled on 0.084 gallons. The numbers are purely coincidental, but you can see that's precisely 100 mpg. If I had flat terrain the first two miles, I would get 100 mpg to my dealer.
But I don't get 100 mpg. I'm a 60 mpg driver, and that's still a good thing. And maybe you're a 50 mpg driver, or a 40 mpg driver, which is also great (average economy of new vehicles sold in 2010 was 22.2 mpg). Sometimes terrain just decides our mileage for us, and we can't do a damn thing about it - except complain on a blog :-)
Some positive notes:
This tank did see my first prolonged highway run over 60 mpg, and I had a whole bunch of nice trips above 70 mpg.
It looks like I'll likely stay in the low 60 mpgs for some time given my current commutes. Next year will be interesting, I'll be living elsewhere and will have a different commute altogether. Time will tell if the new terrain will be kind or not...
7.687 gallons
$4.029/gallon
62.18 mpg
3.78 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
A quite disappointing tank by a couple mpg, was thinking it would easily be 63 or 64 (MFD read 66.2 MPG for 478 miles). Had to re-calibrate the Scangauge down a bit more, probably the bladder playing tricks again.
Somedays you just want to move somewhere where it's flat. Yes, Rhode Island has a surprising number of hills in certain spots. In most spots it's relatively flat, but how do you think we get anywhere? We take bridges over water. Steep, steep, bridges.
I'd like to illustrate a little terrain lesson. There are hundreds (thousands?) of people who ask at PriusChat: why do I only get 45 mpg?
Well...
Besides the 10,000 variables (that's an approximate figure) that could play into it, terrain is enormous. Three days a week I get 25 mpg over the first 2 miles of my commute going up a big hill while the car's not yet warmed up. To do that, I use:
0.08 gallons of gas
I then can usually get over 100 mpg for the next 6.4 miles (I know these figures cause it's the distance to my Toyota dealer!). Once I calculated 136 miles per gallon on this segment when I got all green lights! It's wonderful for gliding after you get up that first hill. 6.4 miles divided by 136 mpg =
0.044 gallons of gas
Together, that's 8.4 miles on 0.124 gallons of gas, or 68 mpg or so.
Let's pretend I could get 50 mpg on the first two miles, say if that large hill weren't there and I could hypermile somehow. That would be 0.04 gallons of gas, plus the above second segment of 0.044 gallons of gas, for a total of 8.4 miles travelled on 0.084 gallons. The numbers are purely coincidental, but you can see that's precisely 100 mpg. If I had flat terrain the first two miles, I would get 100 mpg to my dealer.
But I don't get 100 mpg. I'm a 60 mpg driver, and that's still a good thing. And maybe you're a 50 mpg driver, or a 40 mpg driver, which is also great (average economy of new vehicles sold in 2010 was 22.2 mpg). Sometimes terrain just decides our mileage for us, and we can't do a damn thing about it - except complain on a blog :-)
Some positive notes:
This tank did see my first prolonged highway run over 60 mpg, and I had a whole bunch of nice trips above 70 mpg.
It looks like I'll likely stay in the low 60 mpgs for some time given my current commutes. Next year will be interesting, I'll be living elsewhere and will have a different commute altogether. Time will tell if the new terrain will be kind or not...
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Fill-up, Friday, April 22, 2011
483.1 miles
7.910 gallons
$3.899/gallon
61.07 mpg
3.85 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Whew, first tank over $30, gas is indeed getting pricey!
This tank started out terribly, with a couple trips out of the ordinary. One roundtrip was about 14 miles at under 50 mpg (with hypermiling!), and there was an evening where I took the highway in a heavy rainstorm with constant heavy winds and 40 mph gusts. I got the lowest mileage of any "lengthy" trip ever on Wentworth that night, a nightmarish 46 mpg (nightmarish is used lightly - the worst mileage imaginable in my car is over double the mileage of the average American passenger vehicle).
I still managed over 60 mpg for the tank, which is more a testament to the slightly warmer temperatures than anything else. It means that besides the trips I listed above, I averaged around 63 mpg. I'm pretty sure I could get near 70 mpg for a normal tank in warm weather and great conditions, but I have a feeling I'm going to be much more limited than most in the attempt by the terrain of my commutes.
Maybe I should start parking at the top of the big hill near my house and walking a couple miles home? :-) Seriously, for most of the week that would make a huge difference. I've previously calculated using about 20% of all the gas in a 27 mile trip in the first 2 miles, a trip that I do at least three times a week. On that commute the other week, with the big hill at the beginning, my 5-minute mpg bars were as follows:
25 mpg, 100 mpg+, 95 mpg, 100+ mpg
Maybe just for one tank I could take drastic measures for the fun of it!
7.910 gallons
$3.899/gallon
61.07 mpg
3.85 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Whew, first tank over $30, gas is indeed getting pricey!
This tank started out terribly, with a couple trips out of the ordinary. One roundtrip was about 14 miles at under 50 mpg (with hypermiling!), and there was an evening where I took the highway in a heavy rainstorm with constant heavy winds and 40 mph gusts. I got the lowest mileage of any "lengthy" trip ever on Wentworth that night, a nightmarish 46 mpg (nightmarish is used lightly - the worst mileage imaginable in my car is over double the mileage of the average American passenger vehicle).
I still managed over 60 mpg for the tank, which is more a testament to the slightly warmer temperatures than anything else. It means that besides the trips I listed above, I averaged around 63 mpg. I'm pretty sure I could get near 70 mpg for a normal tank in warm weather and great conditions, but I have a feeling I'm going to be much more limited than most in the attempt by the terrain of my commutes.
Maybe I should start parking at the top of the big hill near my house and walking a couple miles home? :-) Seriously, for most of the week that would make a huge difference. I've previously calculated using about 20% of all the gas in a 27 mile trip in the first 2 miles, a trip that I do at least three times a week. On that commute the other week, with the big hill at the beginning, my 5-minute mpg bars were as follows:
25 mpg, 100 mpg+, 95 mpg, 100+ mpg
Maybe just for one tank I could take drastic measures for the fun of it!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, April 12, 2011
478.1 miles
7.567 gallons
$3.639/gallon
63.18 mpg
3.72 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Understanding the numbers
You may be wondering why I "only" get low 60 mpgs or high 50 mpgs on my tanks when all my mileage pictures seem to be easily up in the 60s or 70s (well, at least I was wondering!). While I have lots of nice shorter trips, my other, longer commutes involve a series of hills and hard accelerations, as well as lengthy periods over the Prius glide threshold of 42 mph. One route I take twice a week is apparently net uphill, and while I can usually maintain 60 true mpg (as opposed to optimistic Prius display mpg) on the first leg of the trip, it can be tricky. The way back I can often get mpg of 62-66 mpg fairly easily, despite those same hills in reverse, and 21 stop lights to contend with once I get off the higher speed portion of the trip.
I also have a series of short trips for work that are unavoidable. I've estimated before that over the course of two weeks, they knock off a small 2 mpg or so from the tank. Not a big deal, but just enough to drag you down to 60 or below.
Three times a week when I leave the house, I head south - directly toward a huge hill that means I never get better than 25 mpg during the first five minutes, which kills the mileage for the trip from the get go. On these trips of 27 miles I use nearly 20% of my gas for the trip in the first 2 miles!
And of course, once or twice a tank you get crappy weather, and all the pulsing and gliding in the world won't save you from the wind and rain. At the beginning of this tank I had a miserable 55.8 mpg displayed (so probably 53-54 mpg in real life) over my longer distance commute in a delightful little bout of wind and rain Mother Nature had sent our way.
Trip o' the week
I loved this trip. Yes, I've gotten and can get better mileage on other trips, like the short trips where I just glide and EV most of the time, but this one is the most satisfying, since it's not at all pure pulse and glide land - half the trip is too fast for gliding anyway. There are hard accelerations from 0 to 50 mph, hills to climb from a standstill, some 2400+ RPM spots (pedal to the metal! well, not really, but maximum desirable warp, let's say) and after all that, the dreaded 21 stop lights.
The previous trip record for this particular route by the Prius display was 73.3 mpg. I knew I was likely going to break it right from the start. My coolant was still warm from the drive over, so I got into stage 3 very quickly and was able to glide/EV within a couple minutes of starting up. I waved a tailgating wench around me at a stop sign (no accusations of the Prius holding up traffic - I was already going 10 mph over the speed limit leading up to it), and warp neutraled it down a slight hill. At the next stop sign I did my new favorite routine, which is forcing the gas engine on to get to stage 4. After the engine turned off, on I went.
At the end of a road where I usually end up with mpg in the 60s, I was greeted with this:
Nice! The mileage wasn't going to stay there for long, since just after taking the picture, I had to accelerate from 0-50 mph quickly, and uphill. Soon followed another 0-50 acceleration (I had more time on this one and went EV until 20 mph). As soon as I'm up to speed, there's this great slight uphill that I can maintain 50 mph on getting 50 mpg. All the other cars on the incline around me were surely getting about 20 mpg or worse at that point - which is why every car should have an mpg display, but I digress :-)
Warp stealth, hill, warp stealth, hill, warp stealth, bridge, warp stealth, some burn and gliding as speed limit goes down to 40 mph. I slow to a stop to pay a toll - record mpg as of this point in the trip, nice!
Then 4 to 38 mph acceleration up a bridge, the killer - 2500 RPM to keep speed, then I was able to ease up to 2000 RPM somehow for the upper half, losing speed slightly.
After the downside of the bridge, I'm back to the 21 stoplight part of my drive. I remembered from the record in February that I got very lucky with all green lights, and realized that they would be the deciding factor. Things were going OK until one spot where I needed the ICE for safety where I would normally glide, and then got stuck at a complete stop at the worst light of the entire commute. It's halfway up a relatively steep slope, and I'm the first one in line, meaning a brisk acceleration will be needed uphill. I climb the hill at the green light, and try not to shudder seeing the numbers - 4 mpg, 5 mpg, 6 mpg (did you even know a Prius could get that low?? :-D). It shaved a ton of the average, and I was now slightly below where I had been the last time at this point.
I managed to scoot through the second to worst light (before an uphill) while it was yellow, salvaging the trip, and while I had to slow at other ones, only got completely stopped at one more.
Toward the end of the trip I went to town using EV where I would normally need the ICE, and it worked. Barely beat the record. 73.8 mpg display, Scanguage a more realistic 71.1.
The awesome part is seeing the improvement you've made hypermiling. I got stopped at two more stoplights than the last time, including the huge uphill one, and still managed to beat the record. Very happy!
7.567 gallons
$3.639/gallon
63.18 mpg
3.72 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Understanding the numbers
You may be wondering why I "only" get low 60 mpgs or high 50 mpgs on my tanks when all my mileage pictures seem to be easily up in the 60s or 70s (well, at least I was wondering!). While I have lots of nice shorter trips, my other, longer commutes involve a series of hills and hard accelerations, as well as lengthy periods over the Prius glide threshold of 42 mph. One route I take twice a week is apparently net uphill, and while I can usually maintain 60 true mpg (as opposed to optimistic Prius display mpg) on the first leg of the trip, it can be tricky. The way back I can often get mpg of 62-66 mpg fairly easily, despite those same hills in reverse, and 21 stop lights to contend with once I get off the higher speed portion of the trip.
I also have a series of short trips for work that are unavoidable. I've estimated before that over the course of two weeks, they knock off a small 2 mpg or so from the tank. Not a big deal, but just enough to drag you down to 60 or below.
Three times a week when I leave the house, I head south - directly toward a huge hill that means I never get better than 25 mpg during the first five minutes, which kills the mileage for the trip from the get go. On these trips of 27 miles I use nearly 20% of my gas for the trip in the first 2 miles!
And of course, once or twice a tank you get crappy weather, and all the pulsing and gliding in the world won't save you from the wind and rain. At the beginning of this tank I had a miserable 55.8 mpg displayed (so probably 53-54 mpg in real life) over my longer distance commute in a delightful little bout of wind and rain Mother Nature had sent our way.
Trip o' the week
I loved this trip. Yes, I've gotten and can get better mileage on other trips, like the short trips where I just glide and EV most of the time, but this one is the most satisfying, since it's not at all pure pulse and glide land - half the trip is too fast for gliding anyway. There are hard accelerations from 0 to 50 mph, hills to climb from a standstill, some 2400+ RPM spots (pedal to the metal! well, not really, but maximum desirable warp, let's say) and after all that, the dreaded 21 stop lights.
The previous trip record for this particular route by the Prius display was 73.3 mpg. I knew I was likely going to break it right from the start. My coolant was still warm from the drive over, so I got into stage 3 very quickly and was able to glide/EV within a couple minutes of starting up. I waved a tailgating wench around me at a stop sign (no accusations of the Prius holding up traffic - I was already going 10 mph over the speed limit leading up to it), and warp neutraled it down a slight hill. At the next stop sign I did my new favorite routine, which is forcing the gas engine on to get to stage 4. After the engine turned off, on I went.
At the end of a road where I usually end up with mpg in the 60s, I was greeted with this:
Nice! The mileage wasn't going to stay there for long, since just after taking the picture, I had to accelerate from 0-50 mph quickly, and uphill. Soon followed another 0-50 acceleration (I had more time on this one and went EV until 20 mph). As soon as I'm up to speed, there's this great slight uphill that I can maintain 50 mph on getting 50 mpg. All the other cars on the incline around me were surely getting about 20 mpg or worse at that point - which is why every car should have an mpg display, but I digress :-)
Warp stealth, hill, warp stealth, hill, warp stealth, bridge, warp stealth, some burn and gliding as speed limit goes down to 40 mph. I slow to a stop to pay a toll - record mpg as of this point in the trip, nice!
Then 4 to 38 mph acceleration up a bridge, the killer - 2500 RPM to keep speed, then I was able to ease up to 2000 RPM somehow for the upper half, losing speed slightly.
After the downside of the bridge, I'm back to the 21 stoplight part of my drive. I remembered from the record in February that I got very lucky with all green lights, and realized that they would be the deciding factor. Things were going OK until one spot where I needed the ICE for safety where I would normally glide, and then got stuck at a complete stop at the worst light of the entire commute. It's halfway up a relatively steep slope, and I'm the first one in line, meaning a brisk acceleration will be needed uphill. I climb the hill at the green light, and try not to shudder seeing the numbers - 4 mpg, 5 mpg, 6 mpg (did you even know a Prius could get that low?? :-D). It shaved a ton of the average, and I was now slightly below where I had been the last time at this point.
I managed to scoot through the second to worst light (before an uphill) while it was yellow, salvaging the trip, and while I had to slow at other ones, only got completely stopped at one more.
Toward the end of the trip I went to town using EV where I would normally need the ICE, and it worked. Barely beat the record. 73.8 mpg display, Scanguage a more realistic 71.1.
The awesome part is seeing the improvement you've made hypermiling. I got stopped at two more stoplights than the last time, including the huge uphill one, and still managed to beat the record. Very happy!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Fill-up, Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I discovered that my last fill-up was a partial fill-up due to the second generation Prius bladder system, so I've averaged the last two tanks together. It's a little sad, since you always want to see what your actual mileage was, but the average is what counts in the end. This tank had some amazing mileage, too (pictures forthcoming), which means the last one was a lot crappier than I thought! Mild disappointment.
Last week's:
391.6 miles
6.115 gallons
$3.439/gallon
and today's:
451.4 miles
7.882 gallons
$3.539/gallon
is 843.0 miles with 13.997 gallons.
60.23 mpg
3.91 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I drove a lot more than I normally do this week, which I didn't like. Now I know what most people feel like fueling up every five days (it's terrible!). Luckily most of that was for a good cause, since one day I probably drove 50 miles testing acceleration, and another day drove toward Boston to meet Hobbit for a hands-on highway mileage class, probably adding 150 miles or so to my odometer. More on the Hobbit meeting soon, by the way...
The worst part is using all that fuel. I might seek out public transportation when it fits my schedule for the unscheduled night out, though it's difficult given the erratic RIPTA schedule and sparse pickup locations. I should also see if when I'm heading out I could give a ride to a rideseeker. I think I would need just one passenger to beat a Rhode Island bus' mpg per passenger!
Last week's:
391.6 miles
6.115 gallons
$3.439/gallon
and today's:
451.4 miles
7.882 gallons
$3.539/gallon
is 843.0 miles with 13.997 gallons.
60.23 mpg
3.91 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
I drove a lot more than I normally do this week, which I didn't like. Now I know what most people feel like fueling up every five days (it's terrible!). Luckily most of that was for a good cause, since one day I probably drove 50 miles testing acceleration, and another day drove toward Boston to meet Hobbit for a hands-on highway mileage class, probably adding 150 miles or so to my odometer. More on the Hobbit meeting soon, by the way...
The worst part is using all that fuel. I might seek out public transportation when it fits my schedule for the unscheduled night out, though it's difficult given the erratic RIPTA schedule and sparse pickup locations. I should also see if when I'm heading out I could give a ride to a rideseeker. I think I would need just one passenger to beat a Rhode Island bus' mpg per passenger!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Fill-up, Friday, March 25, 2011
EDIT: This was a partial fill-up due to a pesky, contracted Prius bladder. See this post for the real details.
391.6 miles
6.115 gallons
$3.439/gallon
64.04 mpg
3.67 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
A good week and a half of driving. Nothing too special, no crazy drives that knocked this out of the park or brought down the average, just consistent drives right in the 60s.
Prius display read 63.8 mpg. Most people report an overestimate, but so far, compared to the actual fill-up and now my Scangauge readings, it looks like mine seems to be fairly accurate.
I wanted to fill-up since a. there's another gas sale Friday in my town, so on either Tuesday or Friday now I can get discounted gas prices, and b. with the new Scangauge, I wanted to compare the Scangauge's mpg reading to the Prius' mpg reading to my calculated mpg readings to see how close they are. Also, to calibrate the Scangauge to give the most accurate readings, you need a couple tanks in there. Rather than go 500 or 600 miles just to prove I can, I figure I should be nice to the fuel pump and just give Wentworth a little gas (I maybe could have worded that better) whenever convenient.
I did start using some more electric-only driving, but not much. As I discovered in my last post, especially at slower speeds, you can maintain or just about maintain speed with a marginal increase in voltage from the traction battery. For the same or less energy as warp stealth* I can prolong engine-off glides longer without being a huge draw on the battery.
*a low energy highway mode for you non-Prius owners. It can be used over 42 mph in model years 2004-2009 and over 46 mph in 2010-present Prii, maintaining speed on slight downhills at about 900 rpm with complete fuel cut for important fuel economy increases.
391.6 miles
6.115 gallons
$3.439/gallon
64.04 mpg
3.67 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
A good week and a half of driving. Nothing too special, no crazy drives that knocked this out of the park or brought down the average, just consistent drives right in the 60s.
Prius display read 63.8 mpg. Most people report an overestimate, but so far, compared to the actual fill-up and now my Scangauge readings, it looks like mine seems to be fairly accurate.
I wanted to fill-up since a. there's another gas sale Friday in my town, so on either Tuesday or Friday now I can get discounted gas prices, and b. with the new Scangauge, I wanted to compare the Scangauge's mpg reading to the Prius' mpg reading to my calculated mpg readings to see how close they are. Also, to calibrate the Scangauge to give the most accurate readings, you need a couple tanks in there. Rather than go 500 or 600 miles just to prove I can, I figure I should be nice to the fuel pump and just give Wentworth a little gas (I maybe could have worded that better) whenever convenient.
I did start using some more electric-only driving, but not much. As I discovered in my last post, especially at slower speeds, you can maintain or just about maintain speed with a marginal increase in voltage from the traction battery. For the same or less energy as warp stealth* I can prolong engine-off glides longer without being a huge draw on the battery.
*a low energy highway mode for you non-Prius owners. It can be used over 42 mph in model years 2004-2009 and over 46 mph in 2010-present Prii, maintaining speed on slight downhills at about 900 rpm with complete fuel cut for important fuel economy increases.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, March 15, 2011
463.0 miles
7.652 gallons
$3.439/gallon
60.51 mpg
3.89 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Around $26 for 463 miles of driving. Found that the local BP station drops their prices dramatically every Tuesday, so looks like that's the new fill-up spot.
I was a little surprised that I got over 60 mpg, since I had my usual short trips for clients, as well as one miserable day of rain and wind netting me around 56 mpg for a trip over which I can usually get around 65 mpg.
I also took a wrong turn on the way home from the airport today, and accidentally spent most of the trip home on the highway. Bad news: 58.7 mpg over 68 miles. Good news (besides getting home a little earlier): recalling that I was around 53 mpg when I took the exit for the slower roads at 46.4 miles into the trip, I've calculated that I got 76 mpg over the last 21.6 miles.
This last bit was awesome to see since it was 36°F, but especially because I used a bit of advice I stumbled upon in one of Wayne Gerdes' comments on a cleanmpg.com post about hypermiling the Prius. **Prius-specific driving info** Someone had asked him how on earth he got the display to read 99.9 mpg for a trip with numerous stoplights and stop signs (just like mine tonight...). He said he would accelerate to 15 or 17 mph using EV mode, then continue to pulse generally keeping his instant mpg at about 1.2 times current mph until kicking the engine off for a glide. Thus, at 20 mph when the engine has just lit, you want instant mpg to read 24 mpg, and so on. This obviously isn't reasonable in traffic, since EV accelerates obnoxiously slow, but on a night like tonight with empty roads, it was worth a try, and paid off. There were stoplights galore - it really is an engineering marvel, this little bundle of steel and electronics.
7.652 gallons
$3.439/gallon
60.51 mpg
3.89 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Around $26 for 463 miles of driving. Found that the local BP station drops their prices dramatically every Tuesday, so looks like that's the new fill-up spot.
I was a little surprised that I got over 60 mpg, since I had my usual short trips for clients, as well as one miserable day of rain and wind netting me around 56 mpg for a trip over which I can usually get around 65 mpg.
I also took a wrong turn on the way home from the airport today, and accidentally spent most of the trip home on the highway. Bad news: 58.7 mpg over 68 miles. Good news (besides getting home a little earlier): recalling that I was around 53 mpg when I took the exit for the slower roads at 46.4 miles into the trip, I've calculated that I got 76 mpg over the last 21.6 miles.
This last bit was awesome to see since it was 36°F, but especially because I used a bit of advice I stumbled upon in one of Wayne Gerdes' comments on a cleanmpg.com post about hypermiling the Prius. **Prius-specific driving info** Someone had asked him how on earth he got the display to read 99.9 mpg for a trip with numerous stoplights and stop signs (just like mine tonight...). He said he would accelerate to 15 or 17 mph using EV mode, then continue to pulse generally keeping his instant mpg at about 1.2 times current mph until kicking the engine off for a glide. Thus, at 20 mph when the engine has just lit, you want instant mpg to read 24 mpg, and so on. This obviously isn't reasonable in traffic, since EV accelerates obnoxiously slow, but on a night like tonight with empty roads, it was worth a try, and paid off. There were stoplights galore - it really is an engineering marvel, this little bundle of steel and electronics.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, March 1, 2011
392.9 miles
7.126 gallons
$3.299/gallon
55.14 mpg
4.27 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
With the recent Middle Eastern-instigated spike in oil, you might notice that I fill up more on Tuesdays, when I happen to be across the border in Massachusetts, aka Magical Land of Lower Gas Prices. I realize many folks don't have extra money to spend on gas, but in an imaginary world where people wouldn't have to choose between gas or food, I'd be happy with gas prices continuing to rise, it would be nice for all of us as a hint to use less energy. But I digress...
A relatively disappointing tank, but largely due to circumstances beyond my control. In fact, it's not the tank, really, since that was good for the conditions, but more the individual trips, and the feeling of constantly seeing lower mileage on every single one of them compared to the recent past. I had several highway trips that I never usually take that brought down the mileage quite a bit, seeing mileage as low as 50.1 mpg on the display for some of the shorter trips (yeah, I know, that sounds...whatever, it's low for me!). I also had some torrential downpours and winds (gusts of 40 mph), and a trip of freshly fallen untreated snow and slush, that I managed to get through with 58.7 mpg over 38 miles.
A little trip to New York revealed a wonderful fleet of NYPD Prii.
Now if only we could get around the warm-up in the first five minutes...
7.126 gallons
$3.299/gallon
55.14 mpg
4.27 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
With the recent Middle Eastern-instigated spike in oil, you might notice that I fill up more on Tuesdays, when I happen to be across the border in Massachusetts, aka Magical Land of Lower Gas Prices. I realize many folks don't have extra money to spend on gas, but in an imaginary world where people wouldn't have to choose between gas or food, I'd be happy with gas prices continuing to rise, it would be nice for all of us as a hint to use less energy. But I digress...
A relatively disappointing tank, but largely due to circumstances beyond my control. In fact, it's not the tank, really, since that was good for the conditions, but more the individual trips, and the feeling of constantly seeing lower mileage on every single one of them compared to the recent past. I had several highway trips that I never usually take that brought down the mileage quite a bit, seeing mileage as low as 50.1 mpg on the display for some of the shorter trips (yeah, I know, that sounds...whatever, it's low for me!). I also had some torrential downpours and winds (gusts of 40 mph), and a trip of freshly fallen untreated snow and slush, that I managed to get through with 58.7 mpg over 38 miles.
A little trip to New York revealed a wonderful fleet of NYPD Prii.
Now if only we could get around the warm-up in the first five minutes...
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, February 22, 2011
410.2 miles
6.309 gallons
$3.169/gallon
65.02 mpg
3.62 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Driving is on sale, only $19.99 for 410 miles!
Wonderful results, though the next fillup will reveal whether the bladder was contracted (this is not a joke...). You see, on Generation II Prii like Wentworth (model years 2004-2009) there is a gas bladder which expands and contracts with the gas volume found inside the car. It does this so that it can keep the overall volume of the tank down to prevent fuel evaporation, since those vapors can leave the tank during refueling, thus wasting gas, your money, and of course slightly harming the environment. If the bladder does not fully expand during fuel up, then you will pump fewer gallons until it's "full", and the math will give you a higher mpg than reality. It all works out over multiple tanks, of course, so no worries, it's all about the overall average.
That being said, it's possible this was my actual mileage, with almost 10% of the tank being those 37 miles at 80.9 mpg displayed, and a couple trips up in the 70s, plus a whole bunch in the mid 60 mpgs. Arguments for the gas bladder not being fully expanded, though, would be the couple trips I tried on the highway (see below), where I got mid to high 50 mpgs.
Time will tell...now for some tank pictures. (EDIT: The fill-up after this one confirmed that the 65 mpg number was real!)
Wanted to experiment with highway driving. 55.5 mpg over 26 miles. Although not bad for any car in 23°F, I'll need more practice. Hobbit is able to find a surprisingly fast sweet spot and gets 70 mpgs on the highway. You can see on mine most of the time it hanging barely over 50 mpg, just at the end since it was late and there were no cars on the road I used some nice hypermiling for last 10 minutes of 100+ mpg. One other highway trip on this tank (this route but in reverse) showed 58.5 mpg.
Thing is, I'll still try to avoid highway driving. This ride below is the same departure point and final destination as above, but is 6 miles or so shorter with mpg shown at 69.7 mpg. You can guess which route I'll take regularly...
71.7 mpg over 27 miles. Same route as the 73.3 mpg from earlier in the week.
6.309 gallons
$3.169/gallon
65.02 mpg
3.62 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
Driving is on sale, only $19.99 for 410 miles!
Wonderful results, though the next fillup will reveal whether the bladder was contracted (this is not a joke...). You see, on Generation II Prii like Wentworth (model years 2004-2009) there is a gas bladder which expands and contracts with the gas volume found inside the car. It does this so that it can keep the overall volume of the tank down to prevent fuel evaporation, since those vapors can leave the tank during refueling, thus wasting gas, your money, and of course slightly harming the environment. If the bladder does not fully expand during fuel up, then you will pump fewer gallons until it's "full", and the math will give you a higher mpg than reality. It all works out over multiple tanks, of course, so no worries, it's all about the overall average.
That being said, it's possible this was my actual mileage, with almost 10% of the tank being those 37 miles at 80.9 mpg displayed, and a couple trips up in the 70s, plus a whole bunch in the mid 60 mpgs. Arguments for the gas bladder not being fully expanded, though, would be the couple trips I tried on the highway (see below), where I got mid to high 50 mpgs.
Time will tell...now for some tank pictures. (EDIT: The fill-up after this one confirmed that the 65 mpg number was real!)
Wanted to experiment with highway driving. 55.5 mpg over 26 miles. Although not bad for any car in 23°F, I'll need more practice. Hobbit is able to find a surprisingly fast sweet spot and gets 70 mpgs on the highway. You can see on mine most of the time it hanging barely over 50 mpg, just at the end since it was late and there were no cars on the road I used some nice hypermiling for last 10 minutes of 100+ mpg. One other highway trip on this tank (this route but in reverse) showed 58.5 mpg.
Thing is, I'll still try to avoid highway driving. This ride below is the same departure point and final destination as above, but is 6 miles or so shorter with mpg shown at 69.7 mpg. You can guess which route I'll take regularly...
71.7 mpg over 27 miles. Same route as the 73.3 mpg from earlier in the week.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Fill-up, Sunday, February 13, 2011
406.8 miles
6.920 gallons
$3.179/gallon
58.79 mpg
4.00 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
So close!
I decided to go to the gas station a day or so early, since I was in the middle of an engine-off glide with some momentum that I didn't want to waste by slowing down to turn down the side street to go home, and the light was green with no traffic. After all, always best to combine short trips into the end of longer ones.
Just a little shy of the magic 60 mpg, which to be honest, surprised me a little given the single trip readings this tank. Yes, the display on the Prius overestimates slightly, but I had thought most of them were sufficiently above or at 60 to make it work. I imagine that the margin of error increases immensely the higher you go with your mileage. If you use .1 gallons of gas over 10 miles, you get 100 mpg. If you calculate wrong and say .11 gallons over 10 miles, you get 91 mpg. When it's a matter of many miles divided by very small, precise fractions of gallons, there's lots of room for error.
There was one day with wet roads that I remember really killed the mileage (I find wet roads are worse than cold), plus the 19°F trip, and a couple other cold trips where I could not get the ICE to shut down in a timely manner.
On the other hand, there were lots of other good ones which I'm pretty proud of!
In any case it was my best tank, and I'm happy with it given the terrain I have to drive in and the winter temperatures.
61.0 mpg this morning to work over 26 miles in 25°F.
Halfway through the trip home today. I just liked the stairstepping action on the screen!
Good ride home today, 66.1 mpg displayed over 27 miles.
6.920 gallons
$3.179/gallon
58.79 mpg
4.00 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
So close!
I decided to go to the gas station a day or so early, since I was in the middle of an engine-off glide with some momentum that I didn't want to waste by slowing down to turn down the side street to go home, and the light was green with no traffic. After all, always best to combine short trips into the end of longer ones.
Just a little shy of the magic 60 mpg, which to be honest, surprised me a little given the single trip readings this tank. Yes, the display on the Prius overestimates slightly, but I had thought most of them were sufficiently above or at 60 to make it work. I imagine that the margin of error increases immensely the higher you go with your mileage. If you use .1 gallons of gas over 10 miles, you get 100 mpg. If you calculate wrong and say .11 gallons over 10 miles, you get 91 mpg. When it's a matter of many miles divided by very small, precise fractions of gallons, there's lots of room for error.
There was one day with wet roads that I remember really killed the mileage (I find wet roads are worse than cold), plus the 19°F trip, and a couple other cold trips where I could not get the ICE to shut down in a timely manner.
On the other hand, there were lots of other good ones which I'm pretty proud of!
In any case it was my best tank, and I'm happy with it given the terrain I have to drive in and the winter temperatures.
61.0 mpg this morning to work over 26 miles in 25°F.
Halfway through the trip home today. I just liked the stairstepping action on the screen!
Good ride home today, 66.1 mpg displayed over 27 miles.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Fill-up, Friday, February 4, 2011
376.7 miles
6.788 gallons
$3.179/gallon
55.5 mpg
4.24 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
This tank was showing some excellent results with most rides in the low to mid 60s. The problem is that just a few bad rides can really knock it down. I had two in particular, and a third to a lesser degree, that were huge mileage droppers due to cold, but in particular moist weather, which seems to have a severe negative effect on the timely shutting down of the ICE (internal combustion engine), which is crucial in the Prius for higher mileage.
In any event, here are some snapshots from this past tank. It's important to note that the display screen can vary from about 2 mpg on average from reality, sometimes more. I always hand calculate at the end, so the 55.5 mpg you see at the top is from the gallons put in and the miles driven, not from the inaccurate display screen. I'm pretty confident that with a stretch of drier weather and temperatures higher than freezing that I'll have a nice crack at a 60mpg/3.92 L/100km tank (ok, 400 miles or so, I don't like to get close to empty :-D) sometime soon, hilly driving be damned!
6.788 gallons
$3.179/gallon
55.5 mpg
4.24 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
This tank was showing some excellent results with most rides in the low to mid 60s. The problem is that just a few bad rides can really knock it down. I had two in particular, and a third to a lesser degree, that were huge mileage droppers due to cold, but in particular moist weather, which seems to have a severe negative effect on the timely shutting down of the ICE (internal combustion engine), which is crucial in the Prius for higher mileage.
In any event, here are some snapshots from this past tank. It's important to note that the display screen can vary from about 2 mpg on average from reality, sometimes more. I always hand calculate at the end, so the 55.5 mpg you see at the top is from the gallons put in and the miles driven, not from the inaccurate display screen. I'm pretty confident that with a stretch of drier weather and temperatures higher than freezing that I'll have a nice crack at a 60mpg/3.92 L/100km tank (ok, 400 miles or so, I don't like to get close to empty :-D) sometime soon, hilly driving be damned!
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