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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (21805)	7/13/2010 1:53:47 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86356

I'm sure I can take your word on that. Yes you can. Unless you want to ride around in the auto with my wife (which won't happen). Or you could just look up the numbers. It's rated 51 MPG City 49 MPG highway. But... Techniques of a mileage champion Some Prius owners keep pushing the hybrid mileage envelope to the max. Five of these "hypermileage" enthusiasts recently teamed up and set a record of nearly 110 mpg in a marathon economy run. Hypermileage techniques are not for everyday driving. They have to be practiced in controlled conditions and then become "second nature" because of the attention that must be paid to the dashboard display at first. Here is a description of how Dan Kroushl, one of the marathoners, adapts hypermileage techniques to daily driving in his Prius: "On the highway, I just set cruise control to 55 mph and go. In city driving, during acceleration or maintaining speed uphill, I use the deadband technique. This means no flow to or from the battery while accelerating. I glide (no flow at all, engine is stopped) during mild downhill stretches. I apply the brakes (regenerative) on steeper downhill stretches to keep my speed below 42 mph. "I do this because the motor-generators (MGs) reach their maximum rpm at about 42 mph, which forces the engine to run to prevent damage to the MGs. So at speeds above 42, the engine must run, which creates added friction. This must be compensated for to maintain speed, causing a reduction in fuel economy. "When coming to a stop I coast (foot off the accelerator) until the stop. While braking and coasting, a small amount of energy is regenerated to maintain the battery level. I use this technique on my daily commute which is 50% highway at 55 mph and 50% city at 35 mph. Depending on environmental variables, during the summer my fuel economy ranges from 67 to 72 mpg."