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Earlier today our PhilMcneal asked me elsewhere for details on my 'hypermiling' with NHW11 Prius. Here might be the best place to respond.

Look on your mapping programs for 'Steamboat Island Road' NW of Olympia WA. This is a pretty flat road; not much more than 2% grades and 100 foot climbs/descents. I went back and forth for 26 miles, speed at 41 mph or less, and did my best. The calculated screen mpg was 109.6, which according to my long term comparisons to fuel purchases is about 2% optimistic.

All I did was keep the uphill mpg above 25, even if that slowed me. I let the car run away on the downhills. This 2001 Prius has 185/65R14 Nokian i3 tires, inflated to 49/45 psi (sidewall max is 51). I have no doubt that a real hypermiler could ave done much better. But I am satisfied with my work because these wide tires have not favored high mpg since I installed them.

DAS

Amateur? That is a professional performance! Certainly the best by far that I have ever heard of? The NHW11 display goes over 99.9? Can you provide more detail about the route?

Since the prius iFCD tends to drop pretty far as you slow down,
even if you've got your foot locked, how did you deal with that
and still stay > 25 on the uphills? Were they really gentle?
.
That's totally awesome for a classic.
.
_H*

The calculated screen mpg was 109.6, which according to my long term comparisons to fuel purchases is about 2% optimistic.
Hi Tochatihu:

___Holy mackerel, 109 from a Prius I? That is better then Professional level Hypermiling indeed! Excellent job and I hope you can incorporate the technique into your daily routine wherever it can be applied.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

man guys like tochiachu gives me faith on the classic prius again! At first I thought (maybe i'll just wait till the 2nd gen gets cheaper) but with scores like this WHO NEEDS TO WAIT!!!!!

so tochiachu, you forgot to answer my Q, did you use N or was it all in the right foot? YUM YUM 100 mpg is so awesome, and this is CITY RIGHT????!?!?!( of course it has to be!!! i mean its pretty hard to peg 100 mpg on the highway ;)

and out of curiosity you do all your own maintainence work right? Either or congrats on your hypermiling experience, i hope this will encourage you to break even more records! No in fact you could be one of the best classic hypermilers to boot ;)


more details!!! ;) dang it, i really want a classic now haha.

I could provide a profile map of the Steamboat Island Road, but it's pretty boring. Flatter (and shorter) than the Pittsburgh route. No stops, and easy turnarounds at both ends.

I calculated mpg from elapsed miles and average mpg on the display, before and after. This calculation technique is pretty well known I guess, and not too flimsy in this case since about 0.24 gallons of fuel were burned off in the attempt. A pretty fun way to spend 72 cents.

Holding iFCD >= 25 mpg did involve serious slowing on the uphills, but I just let that happen except when something filled the rear view mirror. No use of neutral. Some fiddling with the Graham Davies miniscanner to choose data that might be helpful.

I doubt I can do anything like this with much traffic around, but it was fun to be a bit like youse guys for once. I DIY maint up to but not including inverter coolant changes. Someday when there is a spare accelerator pedal laying around, I hope to install lighter springs in it. That ought to help a bit with the footwork.

DAS

No use of neutral

impressive foot my friend! at least now i know getting deadband in nhw11 is as easy as nhw20 prius!

i hope you will improve your mpg on going to work and back like I have (47 mpg average)

Just to be clear, I can't do that hyper stuff at all consistently. But I now have 280 miles on the current tank, 55.8 mpg on the screen. Most of those miles were on I5 between Olympia and Seattle WA. The point is, I am familiar with my typical under such road conditions and it not be would above 51.

What has changed is the transmission fluid, from type IV (original) to type W; the stuff that the new model Prus comes with. I am cautiously coming to the conclusion that it is saving me some watts from all that churning going on in the transmission. So for NHW11 drivers looking for an edge, think about a transmission fluid change. And track the before and after as carefully as possible.

Another possibility is that I have finally worn enough rubber off the Nokian i3 tires to make them good rollers. I know that they have been holding me back since I installed them 13 k miles ago. However, the uptick was very closely associated with the fluid change.

DAS

PS: The little 109 thing was part of the previous tank so it does not influence these results. But the type W fluid was in for that as well.

I calculated mpg from elapsed miles and average mpg on the display, before and after. This calculation technique is pretty well known I guess, and not too flimsy in this case since about 0.24 gallons of fuel were burned off in the attempt. A pretty fun way to spend 72 cents.Pretty danged impressive run. Way to go!

At Hybridfest, someone maxed out a Prius at 99.9 which was a shame because we never really knew what their actual mileage was. Then someone suggested that if the display were switched to metric you get an accurate mileage reading which, when converted to English, extends beyond the 99.9 limitations.

I know exactly what you mean that you can't do it consistantly in normal traffic but these little displays of "proof of concept" shows beyond any doubt that it CAN be done and is repeatable.