BailOut
03-15-2007, 06:19 PM
Hello all,
I suppose this should have been my first post but I couldn't help myself. ;)
The Green Bug bit me about a year ago and I've been making all kinds of changes since then - and dragging my wife along for the ride - both on and off the road.
We had planned on buying a Prius this Winter but Toyota's announcement last Fall of the PHEV Prius for the 2009 model year redirected me into holding off my purchase until then. I didn't want to be just 2 years into a 5-year loan when my vehicle becomes rather obsolete.
I then had the thought of creating my own EV conversion (which would really be a boon in the Reno area since all of the power I pull off the grid comes from local geothermal taps) but after a lot of research and working with the great folks at EV of America I had to concede that I was getting in over my head and that, due to a lack of experience, was not capable of working with things like high voltages.
We still needed something to at least hold us over until 2009 and after a lot of reading and research I decided on the Toyota Yaris. We have always loved Toyota's reliability, safety and innovation and the Yaris offers the highest non-hybrid MPG of all 2007 models, it's SULEV-2 and it only cost me $12,275 with the cold weather and convenience packages.
I learned on the first tank of fuel that I could beat the EPA's estimate even before they lowered the numbers recently, and without ever having tried to hypermile before. Hell, I didn't even know the term until I read about it on PriusChat last Fall.
I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to hypermile due to 2 things:
1) My daily commute, which I will detail in the appropriate forum, climbs from 4,500ft in Reno up to 8,900ft and then drops back down to 6,300ft at Lake Tahoe over the course of 27.2 miles. The road itself (Mt. Rose - State Highway 431) often has snow and ice and temperatures well below freezing in the Winter and rain in the Fall, and it can experience high winds at some points at any time.
2) I'm not willing to be as zealous as some folks can be about hypermiling. I have the utmost respect for you folks that are getting extreme MPG ratings and what you can do with a car but Mt. Rose is a dangerous highway all by itself on the best day. Throw in just a few tourists and/or a touch of inclement conditions and it's a circus. I'm not willing to do anything to jeopardize my own safety - or anyone else's - to gain a few more MPG, so things like the "Turn of Death" are out. That still leaves a lot of room for MPG improvement, though.
One of the things I learned about on my second tank of fuel was the DFCO (Deceleration Fuel Cutoff) feature that the 1NZ-FE engine shares with many other fuel-injected engines, and since then I've been experimenting with how to get the maximum advantage out of it. I haven't received my ScanGauge II yet but I already posted about my DFCO usage on Yaris World (http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4248), and despite some initial snake-oil-style controversy it's catching on. Another Yaris owner from Yaris World that tracks mileage here and also tries to maximize DFCO is "Ah Yum" (o/ Ah!).
(It's worth mentioning that DFCO is not listed in the "Techniques" on the Add Tanks screen.)
I'm on my 4th tank of fuel so far and heading for 47 MPG (crossing my fingers as there's a cold front coming that may screw me up), which I'm rather happy about. :)
In addition to the vehicular energy savings I've been messing around at home and at work as well. Swapping all bulbs for CFL's, hot water insulation jackets, instant hot water dispensers, re-caulking the windows, getting into the recycling programs as deeply as one can, getting little flip-out solar panels for charging our phones, Palm and Shuffle, etc. I also have the goal of a 6kWh solar array at the house and hope that I can get that going this year.
I look forward to learning from and sharing with all of you here. :Banane04:
I suppose this should have been my first post but I couldn't help myself. ;)
The Green Bug bit me about a year ago and I've been making all kinds of changes since then - and dragging my wife along for the ride - both on and off the road.
We had planned on buying a Prius this Winter but Toyota's announcement last Fall of the PHEV Prius for the 2009 model year redirected me into holding off my purchase until then. I didn't want to be just 2 years into a 5-year loan when my vehicle becomes rather obsolete.
I then had the thought of creating my own EV conversion (which would really be a boon in the Reno area since all of the power I pull off the grid comes from local geothermal taps) but after a lot of research and working with the great folks at EV of America I had to concede that I was getting in over my head and that, due to a lack of experience, was not capable of working with things like high voltages.
We still needed something to at least hold us over until 2009 and after a lot of reading and research I decided on the Toyota Yaris. We have always loved Toyota's reliability, safety and innovation and the Yaris offers the highest non-hybrid MPG of all 2007 models, it's SULEV-2 and it only cost me $12,275 with the cold weather and convenience packages.
I learned on the first tank of fuel that I could beat the EPA's estimate even before they lowered the numbers recently, and without ever having tried to hypermile before. Hell, I didn't even know the term until I read about it on PriusChat last Fall.
I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to hypermile due to 2 things:
1) My daily commute, which I will detail in the appropriate forum, climbs from 4,500ft in Reno up to 8,900ft and then drops back down to 6,300ft at Lake Tahoe over the course of 27.2 miles. The road itself (Mt. Rose - State Highway 431) often has snow and ice and temperatures well below freezing in the Winter and rain in the Fall, and it can experience high winds at some points at any time.
2) I'm not willing to be as zealous as some folks can be about hypermiling. I have the utmost respect for you folks that are getting extreme MPG ratings and what you can do with a car but Mt. Rose is a dangerous highway all by itself on the best day. Throw in just a few tourists and/or a touch of inclement conditions and it's a circus. I'm not willing to do anything to jeopardize my own safety - or anyone else's - to gain a few more MPG, so things like the "Turn of Death" are out. That still leaves a lot of room for MPG improvement, though.
One of the things I learned about on my second tank of fuel was the DFCO (Deceleration Fuel Cutoff) feature that the 1NZ-FE engine shares with many other fuel-injected engines, and since then I've been experimenting with how to get the maximum advantage out of it. I haven't received my ScanGauge II yet but I already posted about my DFCO usage on Yaris World (http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4248), and despite some initial snake-oil-style controversy it's catching on. Another Yaris owner from Yaris World that tracks mileage here and also tries to maximize DFCO is "Ah Yum" (o/ Ah!).
(It's worth mentioning that DFCO is not listed in the "Techniques" on the Add Tanks screen.)
I'm on my 4th tank of fuel so far and heading for 47 MPG (crossing my fingers as there's a cold front coming that may screw me up), which I'm rather happy about. :)
In addition to the vehicular energy savings I've been messing around at home and at work as well. Swapping all bulbs for CFL's, hot water insulation jackets, instant hot water dispensers, re-caulking the windows, getting into the recycling programs as deeply as one can, getting little flip-out solar panels for charging our phones, Palm and Shuffle, etc. I also have the goal of a 6kWh solar array at the house and hope that I can get that going this year.
I look forward to learning from and sharing with all of you here. :Banane04: