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I've had my HCHII for just about a month now and am half way through my second tank of gas. I read the article about hypermiling the HCH and have been using some of those techniques and I keep my eye on the instantaneous MPG gauge all the time. Everybody says I drive like a grandma now, but that's fine by me. I haven't exceeded the speed limit on the highway and I'm using a light foot on the gas, but I'm finding it difficult to keep my average MPG above 44. My commute is almost 20miles each way, half highway, half street, and I live in southern California, so it never gets too cold. I also bumped the PSI in my tires to 44. The dealer had it at 36, but my FE hasn't increased since adding more air, just a harsher ride.

I've read all the tips and tricks I could find on the web, so I'm hoping that you guys can help me out here? A lot of people post about how easy it is to get FE in the high 40's to 50mpg, but it seems tough to me. Are they any other articles/websites I should read? Or maybe I'm just missing something? I am a newbie to hybrid driving, but I did all my research and I'm trying hard to get better gas mileage.

Thanks!!

Hi, Trip221! I'm glad you stopped in to join us. :)

What is the terrain like where you are driving? What are the speed limits? Do you have lights or stop signs or some mix in the city driving you do? What numbers do you see on the instantaneous readout? Do they come anywhere close to the numbers listed in TaraBell's excellent article?

Let us know a bit more about your driving circumstances and we'll be plenty happy to help you wring more miles out of your new HCHII!

Nice car, by the way. ;)

Thanks. The terrain is pretty much flat for my normal driving. There are a bunch of lights on the first half of my commute on the side streets. Speed limit is about 40 on the surface streets and 65 on the highway.

I was on the freeway this morning and set the cruise control at 65mph. The instantaneous mpg readout was about 50mpg. Shouldn't it be higher on flat ground? I was able to get it to do the all-electric mode for a short distance last night at about 30mph and was pretty excited about that. I'll have to read Tarabell's article again to see how my numbers match up.

I want to hit a per-tank average of 50mpg and with this car it should be possible!

Thanks

Flat can be good, but rolling hills can actually help.

How many are "a bunch" of lights? Are you able to time them? The goal of timing a light is to avoid coming to a full stop by modulating your speed such that your arrival coincides with a change to green so that you can continue through. This can be a complex undertaking -- you'll have to be very aware of traffic patterns and willing to slow down well ahead of a light -- sometimes while it is still green because you know that you'll be unable to get through it before it changes to red.

65mph is pretty fast. Even dropping to 60mph should net you some nice improvements. 55mph is better yet. How much traffic is out there? If it tends to clump you can lower your average speed by going slower when a gap opens up, then speeding up a bit when another clump reaches you.

Try driving without the cruise control to see if the terrain really is flat. Once you start driving for extreme FE you'll begin to notice that terrain you thought was flat really isn't. ;) Work on DWL (Driving With Load) to maximize efficiency over any hills. A good approximation is simply locking your foot in one position against the gas pedal so that you will slow down going up hill and speed up going downhill.

Please do re-read Tarabell's article. There is so much in there! The pedal in your vehicle is exquisitely sensitive to pressure and you should find that with some practice that you are able to back off the pedal more than you thought possible and still maintain your speed. She recommends trying this out (somewhere excluded to start with!!!) using just a bare or sock covered foot. You'll be able to exercise finer grained control over the pedal that way. I found the same to be true in an HCHI I drove not long ago.

Pick a secluded area and see if you can't match Tarabell's numbers at the same speeds. It will give you confidence that you do have something to work with and it will also help you become more familiar with what the car does best and how it likes to be treated.

I think that with the routes you have described it should be possible to pull your average over 50mpg if you are willing to put some effort into it.

Don't forget also that your car is still very new and it will take a while for the engine to "break in" a bit. You should see a steady improvement in mileage throughout the break in period if you are gentle with it.

Give the above suggestions a try and let us know how it goes!

Hi Trip,

The Cruise Control is killing your FE. It trys to maintain the set speed with no regard to FE. Try driving without using the cruise. It is like a game and you'll get better with more practice.

JD