Archives




View Full Version : HS250h - Week One Impressions


kgenaidy
10-24-2009, 09:08 AM
Week one summary is 310 miles driven at 47.1 MPG. Car now has 495 miles on it. Had 2 days of heavy rain that probably brought the mileage down a little. Overall ... very pleased w/the car.

Tire pressure is 51 psi front / 49 psi rear. Firms up the ride and rolls easier.

A scanguage is a must. It really helps to provide information as to what the hybrid system is actually doing instead of guessing. Have the SG set to MPG/RPM/TPS/IGN.

Worst mileage is definitely when cold. It takes about 5 minutes to warm up. My commute is about 1 hour each way.

From a stop in eco mode ... I will usually hold the throttle down just to before the eco light goes off to accelerate. With the traffic ... I don't feel comfortable or safe accelerating slower. My skin just isn't thick enough yet. If no one is behind me ... I'm trying to get the hang of starting in EV mode until about 15 mph and firing off the ICE until getting up to speed. This is definitely a work in process.

There is a definite sweet spot in the HS250h between 31 -39 mph. Backing off the throttle and easing back into it ... it can run off the battery only until load ( TPS > 15) or the battery runs low. I managed to do this once for about 3 miles hitting lights just right.

Want keep the SOC above 3-4 bars ... go below that and the car does recharge and it's much harder to drive for mpg's while this is going on. I was trying to use the EV side only going up grades ... I realized that it might actually be better to fire up the ICE for the grade and save the battery SOC.

I haven't figured out how to get the HS to like 45 mph and get good mpg ... seems that this might be a range where some sort of "transition" is taking place ... so I've backed off to the 38-39 sweet spot for now to up the mpg.

Highway speed at 60 mph provides about 44 mpg. I don't feel safe driving slower w/DFW traffic. Too many idiots driving 70+ mph in the right lane.

There's lots of good information and learning material in the Prius forum. Thanks to everyone who contributes!

brick
10-24-2009, 09:22 AM
Want keep the SOC above 3-4 bars ... go below that and the car does recharge and it's much harder to drive for mpg's while this is going on. I was trying to use the EV side only going up grades ... I realized that it might actually be better to fire up the ICE for the grade and save the battery SOC.

Sounds like you are doing well! Extremely well, actually. I would recommend that you use electric power as sparingly as possible and see if it helps. At low speeds (parking lots, stop&crawl traffic, etc.) it makes sense to keep the ICE shut down because discharge of the battery will be minimal and easy to recoup. But for any kind of real power application you are probably better off getting energy directly from the ICE.

Pulse & glide (P&G) doesn't necessarily mean your driving has to be at odds with traffic! You can use the terrain by pulsing up the hill with the ICE and letting the engine shut down on the back side while you coast and let gravity sustain speed. This is what I try to do, using the HV battery & regenerated energy just to keep the system alive while I coast.



Copyright 2006 Clean MPG, LLC. All Rights Reserved.