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Hello everyone.

We picked up our 2008 Toyota Prius last Friday! I've managed to stay remarkably calm for the most part - even though I've been closely following the Prius since before it was sold in the US!

My wife :-( will be the primary driver of the Prius during the week, but she does have a 65-70 mile round-trip commute. Her drive is on predominantly rural roads with a few small towns throw in for good measure. The bulk of her drive is on a 55MPH state highway.

Any suggestions for maximizing FE would be appreciated. I will tell you that I am much more "into the Prius and the FE "game" - but I think she'd appreciate any real-world suggestions for improvements.

Thanks in advance!

Jim

Hi Jim,

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to CleanMPG! :D For Prius-specific tips, start here:

P&G plus Warp Stealth in the Prius II for maximum FE (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/articles/t-pulse-and-glide-plus-warp-stealth-in-the-prius-ii-for-maximum-fe--1224.html)

For general FE/hypermiling tips, check out this article:

Beating the EPA - The Why’s and how to Hypermile. (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/articles/t-beating-the-epa-the-whys-and-how-to-hypermile-1510.html)

It takes a while to absorb all of this and put it into practice, but believe me it works. :D And always feel free to post any specific questions you have.

Welcome, Jim!

After our GreenHybrid dialog, it's great to know you now have your car and are focused on maximizing its FE potential. Just curious: Did you end up buying the extended warranty? ;)

Lots of great high-MPG Prius pilots here to help you out. Get the pulse and glide technique down, and you'll be the MPG king of your local city streets.

Highways are more of a challenge. There seem to be two prevailing and somewhat different philosophies. Using mid-range engine speeds and "warp stealth" as described in Locutus' link is one. Hobbit is a proponent of the technique and has gotten excellent results. Xcel, on the other hand, advocates lower RPM ranges and avoiding WS in almost all circumstances. His results have been impressive as well. His technique and its subsequent refinements have been dubbed "Super Highway Mode," and are described in this additional link (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/toyota/t-new-prius-super-highway-mode-technique-sh-6179.html).

The Super Highway Mode discussion is a bit technical. It assumes you have a device (like a ScanGauge -- a good investment, BTW) to monitor more engine parameters than what the factory display offers. But for those without the instruments, this should help: When your foot's on the go-pedal, maintain enough pressure to keep the ICE on (to avoid pulling from the battery), but keep engine speed as low as possible. With some practice you should be able to find the sweet spot.

How then, you might ask, will you know engine speed without a tach? You won't, of course, but you can use your instantaneous MPG as a (somewhat imperfect) surrogate. Though it's not precise, the higher it is, the lower your RPM is likely to be. Read through the thread and you should get at least some sense of the relationship between iMPG and RPM at various speeds.

Which is best? Dunno. For me, SHM seems to get better results on terrain that's relatively flat. Moderate to steep hills pretty require higher RPMs and ICE-off periods that are part and parcel of the other method. One thing seems clear, however: Stay off the interstate whenever possible. The road less traveled provides more opportunities for high-FE techniques and experimentation.