Well, that got your attention. I've had my Prius for a bit over 3 months now, and I've noticed a steady increase in fuel economy. Last tank was 53.5. So I did a linear regression, and - just for fun - forecast that in by the time my car is five years old, I can "expect" to get 105 mpg. Now, I figure there are 3 things going on: I'm training myself to drive more efficiently The car is breaking in Tires are wearing Of course there are other variables such as weather... Anyway, my question is, how much of this (I've seen an improvement of about 3 mpg in 2,500 miles) is break in - and how many miles does break-in take on a Prius?
From what I understand there is very little/no break in on the car itself. But as tires wear you will get a bit better FE over time. Driver experience is huge in hypermiling.
How many miles does it take to break-in a Prius??? Bwahhahah. Yeah, right! The correct question is "How many miles will it take me to learn how to drive a Prius???" Oooh -- that depends on the person. I've had my Prius for over two years - and I'm still learning stuff... I think it has to do with The Force
I was thinking that people who were on there 2nd or 3rd Prius might see something different. Right now a linear regression on my fueling data is showing an improvement of better than 0.03 mpg/day
Nice, Jason Just so you know, Prius warps time so it seems that trips take longer the longer you drive Prius
It's the driver that gets broken in. The longer you drive the car the better your average gas mileage, especially the first few months. Then more mods you do to make it your own.
Trade up for a PIP today - you'll get 999mpg for the first 10-12 miles of every trip.... and you don't have to wait 5 years. Even 20 mile trips will give you over 110 mpg without even trying in the PIP. I've gotten over 95 mpg on my 28mi commute to work last fall. On evening I took a slower road home- got 119mpg for my 28mi trip. Right now with temps in the 40's I'm getting 84-86mpg on my trip in to work.
How much is kWh in your area? 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In: By The Numbers, Would It Work For You? http://www.bls.gov/ro2/avgengny.pdf How much does electricity cost? What is a kilowatt-hour? (kWh) Since I was curious, even if you drove over 70% in EV, according to the models you spent almost the same if not more for energy not counting the additional $ for the vehicle. (NY is on the expensive side) PIP of course has other benefits like lower emissions, tax credit/deductions, HOV lanes, etc. I am also looking into getting one even though I might just come out even or lose a little compare to the regular Prius.
Electricity here is a flat 21 cents per kWh any time day or night. I only pay when I charge at home once per day. Five days a week I charge up for free at the ChargePoint station across the parking lot adjacent to my job. That's one of the reasons I got the PIP- I knew there was a free charge station a few hundred feet from my job. My EV ratio has been steady since I got the PIP, it's right around 35% every month.
Man, I envy you having the free charging station at work I really wanted the PIP when I was shopping for the Prius, with all the dealership discounts and 2500 tax credit, it was not too much more, but since I am still in the housing market and don't own one yet, I didn't want to get a PIP before I closed. Darn POS commuter Civic that I had was beginning to require some TLC, so I couldn't afford to wait and waste $ on repairs.
There are some things that can be done to the car to improve FE. The driver has to make the biggest adjustment. What one learns on the previous Prius can only be applied generally to the next one (unless the 2 are identical). The learning never ends.
