So even after reading the manual I’m still not full understanding this one display screen. I’ve had my Prius for a little over a month. Can someone explain to me in layman’s terms what this means. In the past when I used this screen I would have the bars and at most 1 to 1 ½ cars. But the last few days, when I am on the screen I have been getting this (see picture). Is this a good thing or are the results I was getting before what it should be.
The solid bars are 1-min averages of MPG. The little cars represent blocks of regenerated energy during the same minute. On the right it specifies that one full car = 50wh. The "217" is the projected distance to fill-up, (range).
The bars indicate your average mpg for five minutes. As the bottom numbers indicate time goes from right to left. Each time you have a new 5 min average the bars shift to the left and the new bar appears at the the 0 min spot. The cars indicate the amount of regen power that was developed while braking and returned to the HV battery. The harder the braking the more cars you will see. As indicated on the right each car indicates 50 wh (watt-hours). If you are getting more cars now than before it just means that you have been braking harder than before. I do not know that this is either a good or bad thing, just how hard you are regen braking.
And, in addition to jdcollins5's excellent post: If you press down the display button for a bit whilst looking at this, it'll switch to 1-minute, rather than 5-minute bars. I believe the Cars change from 5 W-hr to 1 W-hr as well. Minor point: A regular, non-hybrid car converts kinetic energy straight to heat. The Prius does regen braking, but loses (I think) around 30% of the energy so recovered in conversion losses (mechanical to electrical, electrical to battery, battery to electrical, electrical to mechanical). Well, recovering 70% of the energy into Go power is certainly better than recovering nothing.. But it would be better not to have to go round and round in the first place, no matter which car one is driving. So, if you're trying to save gas, jackrabbit starts and panic stops are still a no-no, hybrid or no hybrid, and easy acceleration and gliding stops will get you better mileage. Hypermilers live and die by this. But you probably knew that already. And if you drive normally, you'll get that 50 mpg. So: Just Drive the Car (tm). KBeck
I never used this screen! My driving requires me to pay attention to the road instead. I just use HSI tab 100% and I'm a happy camper. The other things are useless to me.
