Comments on: Toyota Prius Plug-In MPG Challenge’s First Winner Averages 356 MPGe

By: VoltOwner

VoltOwner — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 23:26:00 +0000

Agreed.

Also agree that it would be great to see the data from all the cars on the road.

It would be nice to see if this mileage number is near the maximum, or if it’s just average.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 04:31:00 +0000

Tim
You need to look up the definition of MPGe

By: tmac1

tmac1 — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 01:57:00 +0000

Jon
Agreed

Volt stats.net actually show over 1000 volt drivers whose mpg is well over 100 mpg
I challenge Toyota to show real time data on real life commuters who routinely break 100 mpg.
Don’t get me wrong I have 2005 Prius and a volt and I am all for mor plug in vehicles.
I agree the volt crushes the pip for most drivers, for some PIP would be better but suspect small minority.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 01:34:00 +0000

Prius Seriously beats the Volt? Hundreds of Volt drivers average well over 350 mpg. A 60 mpg day is a bad day as far as my Volts MPG goes. I would have to drive well over 100 miles to get down near 60MPG. A 100 mile trip yields 66MPG in a Volt. Most people drive less than 50 miles a day so that would put most Volt drivers in the multi-hundreds of MPG. Someone above complained about not counting electricity, go ahead and add it i, for me its 2 pennies/mile. My 36 mile commute is about 70 cents in electricity. My coffee costs more than my commute does. The Volt is the most misunderstood car ever. Only a traveling salesman would do better in a Prius. You would have to drive more than 100 miles in a day. If you can charge at work then you would have to drive more than 200 miles per day to make the Prius better than the Volt. These are just the facts and simple math

By: Ivor O'Connor

Ivor O'Connor — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 14:30:00 +0000

It would be more interesting to know the boundary conditions. That is:
1) Actual energy needed to overcome wind and rolling resistance at 90mph and at 5mph.
2) The energy needed in the best, worst, and normal case scenarios to power the mechanisms like battery heaters and creature comforts built into the car.
With the above numbers as honesty guidelines PR campaigns could get much better mileage out of their stunts.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 07:56:00 +0000

Got this from a campaign rep: “Each one is being evaluated by a combination of EV and gas electric driving. The vehicle computer measures the combined fuel consumption of both EV and gas electric hybrid driving modes and expresses it as an average MPG. The winners of the Challenge will be selected based on the highest overall MPG over the course of the 30-day period.”

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 07:55:00 +0000

Got this from a representative of the campaign: “Each one is being evaluated by a combination of EV and gas electric driving. The vehicle computer measures the combined fuel consumption of both EV and gas electric hybrid driving modes and expresses it as an average MPG. The winners of the Challenge will be selected based on the highest overall MPG over the course of the 30-day period.”

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 07:55:00 +0000

“Each one is being evaluated by a combination of EV and gas electric driving. The vehicle computer measures the combined fuel consumption of both EV and gas electric hybrid driving modes and expresses it as an average MPG. The winners of the Challenge will be selected based on the highest overall MPG over the course of the 30-day period.”

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 17:12:00 +0000

You rock!

By: Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 14:11:00 +0000

The vehicle is clearly set up to encourage efficient smooth driving technique (at least if the driver values that). With that power meter, you learn precise measured use of the accelerator. This is quite the opposite of some overpowered ICE vehicles, like the Toyota Tundra, which seems to encourage pulsed acceleration. I think it provides for a smooth ride -others probably think its wimpy. It does have oumph when you need it, you just have to really push on the peddle to get it.

I try to have long even braking, which limits the recharge rate to the battery. This requires careful reading of the traffic conditions and a steady foot.

By: Karen Lee

Karen Lee — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 11:07:00 +0000

Yup! That’s my goal!

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 09:04:00 +0000

Excellent. That’s great to hear! Hope you are able to spread that message to a lot of non-techies.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 09:02:00 +0000

I had some of the same initial reactions. But the challenge has to be fairly simple to serve its purpose — reaching the common citizen. Any thoughts on a better challenge like this?

By: Karen Lee

Karen Lee — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:51:00 +0000

Of course, the challenge is not realistic! It’s not how an average person would drive, especially since the only charging station is at my house and I can only go about 5 mile radius if I want to use only #EV mode! But I can tell you from driving the #EV for last five days, I’ve learned a ton about my normal driving habits on my own car….accelerating, stopping, going under the speed limit, braking, etc…So while it is a marketing/PR campaign, I’ll be talking about the educational aspect of how you should drive no matter what kind of car you have. #EV’s have a long way to go. The technology, affordability, infrastructure and education are all necessary components before people can embrace it completely. But I’m glad I’m getting the experience in the challenge, no matter how unrealistic it might be. The winner of the last wave clearly had an agenda. The others just drove normally, getting the ‘normal’ MPG. I’m already getting the benefit, even if I’m not getting 999MPG….education about what #EV truly is.

By: Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 01:38:00 +0000

The challenge. Its pretty arbitrary. If you have a usage pattern that consists of a lot of ten mile drives, with charging opportunities of a couple of hours to wait, in between, you are in the running -otherwise you need not apply.
I know Toyota is just looking for an anecdotal testimonial for PR purposes “Joe Green gets 999mpg” [If you didn’t use any gas, the car reads 999mpg for the trip].

Love the vehicle. Just not the gee whiz marketing. Hope they are able to increase the battery capacity.

By: Karen Lee

Karen Lee — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:50:00 +0000

Yes, regenerative charge gets added to the total charge so let’s say, you have 10.5 miles left, after your braking, it may go up to 10.7 due to regen charge. I haven’t seen a huge regen charge, enough NOT to charge on the wall. And the car calculates MPGe as well as MPG so you can see both.

By: Karen Lee

Karen Lee — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:47:00 +0000

What do you mean, you “find this more than a little irritating?” Do you mean the challenge or the plug In?

By: Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 00:49:00 +0000

As a plugin owner, I find this more than a little irritating. First I assume this is mielage per gallon of gasoline consumed, the electricty is considered free. So basically if your ONLY use for the vehicle is short trips -they can often be totally electric, you are in the running. If you got to drive beyond the EV range, you don’t have a snowballs chance in the afterworld…

During warmish weather, with a careful driver (no jackrabbit accellerations), its not hard to be 100% electric. If you need to use the defroster even a little bit, sorry Charlie the ICE comes on (you can still do >100 mpg). But if you have to go more than 12-15miles between charges, you will use gasoline.

I have done 60mpg, even without a charged battery, so I think this car seriously beats the Volt.

By: jburt56

jburt56 — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 18:49:00 +0000

1 gallon = 121.32 MJ so they are getting 2.93 miles per MJ.

By: Marion Meads

Marion Meads — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:29:00 +0000

I was wondering as to the method of measuring MPGe in the contest. Does it log all kWH charges including the regenerative braking and total miles driven in EV mode? Is the energy captured from regenerative braking counted as charging the battery, or is it a bonus and not counted, thus boosting the MPGe very high? It explains that the high scorers have frequent stops and go in delivery services, the more you accelerate faster in city traffic, and then coast for regenerative braking, the higher will your accumulated EV miles should be, even if your gas consumption is the worst.

If you accelerate quickly to high speed, then coast for regenerative braking, and drive in EV mode at optimal speed, you’ll boost your EV miles without wall charging. The MPGe should be calculated alongside the gasoline use, they are usually inversely proportional.