Hi Briain,
Quote:
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Originally Posted by BrianMaher
Luckily for me, I can take back roads to/from the office that made for good mileage on my old HCH (50 MPG avg) so the Prius should do really well on the same circuit. The first 1.5 miles of my commute is a 30 MPG zone that is 75% down hill mode and the rest is mostly (75%) flat or small rolling hills. There is one stretch that is 50 MPH but that is only 7 miles out of a 26 mile commute but the rest is anywhere from 25 MPH to 40 MPH. I think that once the Prius gets broken in I should be able to easily beat the numbers I put up on the HCH. |
Good deal. The Prius and HCH have different approaches to hybrid-electric and each has its strengths and weaknesses. I can appreciate the mechanical simplicity of the HCH while admiring the different characteristics of the Prius approach. That is why the 'rules' that work for a Prius may or may not work for an HCH.
One thing I remember from driving in MA are the hills and lots of two-lane roads. We don't have that in Huntsville but I remember someone suggestinig that cruise control in a hilly area works almost like an automatic 'pulse and glide.'
I do not have a Prius II, 04-06, but my understanding is it
may have a simular control law at 42
MPH on keeping the ICE running. Certainly that has been the case with the 01-03 Prius where the ICE apparently must run to prevent MG1 from overspeeding. A tecnical report from Toyota covering the differences indicated the 04-06 Prius MG1 has a higher red-line than the 01-03 models. I just don't know if anyone has used their scanners or other instrumentation with the 04-06 Prius II to determine if there is a minimum speed that requires constant ICE operation.
GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson