LakeDude,

Thanks for making and sharing the video, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The HCH boots up *much* quicker than the 2G Prius, so I couldn't use this technique in my car.

I would enjoy seeing both cars driving your route to compare results. I usually end up with low to mid 60's in easy city/country driving like your route, so I am really impressed with your results -- even with the somewhat extreme ignition cycling, since I have always been under the impression that the Prius does better in city driving than the HCH.

Hi EricGo:

___In regards to IMA starts, they are the most gentle startup procedure one could imagine. Normally, Autostop kicks in at around 19 mph (Insight for sure and I believe the HCH given Lakedude’s commentary). All you are doing with a forced Autostop is engaging it at a higher speed. You can also use it when for the few times the Autostop logic is not made up at a light, sign, heavy traffic etc. Extreme, no, advanced, yes.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

At 9.45 the car was only going 28 mph after a long coast down on fairly flat ground. At that speed 5th gear would be too tall, no?

At 18.03 the car was going almost 40 mph and a taller, earlier restart may indeed be better. Actually I'm thinking 4th because at 40 mph you would not get much regen from 5th before needing to downshift.

Really I'm not that worried about regen becasuse there is a big downhill near the ends of the commute that always fill the battery up from what little use the battery gets. The same thing goes for the return trip home. Both ends of the trip are lower than the middle. In fact you kinda need to empty the batteries a little bit to give that regen somewhere to go.

Hi Lakedude:

___What I am saying is get Regen completely out of the picture by focusing on no assist for maximum FE. It worked to a great advantage over those saying WOT w/ full assist and 1-2-5 type shifting in the Insight forums. I see a bit of this type of posting going on here in regards to the HCH as well and it is to bad because it will not give you the highest FE from a 5-speed hybrid in my personal experience and imho. I didn’t like to see 3rd gear restarts for regen when there should be no need for the slow down or regen at all if possible? If there was no choice, take it but I would use my packs capacity for Forced and regular autostops, not assist.

___5th gear is probably too tall for 28 mph but 4th might do it in the HCH? In the Insight, I would run at 1,000 - 1,100 RPM in 3rd, 4th, or 5th on the flats through my subdivision and around town just above lug and adding absolutely no throttle for maximum FE. If there was any type of 2 + ft. climb over 100 feet + or so, I would have to downshift …

___Give the no-assist method a try as your FE may improve even more and your pack’s longevity will be increased basically to the time the car is junked.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net