Found this on the web, very interesting

Taking Prius Fuel Economy To The Extreme



In early August 05, a team of four hybrid car enthusiasts will drive a factory-equipped 2004 Toyota Prius on a 1000 + mile, multi-day marathon in pursuit of obtaining amazing gas mileage from a single tank of gas.



How amazing will the gas mileage be? Well, leading up to the attempt, their shorter practice runs have achieved gas mileage as high as 105 miles per gallon. In their upcoming marathon they hope to maintain 100 + mpg for the entire tank.



They plan to drive a “there and back” route on a 30 - 40 mph, 11 mile stretch of four-lane highway including multiple stop lights and a couple of moderate hills.
This will put the Prius at an operating speed that is optimal for maximum efficiency. They will minimize the use of the Prius’ battery pack and maximize the time spent coasting. All this while obeying local traffic laws.


While some critics have belittled the marathon by saying the results will not be practical and that most people could not duplicate the conditions, I think that argument is missing the point.

The journey is merely an exercise in what is possible. It is not an edict saying all people can or should drive that way. If the team is willing to take time out of their lives for such an attempt, I say, Go for it. Show us what you can do guys.



Prius Goes Nearly 1400 Miles On One Tank Of Gas

They did it!



The weekend of August 5th through the 7th, 2005, a team of hybrid car enthusiasts, took an unmodified Toyota Prius to a record breaking 1397 miles on a single 12.78 gallon tank of gas. That is a whopping 110 miles per gallon! This is an amazing accomplishment considering the EPA estimates for the hybrid is 60 city and 51 highway.

The original four men, Dave Bassage of W. Virginia, Dan Kroushl of Pennsylvania, Wayne Gerdes of Illinois, and Rick Reese of South Carolina, began driving in shifts Friday evening. On Saturday, a fifth man, Bob Barlow of Virginia, was added to ease the load of driving the nearly 1400 miles. They drove back and forth for over 40 hours on an 18 mile stretch of 30 - 40 mph, four-lane highway. The route was selected specifically because it is in range in which the Prius can be operated very efficiently.



The drivers used a technique discovered by Prius enthusiasts called Pulse and Glide. The drivers gently accelerate up to a selected speed (~40 mph) and then slowly coast back down to a selected speed (~30 mph), avoiding use of the battery pack as much as possible.

During some of the shifts, they achieved gas mileage as high as 115 miles per gallon and the overall mileage rarely dropped below 100 miles per gallon. The Prius' display screen is not calibrated to show such a high miles per gallon, so to track results during the marathon, the men had to rely on a piece of hardware that was homebuilt by another hybrid car enthusiast who lives in Japan. They confirmed the results when they filled up at the end of the marathon

It is amazing what people can do if they put their minds to it and how a change in driving technique can make such a huge impact on gas mileage.

Congratulations guys! If you want to learn more about the Pulse and Glide technnique, be sure to check out my article, Pulse And Glide - Getting Maximum Fuel Economy In A Prius.

 

If you notice, all the participants are from this forum.

It was an exciting event!

 

Im sure it was Im not sure if it was ever posted here.. But I thought it was an interesting article for those who may say it cant be done...


tbaleno~

Thanks for the info I I'll do that I never would have thought 110 was possible & that 60-65 would have been really pushing it..!.

 

If you do a search, you might find the posts of the updates that happened during the run.

There are screenshots of the display and summaries of each turn at the wheel.

 

It couldn't hurt to take our collective hat off once again to the "fantastic 4 (plus one)". That was a fantastic effort.

One question, was the Prius really "unmodified"? Didn't it have some sort of Super Information Display from Japan (Ken) or something? The drivetrain was stock except for perhaps high pressure in the tires and maybe some special oil in the engine but it was modified with better electronics, was it not?

 

There were no modifications. The tires were at the end of thier useful life and were inflated to 60 PSI. The SuperMID was installed and has the same functionality the the OEM multifunctional display had. It just gave the capability to display over 100 MPG which gave the drivers enough feedback to continually improve thier technique.

Any 2004-2006 Prius is capable of 110 MPG under the right environmental conditions and driving technique. Near the end we approached 120 MPG. I have seen a theoretical calculation that 135 MPG is possible.

 

???

I guess you are not calling the SuperMID a modification. I specifically remember a conversation with the provider of the SMID in which it was stated that you all could not have achieved the results you did without the SMID or something that affect. You can call it what you want but I'd call SMID an upgrade, improvement or modification from stock.

Searching old posts to prove I'm not crazy.................................

 

NVIROCAR (Dave):

From:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...9788#post19788

 

The addition of a different display screen gives you more data. It does not give you more MPG all by itself. It cannot be considered a "modification" as it didn't change anything. Adding 60 psi to the tires, if that is above the tire's rating ( not Toyota's ) could be considered a "modification".

While the tire psi helps, about 90% of the gains come from driving style.

I can push an advertised 36 MPG Ford Escape to 56 MPG, when I put my mind to it.
All I do is add PSI to the tires ( 48 psi ) and drive better.

-John

 

If you used a Canadian Prius for the run, it could have been completely stock because we measure fuel consumption vs. the US/Japan fuel efficiency display.