I haven't found the EV Glide practical because too much speed bleeds off while I take my foot off the accelerator, wait for the MPG meter to get to 100+ and then gently pushing the accelerator to get to 1-3 assist bars. This whole process just takes way too long too.

Lately, I've been doing something different that has yielded better results.

I get to just above my target speed and then lighten up on the accelerator until the MPG meter gets to around 75. I can get to this point a lot faster than EV Glide and the speed doesn't bleed nearly as fast.

Now I get low 50s in 20 degree weather, on the way to work. I was getting mid-40s.

 

Thats what I have been doing all this time though when a good EV opportunity
such as downhill presents itself I go for it.

 

I think this is called "driving with load" or DWL, and I agree it's much easier to attain and maintain for long periods. Basically if I can't keep the instantaneous display at 100mpg, I want to keep it at least in upper half (over 50 zone).

On level roads I've found a small release of the gas pedal then a small tap, then frequently repeating that release-and-tap will keep the instantaneous needle floating somewhere in that upper zone. Downhill of course makes EV glide easy, so like PCK I always take advantage of it.

But then on some days the instantaneous needle is just all over the place--it dances around on the right a little but just will NOT stay, or plunges back down to the left. I take my foot off the gas and all that happens is I slow down....grrrr.

 

that's what I do also. I called this (with myself), "short glide" and I keep the Gauge around 75% almost all the time. results are around 55 mpg real (calculated at the pump). The long glides are impossible to do in Real World Socal Metro Areas where 70+ is the average speed and Carpool speed is about 75.

Not to mention that I have a life and I'm not part of any experiment

 

I also beginning to find that driving pattern more efficient with my HCH.

I realise that when coasting with the IMPG pegs at 100 might not be the best way to get good result.

I think that when we do what describe here by moosh, set the engine in it's middle state of combustion. (only one spark plug by cylinder)

 

I've never been able to go *up* a hill without the meter dropping to about 25-35 mpg (even when I let my speed drop). How do you handle those?

 

Oh, that's easy. Just coast uphill.

 

There's no way around it sub, so instead I went around the hill.... There is a hill on the way to my house that has a STEEP incline. So I go down on in the way to school, and around it on the way back. Saves gas that way, and helps out my avg mpg.

 

I have a hill like that too - the problem is, it's 5.0 miles to go over it, 7.8 to go around it, and the math doesn't work out in favor of the longer route as far as the total amount of gas used. Too bad, that - at least as far as my lmpg is concerned

 

Another reason I like the 75+ MPG technique is that there's enough battery power for auto stop to engage. If the battery only shows 4 bars, after some EV Glide, the auto stop won't start and my MPGs melt away at a stop light.