You should probably post those questions in the prius forum.

 

Just FYI...
It was 2,343.1 km on August 16th by Teddy_Girl@Akita.
But, another one was 2,349.1 km on September 2nd by Slipper@Osaka.
The latest one is 2,361.2 km on September 17th by Kazu@Tochigi.

Ken@Japan

 

You guys in Japan rock! I didn't know about Slipper or Kazu. Man I wish I could read Japanise so I can hang out in your world.

So others don't have to look it up
Slipper = 1459.66307 miles
Kazu = 1467.18166 miles

Ken, Does Wayne(Xcel) know about these last two?

 

Looking at the chart for the Insight Marathon, most of the laps were significantly below 20 mph. There were several laps that were 15 mph. I did notice the trend that the laps got longer and longer as the days went on. Unless somebody takes the time to actually calculate the numbers, I would say the average speed was about 17 mph.

 

Thank you!
I reported them at PriusChat...
http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=24054&hl=
http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=24799&hl=
I don't know.
Anyway, the Teddy_Girl's result is the most impressive.
Details are...
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1793

The MFD mileage...
Teddy_Girl: 49.1 km/L (115.5 mpg) 47.7L (12.6G)
Slipper: 41.4 km/L (97.4 mpg) 56.7L (15.0G)... special top-off
Kazu: 41.6 km/L (97.9 mpg) 56.8L (15.0G) ... special top-off

Ken@Japan

 

The reason I asked about the speed is knowing the steady-state MPG performance at any given speed allows us to quantify to what extent 'skill' replaced just driving in the 'sweet spot.' For example, I spent a Saturday morning last spring gathering the data for this Prius NHW11 chart:


Knowing the average endurance speed in an NHW20 Prius was ~35 mph, I can look on my chart at 35 mph and see the expected MPG should approach 75 MPG. The Prius mileage team achieved 110 MPG, a 35 MPG advantage.

Now some of those miles came from:
- smoothy, high pressure tires, 60 psi
- Type WS transaxle oil used in NHW20, not Type T in NHW11
- 0W20 engine oil at 3/4 between E and F, not 5W30 at 3/4 between E and F

These mechanical and maintenance differences don't require operator skill and pretty much work 24x7. Missing is any quantification of the effects of each of these changes. But a funny thing happens if the average speed is not 35 mph but say 30 mph.

At an average speed of 30 mph, the Prius MPG difference between last year's test and the chart drops to 10-15 MPG. This is a less impressive improvement and well within the capabilities of the mechanical and maintenance differences.

I do not have MPG vs MPH mapping for speeds under 31 mph. But soon enough, I will and with it, I should be able to find the maximum MPG, steady-state cruise speed of an NHW11 Prius and hopefully document the effects of mechanical and maintenance changes. Then we can quantify "operator skill" versus the base capabilities of the vehicle.

Anyone who goes over 1,000 miles / 1,400 km on a single tank has done good. Exceeding 100 MPG, even half of that for a sustained period of time is good. But without the vehicle performance data, it is really hard to understand what part skill played in the achievement. Worse, without quantifing what different maintenance actions achieve, we don't have a map for others to follow.

Bob Wilson

 

The purpose the Insight Marathon (and this thread) is to demonstrate what is possible and encourage others to improve their fuel economy.

There was a lot of skill (including the use of pulse and glide) in the Insight Marathon, Prius Marathon, Tour del Sol.... I celebrate all of them, not question them as if it was Barry Bond's 715th home run.

 

bwilson4web, Steady state speeds mean nothing as neither vehicle was at steady state. Pulse and glide was used extensively. It is fact that pulse and glide always gives better results than steady speed. This was taught in many drivers ed courses as a way to get better mileage when you are running out of fuel.

Driving in the sweet spot of a car will certainly will help someone get decent mileage. But to get better then decent mileage (like 20% + over epa) you need to pulse and glide in my opinion.

 

Occums razor suggests not reading in anything beyond the obvious, an engineering interest in what is going on and sharing what we know.

Bob Wilson

 

Is that a "rah rah" celebration?

Sorry, I didn't realize asking questions and data sharing are not allowed. Engineering doesn't work that way.

Bob Wilson