How many people force EV mode as often as they can?

As I mentioned in the thread "bad mileage in SF", I always force EV mode whenever possible (anything below 40 mpg). If the speed limit is 45 I will drive 40 just to use EV mode. I also coast or lightly press the gas pedal in order to keep the instant MPG around 60 MPG as long as possible. I'm currently getting 38 MPG (according to MFD) and I have to work at getting it. My commute to work is 12 miles and it's 60% city / 40% highway. Most of my highway commute is up and down hills. Other than driving to work my other driving has mostly been city. And while in this environment I'm using EV mode as much as I can.

I did take a longer freeway ride on Friday to visit my wife for lunch and I was pleasantly surprised how my gas mileage was slowing creeping up. I have no doubt that if I lived in a flat terrain I could get over 40 MPG.

I have a feeling if I drive this car like a "normal" car my gas mileage would be in the high 20's or low 30's.

So how many force EV mode whenever possible? And do you use all the techniques to get maximum your gas mileage?

 

I only force EV in my neighborhood. All other times, I let the car decide what it wants to do, and just drive conservatively. I think if you over force EV mode you will actually decrease your FE.

 

Why do you think this? Is this because the ICE will have to kick in more often to charge the battery? I've noticed that my battery has never dropped more than three bars from full. I coast a lot and take advantage of regenerative braking...

 

tnsig — There's been a lot of discussion about this topic, and whether it truly improves, or can actually worsen, your FE. See the thread "An Unpalatable Fact (with apologies to Al Gore!)."

Stan

 

Stupid question, how do you "force" EV mode?

 

Instead of driving at a steady speed with whatever gas pedal presure is required, you routinely release the gas pedal and coast for a couple of seconds to allow the ICE to shutdown, then gently reapply gas pedal presure in an attempt to continue to move the car forward on battery alone. This sometimes requires allowing the car is slowly lose a bit of speed to avoid an ICE restart. This action will cause the car to run on battery alone more often than if you simply maintain constant pedal pressure and speed.

 

The way that I do it is I accelerate up to 35-40 MPG and then let off the accelerator. The needle on the instant MPG gauge will drop down in to the EV area. Then I slowly apply the gas to keep constant speed. The ICE has to be up to operating temp in order to do it consistently and you have to be on level ground or going slightly down hill. I can get it into EV mode going slightly uphill but I can't keep it in EV mode. The ICE wants to kick in going uphill.

 

Droid13 and tnsig, thanks for the explanation.

 

Flippant (but true) answer: Drive in Reverse.

 

http://hybridcars.about.com/od/owner...seandglide.htm
A very basic technique to maximize fuel economy is pulse and glide and avoid using battery power.

Ken@Japan