Here's the link to the article I was referring to. Specifically note the paragraph titled:

Second, Glide - A Special Kind of Coasting

 

Regarding your modes I don't understand several:

Number four - EV is defined as driving on electric power only (Electric Vehicle), so EV & ICE are mutually exclusive.

Number six - Same reason as above, but also regen only occurs when coasting or braking. EV and regen are also mutually exclusive.

EV only only occurs under 42 mph. At 42 mph the ICE is on and at idle in a state of "readiness". Reguardless of EV or ICE operation, when you lift your foot from the throttle regen will occur.


As for the "pulse and glide" explaination from a practical standpoint what I called "assisted glide" is the only way to gain max benefit from the hybrid system.

In situations with traffic on level or even mildly sloped roads, I still find that by getting up to speed and lifting my foot then gently reapplying the throttle I can normally maintain speed with the FE at or near 60 or in E mode and stay with traffic. Once I hit a slope my ICE will have to kick on if I want to keep up. If no one is behind me and it's acceptable to slow then I may ride it out a while as the car slows before I apply the throttle again. Yes I may have to do this a couple of times in a mile of driving but the incremental gains are noticable.

Using cruise is a good compromise but for maximum FE in hilly areas it does not allow me the flexibility I want. It actually slows like I would do in mannually controlling this procedure but then it kicks in with a vengence to acccelerate and I don't like that unless for safety reasons the traffic is thick and there is someone on my tail.

 

I suspect pulsing a car that is 600+ lbs heaver with an engine that is 60% larger will use a lot more fuel. Take that up another level, can you see doing pulse and glide in a GS450H or an RX400h? Let us not forgot that one of the reasons the Prius is capable of phenominal FE is that it has a very small ICE.

 

Thanks one and all. We've gotten a little off topic. From the Prius boards it seems that many people are capable of the glide. However, I had trouble getting a glide going for more than about 3 - 4 seconds at a time. So I was just wondering about whether others were able to do this in the TCH.

I realize that it's not a practical way to drive a car, and can be infuriatingly annoying, even to the driver. I was just trying a little experimentation on a backroad and do not plan on using it for everyday driving.

 

LOL, I think there is a thread from last month that didn't go off-topic...

 

I can't speak for the TCH since I've never driven one. In a Prius you still need to pick your situations carefully. Even a dead flat road is not the best place, a minimal amount of down slope helps a lot in being able to hold 'glide'. Plus, it seems that the computer is picky about when IT lets you glide. If the engine isn't warmed up, it won't glide. There are some places I drive that I can easily get into glide one day but can't get it to stick for any length of time on other days. AND, I can't always say WHY I can't get it to hold. Persnickity computers!

The P&G technique EXPECTS that you WILL lose speed during glide. Then you have to make it back up to speed. If you have just crested a hill in glide, you won't burn as much gas getting back to speed as you will if you P&G on a flat road.

Another thing about P&G, or even just G on a slight downhill - it takes FULL concentration. You KNOW someone doing P&G is NOT chitchatting on the phone, putting on makeup, etc

 

I have to agree there are only a few times when I can glide my TCH: it seems to be a very narrow window, and if there is any uphill slope, you don't glide for long. Most of the areas where I drive I cannot do much P&G driving, plus doing this for an hour is more work than I like to do.

 

I'll quit using the term pulse and glide because from what I can tell it's not really possible to practice this as a normal mode of operation for the TCH and it upsets the Prius folks when we use that term. OK Prius folks you don't have to read these forums anymore. From what I can tell from the "pure" gliding description it's not anything I would really want to practice anyway. It sounds dangerous to do in traffic and must be time consuming. It really has little interest to me to continually accelerate and lose 5 to 10 mph over and over.

We'll need a new term I guess for the TCH. Last week I called it assisted gliding. It's not really "coasting" as the car is in ready mode, fully engaged and ready to go.


I'm just back from a trip to Columbus. I was disapointed that my indicated tank was 42.2 (over 540+ miles_ but the actual was 39.8 mpg). It seems that most of the really high milage tanks I've had lately did not calculate out when I did actuals. If you're posting milages on the database based on indicated milages, I'm sorry but I don't believe them.

I ran cruise control most of the trip and my trip milage over showed 44 mpg. I drove 65 mph most of the way. While I don't believe that number I do believe it would have been in the 42 range. Coming back I only got an indicated 41.7. Who knows this tank may be closer to actual. I'll know in a few days.

Driving arounf the Buckeye Lake area, I was only getting in the 42 mpg range while driving 30 to 40 mph. I still find that my 45 to 55 driving gives me the best FE.

I also watched as it consistantly showed 50+ on the interstate at times on slight grades. It would "shift" into phases of battery boost to charging the battery and go between the 50 mark down to the 30 mark while doing this. As the grade steepened it would hit the 15 to 20 range but usually had the ICE charging the battery the whole time to give me a good charge as I crested the top of the hills.

I found the area east of Columbus to not be as flat as I thought it would be. The interstate had very long streches of up and down grades.

I'm not disappointed in my tanks of 39+mpg, BUT it is disappointing as I see these numbers climb I "work" a little harder to max it out and then the actuals just don't match up. I'm still striving for a 39 average but I should give up as it takes trips to keep me in that range. Overall 38 is probably the best overall I can expect long term and even then I have to wait to see how much winter driving I'll be doing and the effect it will have.