I've complained to Pravas Prime the moderator of this forum about post like this by GPSman1 in the past, and he lets this continue. As you can see, John's post still stands. Yet, I get points for my response to discontinue posting. Pravas Prime like GPSman1 continue to remove my responses when they can on sites they control. The owners of these sites need to control these sick people.

GaryG

 

I have started keeping my RPM's constant at the lowest possible RPM to maintain speed and that may be part of my recent improvements. We have some hills that flatten out a little (but are still an incline) and then climb again. Rather than backing off I sometimes leave RPM constant and build a little speed that I can bleed off as I climb the next section.

I've also been trying to build up speed at the bottom of a hill, or at the end of a glide on a flat portion between hills (especially if I have traffic coming up behind). I am finding I can hold the speed better on the next incline and/or have more to bleed off before getting to the top.

-- Rick

 

For those that now have battery SoC with the new SG11 programming, try to use as much EV climbing those hills when you can. The available torque from the electric motors is much more FE than the ICE with low RPM torque. I find that if I only make it a short distance in EV up a hill, it's better than no EV up that hill. The payoff gets higher on the downside every time for me with the more distance I can climb in EV. As long as I have enough SoC to stay in EV with traffic permitting, I drain the battery till a restart. Once I have enough Soc to go EV on the downside, I do. If I have another hill to climb right after the first, I may try to build as much SoC I can with the ICE charging at an idle and FS in "L". This will permit more EV druing the second climb and a higher FE payoff for the next downhill. This is what works for me.

My recommendation is do as much EV as possible and keep the SoC low when below 40mph. Cruising speed above 40mph is a time to build SoC with the ICE and FS till the SoC is full. Once the SoC is full, continue holding speed and RPM's steady. I'm always looking for a good safe draft during cruising speeds, but that's up to each driver to make that choice.

GaryG

 

Gary, don't feel bad about "beating" me! As I see it, we were *all* winners in the MPG Challenge, because it brought out the best in all of our vehicles & fuel-efficient driving

Also, I learned so much from riding with you, & from riding along with Rich while he gave a FE clinic to a HiHy driver on Sunday, I've been seeing 50mpg trips more often, even without my EBH

John, Gary commented several times along the challenge route that he was not used to the "rolling" landscape that we have in central WI, but his understanding about how to get great FE out of the FEH made him a quick study - he maxed out the FCD, & because I had screwed up the calibration of my SG2, had to calculate what his mpg was that day

I have been watching for your posts on this thread, because I have only been through the Rockies on a train, & I have no idea what they will be like in a car, much less my FEH, & if I am going to do the Great Race (well, the North American stage ), I'm going to need all the help I can get for how to get through them without killing my FE

I am certainly not in your league, or Gary's, or Rich's (yet ), but I will take advice, instruction, & driving techniques from whoever I can to eke out another fraction of a mile per gallon

My thanks to all *3* of you

 

This car was designed for ALL conditions... well, maybe not Arctic!

So there's not a lot different you need to do "in the Rockies".
If you push it hard, it will run hard, but produce low MPG.
If you are "gentle" with it, and practice DWL ( driving with load ) constant vs. speed constant, you will get very good results.

I'm doing mostly highway driving now between my two homes in Colorado and Minnesota. I just bought a block heater. Will see soon how that helps.

Oh, Minnesota had 5 days of rain in a row, and I had to drive on some dirt farm roads that turned into mud bogs. I was literally up to my axle in mud at one point... I had to get a running start and more or less floor it to make it through, to "keep my momentum up". I'm amazed I made it through. If I stopped in the middle, I would have sank and been stuck for sure. So, another new fact, the FEH can walk on water.... almost! And I have 2WD!

I did have mud splatter up higher than my passenger windows. Quite the sight. With "rolling hills" of Iowa and Minnesota and Colorado, I managed 43 MPG at 65 miles per hour with a slight tailwind, and about 37 MPG for the parts of the trip without tailwind. And I had rain for 8 hours out of a 12 hour drive to boot. Some of that drive required A/C defogger use. So 90% of the mud has washed off. The big chunky stuff, anyway! So yes, you can use this Hybrid as a true SUV.

Near my Minnesota home, I have gentle rolling hills, smaller than bridges that go over ship traffic, and routinely get 54 MPG in all city at 50 degrees.
That helped me to get a 44.7 MPG tank that was 50% city and 50% highway last week. I use gas power on the uphill side, and go to EV just before the top, and EV during the top if there is a flat section, and EV during all the downhill. Then, at the bottom, I EV along the flat parts at the bottom for as long as the battery holds out.

I find EV is best zero to 20-24 MPH. Then I use gas 25 MPH to 40-42 MPH.
Then I normally use L to kick it into EV and get a bit of a charge. The L drops me from 42 MPH to 37-38 MPH by the time it goes to EV. Then I "glide" either in N or just deadband with my foot 2mm on the gas to get the exact same "Neutral" coast in D ( or in L for that matter. Did you know you can "neutral coast" in "L"???.) I will coast as traffic allows, but generally down to the 26-30 MPH range, and then use gas to get back up to 42 MPH. Repeat. I will take it up to 42 in a 35 zone to get some space between other cars behind me, then during the glide, they will catch up when I get to 30. They probably think I am nuts, but I'm getting 54 MPG or more, while they are getting 20-25?

BTW, for the "pulse" 1800 RPM is too low for best results. However, 1600 to 1800 is great for cruising steady-state on the highway if you can manage. I accelerate from 25 to 42 during my "pulse" at 2400 RPM to 3400 RPM for best results. Rolling hills allow for longer intervals of glide between "pulses". On flat areas, you may need to switch from P&G every 30 seconds. On a slight uphill, you can still do it, but need to switch every 15 seconds. With gentle rolling hills, I will do shorter P&G on the uphill side, and long glides on the downhill side. Sometimes, you can get 2 minute intervals or longer. One place in Colorado, I can get an 8 minute "glide" at 39 MPH in EV.

For highway hills, just mostly use DWL.
I will speed up to 5-7 over the limit on the downhill ( so will most semi's so you won't be alone ) and then slow down 5 ( or 10 MPH if it is really steep ) on the uphill ( again, so will most semi's ). If you are like me, you probably thought Semi's were going slow on the uphill because their trailer was so heavy, the engine couldn't manage to pull it uphill at full speed. This is almost always untrue. Nearly always, with a few exceptions, the drivers are intentionally slowing down on the uphill, and speeding up on the downhill to use DWL in their tractor. Those "box" trailers, the kinds for supermarkets, moving vans, etc. are generally pretty light. The "heavy" semis are the flatbeds carrying bulldozers or crane equipment, or industrial equipment. These truck drivers use DWL to save fuel. Important when diesel is $3.19 and you get 8 MPG DWL and 6 MPG driving on cruise control!

I always keep RPM to 2400 or less on the highway, unless it is an emergency, or I need to merge onto a ramp, etc. I can climb the rockies at 2400 RPM and 55+ MPH. You can too. -John

 

Thanks John, that's a great description of the techniques you are using to increase FE. I'm going to try and incorporate what you and GaryG have recommended into my driving, as my FE seems stuck at 31mpg overall after 10k miles of driving the FEH. But it's still kind of like trying to fly an airplane by reading instructions from a book. I wish I had someone in my area who would give me a ride-along so I could see some of the techniques in action.

 

Dan from Houston, a Prius and soon to be a MMH owner has driven my FEH and said it was remarkably like his Prius. We even hooked up his scan gauge II to my FEH and he started monitoring and got all excited that it was almost the same as his Prius. So find someone with a Prius and ask them also. Though I would put money on John, Debbie or Gary in a Prius that they might beat alot of Prius owners

 

If anyone is near Colorado this weekend, I'm Available.

If anyone is near I90 in south-central Minnesota or Northern Iowa, I'm available there the weekend after! Really! I love to meet people with similar interests. - John

 

What do you mean you are not in my league? You most certainly are Debbie. Now that your hitting in the 50mpg range, you are doing better than me. You now don't need any help from this group as you are the queen in an FEH.

Continue to keep those RPM's between 1800 and 2500 when climbing and remember the torque chart. Stay away from 3000 - 3500rpm's if you can. Watch your SG11 current MPG average for true answers.

GaryG

 

I was going through this post, collecting the suggestions I want to practice in anticipation of climbing the Canadian Rockies in my FEH next summer, & realized I had never acknowledged these last 2 posts

Thank you, John, for your description of how you handle mountain driving I will memorize & practice your tips on the hills I encounter here in WI - they're not mountains, by any stretch of the imagination, but they'll do for a start

And thank you for that compliment, Gary - with you & Rich, & now John as mentors, I will continue improving my own skills