How to hypermile a hybrid for MPG!

[Shelby1962]

Another big one is turn of the cruise control unless on flat roads. I drive the same hilly commute everyday. I’m averaging 64mpg by light acceleration and lifting off the throttle down the hills. When using the cruise it pulls hard up the hills and hardly ever goes to electric down hill. I average 40-43 mpg with the cruise control.

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[Clark6]

I drive in Normal mode a/c on & off when needed been averaging 43.mpg A/c off on one trip it was climbing to 47mpg.. no hypermiling just average regular driving... however on short hills i gas the pedal slightly going down hill & coast up the hill till it slows down & gas over the rest. Have not tried Eco nor hypermiling yet.

 

[Sardone]

I first purchased a 2013 Prius C in 2015. It was a MY2013 and had 13,000 miles on it. Drove it until this winter, when it got t-boned and totaled. (Everyone was OK). Its life ended with 249,000 miles on the odometer. Yep, we drove it 236,000 miles in 7 years. Original battery, and still getting 47 or so MPG when it got crushed.
Ordered a 2022 Maverick XLT Hybrid last August. Only add-ons were Spray-In Bedliner, Tow Hitch, and Ford360. Picked it up at the dealer 4 days ago. So far, driving mainly in Eco, getting 47.5 MPG. On pace for almost 600 miles on one tank. Here are the top ways I maximize MPG in a hybrid…

1. Don’t turn on heat or air conditioning unless totally necessary. Most people don’t realize the effect this has on triggering the Hybrid engine to switch over to gas. The weather has cooperated here in western Pennavaria so far. Tip: At lower speeds, drive with the windows down to cool off!​

2. Start slow from stops. This is especially helpful if you are driving in residential areas and other places where the speed limit is 25 or 35. You aren’t going to save time getting from point A to point B by starting “fast” from a red light or stop sign, but you will burn gas.​

2. Pump and coast on flat roads. Simple.​

3. Coast downhill.​

4.Realize that breaking charges the battery. Break smoothly. Don’t slam on the breaks.​

5. In a Maverick, a “little green truck on a downhill slope” appears on the dash when you are coasting downhill at a certain slope. This means that the battery is charging​

6. Drive in Eco mode.​

Comment in this thread with your questions or other tips.

I live in Florida. AC has to be on at least 7 months.

 

[enaKcM]

I first purchased a 2013 Prius C in 2015. It was a MY2013 and had 13,000 miles on it. Drove it until this winter, when it got t-boned and totaled. (Everyone was OK). Its life ended with 249,000 miles on the odometer. Yep, we drove it 236,000 miles in 7 years. Original battery, and still getting 47 or so MPG when it got crushed.
Ordered a 2022 Maverick XLT Hybrid last August. Only add-ons were Spray-In Bedliner, Tow Hitch, and Ford360. Picked it up at the dealer 4 days ago. So far, driving mainly in Eco, getting 47.5 MPG. On pace for almost 600 miles on one tank. Here are the top ways I maximize MPG in a hybrid…

1. Don’t turn on heat or air conditioning unless totally necessary. Most people don’t realize the effect this has on triggering the Hybrid engine to switch over to gas. The weather has cooperated here in western Pennavaria so far. Tip: At lower speeds, drive with the windows down to cool off!​

2. Start slow from stops. This is especially helpful if you are driving in residential areas and other places where the speed limit is 25 or 35. You aren’t going to save time getting from point A to point B by starting “fast” from a red light or stop sign, but you will burn gas.​

2. Pump and coast on flat roads. Simple.​

3. Coast downhill.​

4.Realize that breaking charges the battery. Break smoothly. Don’t slam on the breaks.​

5. In a Maverick, a “little green truck on a downhill slope” appears on the dash when you are coasting downhill at a certain slope. This means that the battery is charging​

6. Drive in Eco mode.​

Comment in this thread with your questions or other tips.

BRAKING

BRAKE

BRAKES

If you people can't spell correctly, how can we trust your recommendations?

 

[Ohio44890]

If I drove 1 mile to work…..would I ever use gas? Meaning would it basically use electric all the time

 

[999]

It's slow, the engine noise is not exactly musical and it doesnt corner well. The only driving challenge/enjoyment is going for mileage.

Or you can just drive it like you would a normal vehicle and it should still return very good fuel economy by design. I don't like to overthink it. Some people have fun with it, but I'm not into that.

 

[Darnon]

Another big one is turn of the cruise control unless on flat roads. I drive the same hilly commute everyday. I’m averaging 64mpg by light acceleration and lifting off the throttle down the hills. When using the cruise it pulls hard up the hills and hardly ever goes to electric down hill. I average 40-43 mpg with the cruise control.

Eco mode improves that a lot. It doesn't slam on the throttle when it needs to accelerate. I wish there was a separate option for it like how my Fusion had 'Eco Cruise' since I need to use cruise if I want to make use of lane centering or adaptive cruise while I don't care much for how Eco affects throttle position.

 

[A Dodge that drives Fords]

This Texan agrees with you! I will have to use the AC! And I’m ok with that

I'm a wisconsinite bring on the heat LoL

 

[UCFGoose]

Don't run your AC? *laughs in Californian*

I hear you. I'm getting a mean case of Florida swampass at the thought.

 

[Falconfan193]

I first purchased a 2013 Prius C in 2015. It was a MY2013 and had 13,000 miles on it. Drove it until this winter, when it got t-boned and totaled. (Everyone was OK). Its life ended with 249,000 miles on the odometer. Yep, we drove it 236,000 miles in 7 years. Original battery, and still getting 47 or so MPG when it got crushed.
Ordered a 2022 Maverick XLT Hybrid last August. Only add-ons were Spray-In Bedliner, Tow Hitch, and Ford360. Picked it up at the dealer 4 days ago. So far, driving mainly in Eco, getting 47.5 MPG. On pace for almost 600 miles on one tank. Here are the top ways I maximize MPG in a hybrid…

1. Don’t turn on heat or air conditioning unless totally necessary. Most people don’t realize the effect this has on triggering the Hybrid engine to switch over to gas. The weather has cooperated here in western Pennavaria so far. Tip: At lower speeds, drive with the windows down to cool off!​

2. Start slow from stops. This is especially helpful if you are driving in residential areas and other places where the speed limit is 25 or 35. You aren’t going to save time getting from point A to point B by starting “fast” from a red light or stop sign, but you will burn gas.​

2. Pump and coast on flat roads. Simple.​

3. Coast downhill.​

4.Realize that breaking charges the battery. Break smoothly. Don’t slam on the breaks.​

5. In a Maverick, a “little green truck on a downhill slope” appears on the dash when you are coasting downhill at a certain slope. This means that the battery is charging​

6. Drive in Eco mode.​

Comment in this thread with your questions or other tips.

Definitely helpful to new hybrid owner. I've had mine 2 weeks and took it from GA to NC for a trip. Getting 40 mpg but with you're tips, I'm thinking I can get it well over 40mpg.

 

[Bushpilot]

If I drove 1 mile to work…..would I ever use gas? Meaning would it basically use electric all the time

Of course you would, the gas engine is what charges the battery.

 

[BB0]

OP: Makes a helpful list that contains a recommendation regarding HVAC depending on climate

Everyone, regardless of location: ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MY HOME STATE

For real though, good list OP.

 

[Randy H.]

Just did my first (short) road trip from Connecticut to Rhode Island and back this weekend; 256 miles. Mostly highway but still getting 41.6 average.

 

[clavicus]

If I drove 1 mile to work…..would I ever use gas? Meaning would it basically use electric all the time

If you push the accelerator beyond a gentle whisper, it will turn on the ICE for extra power, but the ICE will usually also shut off as soon as your release the accelerator. The amount of accelerator input to stay under battery power is something you have to do very purposefully -- it is really a very small window of acceleration. It's not that hard to do if you are driving slow on urban streets 25mph and under, but if you're on more 'regular' urban streets of like 35mph and above, you will probably make others angry if you accelerate sloooooowly to stay on battery power. That's not really even the best method for efficiency (look up "pulse and glide"). Even though the battery CAN provide more power, they have programmed it to be relatively minimal since it's a small battery. Even so, it's quite effective, as you can see by peoples' excellent MPG results so far. I imagine they calculated an optimal battery usage for longevity rather than performance. And like others said, the ICE will turn on to recharge the battery as needed.

 

[MaverickTopGun]

Safety first, while "hypermiling" is way down the list of priorities.

That said, know the #1 reason a Hybrid gets great MPG is that the computer's algorithms & the driver's style allows the engine to run at about 75% max torque load near about 1,800 RPM, the most efficient region, when the engine does run. That's why pulse-and-glide works, or steep rolling terrain helps.

For example, running the engine at 20% load (cylinder filling) at 1,000 RPM isn't near as fuel efficient as 80% load @2,000RPM.

Our hybrids have electric motors to add or subtract load & RPM to "try" to optimally keep the engine in the sweet spot of load & RPM. Atkinson Cycle helps MPG, yet some non-hybrids run that too, so not unique to hybrids.

We would get even better MPG if the small 1.1 kWH didn't need topping off sometimes, not a bad compromise in order to get the low battery mass to haul around. Also, the engine runs just to make cabin heat sometimes.

Regen braking also helps a Hybrid beat a normal car, since all that braking energy is wasted in heat in non-hybrids. In a non-hybrid car, coasting downhill does preserve kinetic energy, yet the driver may have to brake a little or engine braking wastes some of the coasting energy.

I think Ford has improved their computer algorithms for more MPG over the years. This Maverick would not be getting high MPG like we see now using tech from just 5 years ago. Could be they used game theory, heuristics, optimal control system methods, genetic algorithms (with millions of evolutionary simulation runs), and Barto-Sutton-type Reinforcement Learning stuff like what AlphaGo DeepMind did, to find the Best Strategy. .....

Result: Higher MPG. My old C-Max got about what I'm getting now in the Mav, even though the Mav is shaped like a brick (bad aero), higher off the ground, bigger tires (all makes more drag & friction).

If Ford cared, and could do OTA updates of old C-Max, Fusion, & Escape hybrid software, they could change the algorithms in those vehicles and get improvement in MPG for those. Instead, their business model is to only spend money and resources on new products, not customers on the road already with older designs.

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