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Hybrid Vehicles Toyota Highlander Hybrid Toyota Highlander Hybrid Driving Tips & Tricks
428 messages, Last post on Oct 16, 2009 at 6:44 PM
You are in the Toyota Highlander Hybrid Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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I've noticed an interesting thing... when I drive our 2005, I always get between 50 and 52MPG, typically 51. When my wife drives it, she gets about 46 to 48. My wife is a great driver, but our driving styles are really different. She tends to accellerate fairly briskly, and then she tends to brake kind of late, at least compared to me. The key to getting maximum mileage on our Prius has been to use the electric motor as long as possible during all accellerations, and then always get off the gas as soon as possible if you see traffic slowing down ahead of you, or if you know there is a stop sign coming up. Even at cruising speed, there is definitely a difference in energy management depending on throttle position... you can ease back slightly on the throttle at speed and it usually introduces more electric assist while maintaining speed. A lot of people use Pulse and Glide, but for me, that's too much effort... I think just accellerating as slowly as traffic will allow and getting off the gas as soon as you see a red light ahead or stop sign down the road goes really far towards maximizing gas mileage. And of course we all know that running the AC kills gas mileage, as does travelling at high speeds (above say 60MPH) as aerodynamics become a factor... this is especially true of the Highlander Hybrid, I can see a huge difference in mileage between going 60 MPH and 70MPH... Good luck! |
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Prius owners talk a lot about running the Prius with no regen-braking and no battery power. If I understand this correctly, it just means the car can coast more freely without power and without regen-braking to slow it, true? Has any HH owner here done this and notice significant benefit? We accidentally did this with our HH a few times and have learnt to do it more often but not sure if it is worth all the work. |
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Replying to: cdptrap (Sep 16, 2005 6:30 am) Seriously? You spent all that money to do that 
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Replying to: terry92270 (Aug 23, 2006 8:53 am) Yes, we still keep engine ON and wait if it is a quick run in and out. There really is no need to turn anything OFF. We even leave the A/C on now if necessary. A full-charge can sustain a little over 15 minutes of A/C run before it drains to 3 bars. It is really nice to have the A/C ON but burning no gas. We also naively tried to run on electric as much as possible last year. That did not work too well because draining the battery meant ICE running longer to charge. Now, we just maintain power in the zebra-band whenever speed allows. The car will charge when it needs to, use pure ICE or pure electric or a combination of ICE and electric when necessary. As long as the power is in or close to the zebra band, the MPG number is at or above 25-MPG. The car has broken in now and we have learnt a lot, it has been a fun ride, worth every penny. Especially with gas at $3.30 for "Regular" and $3.40 for "Premium".
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Replying to: cdptrap (Aug 23, 2006 9:35 am)  I too have fallen into the "trap" of trying to get the highest numbers, so know what fun it can be. I think many of us, having prior notions of the EV1, and other pure electric cars, had lots of mis-informed conceptions about Hybrids. Once one realizes their true genius of walking the tightrope between ICE and electric, one appreciates them even more! BTW, in Reno regular is "just" $3.09 
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Replying to: terry92270 (Aug 23, 2006 9:55 am)  . Watching the NAV screen, there are no arrows, no flows. As the car breaks in, it is becoming more obvious that with a full charge, 6 - 8 bars, the car easily starts off on electric and can stay in electric up through 20-MPH before the ICE kicks in. It can move so quickly that we thought it was the ICE kicking in to help. When there is little traffic, we can nurse it on pure-electric all the way to 40-MPH before setting CRUISE and let the drive computer take over. We could not do this prior to breaking 10K miles. This Prius no-flow technique seems to really help with keeping a battery charge. Still experimenting with how long it can "roll" in this manner, which road can it roll best, at what speed can we do this safely. Reno gas is cheap, we are in SF Bay area,  .
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Replying to: terry92270 (Aug 23, 2006 9:55 am) Wow! Today in Tucson, $2.69 at Sam's Club! No complaints here! I am curious how to get the "no arrows" that is mentioned in the post by cdptrap just above mine. I have a new TCH, with only 1400 miles, and havn't been able to acheive this feat yet. It seems that i can get the ICE turned off, but always get charging back into the battery. AH! Maybe it requires a totaly full battery? Any advice? |
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Replying to: jbollt (Aug 23, 2006 11:03 am)  LOL ! The battery is always optimally charged, to allow head room for regenerative breaking charging, etc. Starting with it at 100% actually defeats the system technology, and will shorten your battery life.
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Replying to: jbollt (Aug 23, 2006 11:03 am) Where are the "bars" that is always being mentioned? Is that on the NAV layout that shows a car for every 50 w of enegery bing genereated in each time period? I see no benefit of getting "no arrows" unless the arrows are fromn the ICE. FYI - 06 HH Limited AWD, got last Thursday, 8/17.06. 250 miles, and am showing a 28.7 ave mpg. It had 66 on it when I got it, and the ave mpg then was 16. Don't know what idiot drove the first 66.
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Replying to: desertfox1 (Aug 23, 2006 12:56 pm) Then still more "idiots" drive them through the dealers car wash, fuel them at a nearby gas station. Then even more idiots, buyers, like you, me, test drive them. That is where those miles came from, and just who those "idiots" were....
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