Does a light or heavy foot effect MPG?
Created May 20, 2006, at 10:16 pm by Anonymous
I have been driving our '06 Prius for 3 weeks (when my wife lets me) and love it.
I have read numerous articles on increasing fuel economy. Most say accelerate slowly. I have also seen a couple of people suggest that starting more aggresively works better.
When accelerating , the MPG tends to be on the low side, which makes sense.
When accelerating with a 'heavier' foot (not flooring it, but pushing the accelerator 1/2 way or more), the MPG is still low, perhaps just a little lower than when accelerating slowly, but since you get to cruising speed faster, you are driving for less time at the lower MPG.
I have tried both and seem to find that I obtain virtually the same MPG using both methods. I think it may be possible to increase MPG with faster starts.
What is your experience?
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2 years ago
On most non-hybrid cars, you can increase mileage by accelerating agressivly, then coasting. This is called "pulse" driving.
This is because gasoline engines get best fuel efficiency when running at 65% to 85% peak horsepower.
but this does not work on Prius, because the computer tries to keep the engine running in that range most of the time, then shutting the engine off when possible.
Accelerating slowly, in the Prius allows the electrical motor/batteries to take up more of the acceleration power load.
I find I get best mileage with very slow acceleration. But the difference is minor at best.
2 years ago
My last trip of 800 miles around upstate NY yielded an average of 45 mpg highway, the best tankfull averaged 48.9 mpg based on 68 mph ( yes I was speeding 3 mph over the posted limit). At 72 mph the mpg averaged 43.
2 years ago
I find that on expressway, if I keep the speed down to around 65mph, I can usually average between 50 and 52mpg.
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