Non Aptera News

[sck_nogas]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Real world Prii can get 60-70-80+ MPG. At a recent MPG Rally hosted by my local Toyota dealer (Acton Toyota of Littleton MA) one Prius got over 100MPG (I think the driver has done some reprogramming in the car's software to force EV mode at higher speeds, etc.), and the 2nd best got 97+MPG and almost all of the 12 other Prii got 70-80MPG.

When I mean real-world. I mean "real"...

Hypermiling isn't real-world for the vast majority of drivers. Thus I would say, un-modified, un-reprogrammed, driving at the speed of traffic (not to exceed 70 mph), for at least one thousand monthly miles, that's my definition of real-world.

If you try to hyper-mile in the volt, you can get over 72 miles on a single charge*!!!!

*= speed driven 32 mph. Actual driving may vary range

But, is that "real-world"? No.

[NeilBlanchard]

Ecodriving is certainly possible, and I have been driving this way for almost 4 years now. My year round average is 45+MPG in a car (Scion xA) with an EPA Combined rating of 30MPG.

If I drove with a lead foot, then I would not get the mileage, but I do drive in the real world, on actual roads, in traffic, in all weather.

[PatQ562]

My year round average is 45+MPG in a car (Scion xA) with an EPA Combined rating of 30MPG.

My hat's off to you. I drive a Scion xB, with the same power train and similar EPA rating. I'm a reasonably smooth and gentle driver but I consistently get right about 30 mpg. I don't need to use AC much, and my commute is 75% free-flowing freeway miles. As an experiment I cut my maximum speed from 70 to 60 for a tankful and mpg only changed about 3%.

Pat Q

[NeilBlanchard]

Thanks, Pat -- I have a manual 5-speed (though the final drive is 4.31:1 which is waaaay to short) and the stock xA has a Cd of 0.31. I would love to have the 3.56:1 final drive used in the automatic version; as my RPM's at 65MPH would drop ~17-18% from the ~3500RPM. The engine torque would be fine.

I have done a lot of aero mods (including video mirrors aka eyes-forward), and I did a coast down test, and I think the new Cd is as good as a Prius, or slightly better; so about 0.25-0.26. I would love to make a full belly pan and a full boattail and the Cd could get down below 0.20.

But, I'm going to start building CarBEN EV instead!

[palmer_md]

Good choice. I'm looking forward to the progress reports on carben.