Arty101

Andy

How do you charge the battery so you can hit a hill or drive in stop/go traffic? Other then coasting, braking or on ICE, I don't see any other way to load up the battery. I hit stop and go traffic everyday, and most times, it drives on EV until the engine kicks in when the battery is drained. There's also hills, so if the commute doesn't drain the battery then the hills will and down goes the mpg.

JerryKK

Yes, I know, you pretty much repeated what I stated without explaining what the difference is.

UTAS

Well, in other words: When you are in Normal mode, EVA kicks in when the computer decides; when you are in ECO mode, same thing, except that the acceleration favors economy of fuel, that is, the accelerator is "softer." In both modes, the computer of the hybrid system decides.

Normal and ECO modes are your choice.

On electric only, which you can also choose, the mode is temporary b/c the batteries are inherently limited by how far the travel is, how much torque is required, and how much the load is, etc. Sooner or later the generator (gas engine) will feed the battery to replenish it, accordingly.

One method is manual EVA, while the other is automatic; but in either case, computer algorithms effectively govern when electric can accommodate forward movement, and when electric generation is required.

andywoods

Charging the battery can be done by keeping the system in maximum charge mode (charge needle at bottom of guage). When you notice the road is decending press the brake pedal very light as you watch the charge guage. Press just hard enough to keep the guage low. Remember the braking is a regenative system, so light brake presure does not ride the brakes. It does keep your brake lights lite for long times. (No tailgaters)

kaisersoes

I have driven hybrids since 2006 so know a little bit about driving them. However with the Lexus es300h, the mileage I am getting started with around 34mpg of mostly highway driving (first tank), then about 33mpg on the second tank (mostly city driving) and now its down to 30 mpg (going back and forth from work <20 miles).
It is cold here around 45 degrees, so not sure if that is playing into the factor. Car just broke the 1000 mile mark.

UTAS

@kaisersoes - Agree, those are bad numbers.

I have each iteration of the RX since 2006 - cold weather always dropped the mpg. But even on the '10 RX450h, I still got about 29 mpg avg in the summer and about 27mpg in the winter.

On my wife's ES300h, I've noticed a drop if placed in "normal" mode as opposed to ECO. The acceleration is "feathered" in ECO, but the 38mpg is considerably higher by about 10% - she has about 600 miles on it in mixed hiway / local driving. Also, as the colder weather enters (we've been in the 30's recently), the mpg drops off a bit.

Another thought: I've noticed that if Bridgestone Turanza Serenity tires (as some of the ES's are equipped), the mpg is reduced by about 15% when compared with the Michelin's with their "Green X" design. I had an Avalon originally with Michelin, then Bridgestone - yep, drop off by 15% mpg. The Bridgestone's were terrible in cold weather - flat spots, hard ride, higher rolling resistence, etc.

sessionstu

Here in South Florida I've been consistently been getting 40+ mpg. At one point it read 41.5 mgp. The difference here is that the roads are straight and flat. No elevation changes. I'm sure this is helping the fuel economy. I also live in a very congested area. So I spend more time at traffic lights than actually driving. I have the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity tires on my 300h. I don't notice the road noise because the roads here are in good shape.

I wonder what someone from a mountainous area, like Colorado or Montana, has to say. Their fuel economy must be much worse.

NewLexus14

Anyone driving es and reports 40mpg?

Slackbus

Do you mean 300h? More than a few people, it seems. Its getting cold where I live now, and with the engine needing to warm up more and the gas mixture changed, I'm still getting ~35mpg... I'm thinking I'll hit 40mpg in the summer.

JerryKK

I can't say I am in a mountainous area; however, our driving here on the California Central Coast is probably somewhat different than most people. It's hilly - it's mostly freeway driving to get anywhere - there is very little traffic - most of my trips are less than 10 miles round trip - we constantly take our neighbors in our car out to dinner and it usually stays around 65 degrees year round.- We are averaging 38.5 mpg after 1,200 miles.

sigmoid

I live in SoCal (OC) near the beach and it is quite hilly. I'm averaging 32mpg and I'm very conscientious about charging the battery and trying to run in Eva as much as it will allow. My range has been around 450 miles , whereas I was expecting near 600. When the tank reports that it is near empty, it will take 14 gallons to fill it - so I think there is a fudge factor with the tank - its 17 gallons, right? Anyway I still love the car and coming to grips,in my town that 39/40 mpg is just not going to likely happen.

Slackbus

Do you often run with the battery near empty? Many of the Prius tips are to not use EV mode much, try to keep in "coast" mode as much as possible.

For my driving, I just try staying out of power and use EV mode only when I'm maintaining speed on flats or downhills.

JerryKK

Just a quick note about my mpg and sigmoid (and any other California driver) - since they use special gas additives here (for smog control) - which does two things: increases our price per gallon and (most likely) - hurts our mpg (although I would need confirmation on the latter point).

UTAS

I am getting about 38 mpg, calculated after fill-up; I do not rely on the ES300h computer value. Temperature in our area has been in the 30's and 40's recently. Should do better in the summer.

andywoods

This is extreme MPG. I live in Los Angeles and drive over the 405 each day. Last week for two days I was able to go to work during off hours 1:00 AM. There is just enough distance that I could use only the battery to go up the hill going to work and recharge coming down the hill coming home