Broke 50 mpg on 100 mi Commute!

[gozoner]

Broke 50 mpg on my evening commute today. Seems higher temperatures in LA (74 deg) and higher tire pressure (38 psi) has increased my best from 48 to 51. Yeah! Have been experimenting with a 'hypermiler' technique; maybe that has something to do with it.



I 'only' get 43 mpg on the morning commute. Relatively cold (~50 deg) and one large hill.

[jester33]

What's the technique, do tell?

[Varmint]

I have the reverse situation going on. Temps dropped below freezing, recently. I've gone from averaging 46 mpg on my commute (less on weekends) to about 42-43 mpg.

[josbo001]

Yeah, I live in LA and this warm spell has boosted my average commute from 39/42 AM/PM to 40/44 AM/PM.

[gozoner]

Originally Posted by jester33

What's the technique, do tell?

I have a number of small hills on my route. I used to rely solely on cruise control (CC) during the commute. The CR-Z CC in Econ mode will allow for the speed to drop by about 3 mph on the uphill and to increase on the downhill portion. I've stopped using cruise control on this part of my commute and now let the speed drop and increase by more. Hypermilers call this 'driving with load' (DWL) - basically, on an uphill you hold the engine load constant (approx. the accel. pedal position) and let the speed decrease. If there is no traffic, I'll let my speed change from 65 down to 55. And, on the down hill it is the same except the speed is allowed to increase.

DWL, said another way, on the downhills by applying the accel. pedal I don't let the CR-Z regen more than 1 bar (so speed can increase quite a bit). On an uphill I don't let the assist be more than 3 bars, ideally.

On my morning run this technique has increased mpgs from 38 to 41 for the first 25 miles (where the hills are). On the return I only drop ~2 mpg (from 53 to 51) instead of 3-4 mpg dropped during the last 25 miles.

[IsaacMTSU]

Nice! The dealer has had our CR-Z for about 2 weeks now, I'm getting really tired of getting 18MPG in my S-10.

[rjjensen]

same here in NJ..got down into the teens and i could only manage 45.5...lol only 45.5!!

[mattyyg]

A good technique I've read about and tried is the 'Pulse and Glide' technique. I have been able to get over 50mpg on certain trips with this technique. I usually try this on the highway at about 60-65mph in econ mode. From 60, give it some gas and pulse up to about 65 then let off the gas so as to lose about 1mph every 30 seconds or so down to 60. Obviously there are conditions that will hamper this like hills and tailgaters but it works quite well if you get the hang of it. The CRZ glides really good.

[gozoner]

Mattyyg - You have a scan gauge (from your other post)? Do you look at engine load (LOD)? If so, how does LOD compare with the 'eco guide bar'? The bar says 'acceleration' but it is not really acceleration because on a large hill the bar can be in to 'aggressive acceleration' when the car is not accelerating. Must be load is my guess.

Does the upper, hashed region correspond to a load above 75%?

[gozoner]

Another warm LA day; another >50 mpg 100 mi commute!