Sep 20 2007
EV Mode Print E-mail
Written by Kacey Green   
Thursday, 20 September 2007

Yesterday I installed an EV switch in my Prius, the EV switch/button, persuades the engine not to run when certain conditions are met.  The EV button will only work below 35mph and within certain environmental and performance envelopes.  The install took about 45 minutes of actual work, but much longer in gathering the parts and studying the installation method I chose (Evan Fusco's headlight flasher method).  The hardest part of the install was getting the new pin 27 seated fully, my brother and I took the Prius out for a spin and the mod worked flawlessly.  My first commute with the EV button was a success; I noticed several parts of all of my past commutes where my Prius does stupid stuff.  The most common thing my Prius does during a commute is running the engine when the battery is at an acceptable state of charge (S.O.C.) and the emissions system is already at operating temperatures, and I'm at a complete stop for some time.  Another time my Prius runs its engine needlessly is during some downhill stretches where doing so is unnecessary.  I understand most of this is because it doesn't know what the upcoming terrain might surprise it with.

The main reason for installing the EV mode on my car was that I wanted to be able to shuffle the car around its various parking arrangements without having a senseless engine start.  How does running the engine for 60 seconds, to move the car 75 feet at the most, benefit the environment or improve air quality?  My wallet also disagrees, seven seconds is barely enough time to get out of a garage, and is not enough time to back out of most parking stalls and start moving forward. (I know it's not much but costs add up over the Prius' 100,000-150,000 warranted period).  Now I can move across small parking lots and driveways without wasting gas or adding additional pollution to the air when shuffling my car.

I added three MPGs to my commute by cutting the engine at times where the Prius was being stupid.  I will mention more when I have had more time to get accustomed to the new functionality.

EV mode as with any aftermarket modification may void a portion of your warranty.  If you have any questions about my experience let me know so when I'm writing the next article I will cover your questions right here for all to benefit.

 
Sep 19 2007
Cross another mod off the list Print E-mail
Written by Kacey Green   
Wednesday, 19 September 2007

Today I finished a project I had been planning since the month after delivery of my Prius.  I will provide more details in tomorrow's post(s).  What I will say is that the project involved the high voltage ECU and less than $3 spent purchasing parts.  One more hint, I'm looking forward to some of the low speed, high congestion sections of my commutes to be a great deal more silent, assuming I don't need the heater set to crazy levels.

I came across several hybrid drivers while running errands today and all but two waved, thank you all for making my day a bit brighter.

I am looking for story ideas and guest bloggers, if interested or if you have an idea, use the "contact us" page.

 
Sep 18 2007
Hybrid watcher's jackpot Print E-mail
Written by Kacey Green   
Tuesday, 18 September 2007

Today I struck the hybrid watcher's jackpot, two Prius at a gas station, lined up, both gassing up.  My Prius dropped down to three pips on the gas gauge after I'd dropped off the freeway to begin my 2 mile straight shot work is practically on the freeway after a 45 minute drive.  Yesterday's trip took me down to half a tank and driving home from work dropped me to four pips, I refuel at three pips when possible.  I do this because I refuse to become of the Prius owners who complain about the car suddenly stopping (because I was trying to drive without fuel) and wondering why.  NHW20 Prius have a message that pops up on the multi-function display (MFD) that says to add fuel immediately but it can be missed, though not easily. 

I had been at three pips for the latter half of my commute and the temperature was perfect for refueling, so I stopped at the nearest Top Tier gas station to work, a Shell.  The driver of a black 2006+ Prius(if anyone wants their 06 or new photographed alongside my 04 I will point out the differences) chose the same place and time to fill and the only available pump (facing the car's left) was right in front of this car and driver pair.  As I mentioned in an earlier post multiple Prius filling together are quite rare because of their fuel efficiency.

 
Sep 17 2007
Quick summary on not taking the company car Print E-mail
Written by Kacey Green   
Monday, 17 September 2007

Extremely quick update today, I left home at 06:45 Eastern so that I could make my meeting on time.  First, I drove right off the map (it is time to get My Prius' maps updated) when I realized the road I wanted to take had changed paths slightly.  I turned around and got back on the right track, when a black Prius crossed me, we traveled together for about a mile when they left me as they ran a red light they thought they'd make before it changed.  I found out that my company will be getting a fleet of Prius next year!  Round trip, I used half an indicated tank, and got an ok 51.5 MPG over more than 375 miles.  The reason for the poor mileage was mostly excessive speed, the set of interstates I used have steep hills and I let people push me well over the speed limit today, it had very little to do with the unfamiliar terrain, speeding hurts mileage but doing it into an unfavorable wind will destroy any progress made toward great fuel economy.

Now I need to get some rest, tomorrow I have to get to work early.  Thanks for reading I will see you tomorrow, good night.

Kacey Green

 
Sep 16 2007
Why I've turned down the company car for tomorrow's business trip Print E-mail
Written by Kacey Green   
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Tomorrow I have a business trip scheduled, they offered me a company car and I declined for several reasons, the reasons that are relevant here were the environmental and resource conservation concerns.  First, my Prius is over two and a half times more fuel-efficient than the vehicle the company would loan me.  Second I would save time and distance travelled by leaving immediately from my house instead of going to work to pick up the vehicle and then going on my trip.  The time-savings and the reduced environmental impact of my trip by taking my car far outweigh the few miles of wear and tear I will add to the vehicle.  

Some other reasons worth discussing here against taking the company car follow.  First, I'm new to the area and the Prius knows its way better than I do, even with it having maps that are three years out of date.  I have not had them updated yet; old maps are better than no maps as long as one uses some common sense and does not blindly follow the computer's instructions. Fun fact some of the Prius geeks loaded their navigation DVDs on their computers and found the voice files are stored in a folder called Jill, so that is what we call the computer lady, Jill.  Another reason is my car can more readily play stuff I want to listen to through the sound system.  Next is my Prius is more comfortable than a Malibu, and lastly, I still have vivid memories of my little adventure.

Kacey Green
GRLT.com
"Tech with a twist of lime!"
Express yourself by posting a comment below.

 
Sep 15 2007
My only day off in a week and I'm doing math? Print E-mail
Written by Kacey Green   
Saturday, 15 September 2007

I am enjoying my only day off in a week.  Let's talk about calculating your miles per gallon (MPG) over a tank of gas. The way the Prius calculates MPG is simple; the vehicle has four cylinders, it feeds the four cylinders the same amount of fuel, Prius multiply their consumption as measured in cylinder one by four to get total consumption.  1*4=4  4*amount of fuel used=total fuel consumed    consumption/miles traveled= miles traveled for each unit of fuel consumed.  Now for the part that works on every car.  We don't usually have fuel flow meters that we can read, so we have to gauge how much fuel the car has used since last fill up.  Most people will not run their tanks dry to avoid stressing the car and to avoid being stranded in inconvenient situations.

If we cannot measure as the car consumes the fuel and we aren't able to measure a perfect tank how do we know how to gauge our progress without relying on what the car says?  We know something the car does not (usually) know, we know how much fuel we put in.  For example, if we put in 2 gallons of fuel to bring the car to full, then drove 50 miles and filled up again, this time the vehicle took 2.5 gallons to get to full, we used 2.5 gallons!  50 miles/2.5 gallons= 20 miles per gallon.  There are only two minor inconveniences with this method of calculation.  You have to wait until you have used some fuel and refilled, and it is less accurate on single tanks for the Prius.  The reason for the loss of accuracy is, the North American Prius all have flexible fuel tanks and hold different amounts of fuel under different environmental variables.  Therefore, for the Prius this method only gives a rough estimate and the car gives a better and instant rough estimate.  However, this method combined over all the tank fills in question, will tell you the car's exact mileage for the series of fills in question.  If you pumped 80 gallons into the car and traveled 5000 miles for the tanks you are tracking, you achieved an average of 62.5 MPG!

Kacey Green
GRLT.com
"Tech with a twist of lime!"
Express yourself by posting a comment.

 
Sep 14 2007
Quick update Print E-mail
Written by Kacey Green   
Friday, 14 September 2007

Today I took my neighbor on a quick test drive of my Prius, and with a few simple pointers, she achieved an average of 82 MPG for the whole six-mile trip.  I thought this was cool and could serve as inspiration to those just starting out on a quest to achieve better MPGs.

I plan to get back to our longer posts this weekend, but I wanted to do an experiment.  I received a few complaints about the post lengths here, and tried short posts for a week, and the traffic was up at first, but now it seems to be at a plateau.  The new plan is to create a mixture of short and long posts; there will be far fewer posts without an obvious subject (excluding picture posts and status updates).

Kacey

 
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