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Whats the best way to drive rav4 hybrid to achieve the best mpg?

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Patrho

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2020 Rav4 Hybrid Limited
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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I’m new to hybrid vehicle
What is the best way to achieve the best mpg?
I notice that the gas engine kicking in is inevitable even with the lightest foot so...

is it better to try and go EV very slow to your desired speed or
Use gas to reach your speed and coast? Then gas and coast?

thanks!
 
#5 · (Edited)
There are different angles that you can look at this from. Charging the batteries isn't free. But coasting with the gas engine off is. I try to go as long and as far as possible in EV mode without overly depleting the battery.

Also look at how much TIME per hour you can keep that gas engine off. Once in city traffic my gas engine was on for only 14 minutes out of an hour. That city trip I got over 55 MPG.
Remember time is money. For every minute your gas engine is on, 60% of the gasoline goes into heat whether you want it or not.

In northern Canada, maybe you want it. In the southern U.S. you don't.
 
#6 ·
It's amazing how just knowing your current mpg will make you want to get that number up as high as possible. Fortunately I survived my maniac driving style when I was younger and now get pleasure squeezing as many miles as I can out of a gallon of gas. Experience has taught me where I can coast in neutral on the routes I take, and my last tank was of gas was in the 50's range. It's harder to accomplish on unfamiliar roads and you have to pay attention to make it work well in any case. On cross country trips it's tough to get the mileage into the 40's and I usually see mid 30's since physics make it tough to overcome the drag from driving at 70 to 80. In any case I think this is an awesome car and a great substitute for a fully electric car that can actually travel distances. And at a fraction of the cost of a Tesla.
 
#8 ·
I don't really understand the pulse and glide. It seems like you are speeding up to 37, and then gliding until you drop down to 20. I can see it working on a decline road (and with no traffic), but it seems better to use the electric motor to maintain a speed. I don't like the idea of changing speeds all the time.
 
#9 ·
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How To Keep It Up...MPGs, That Is!

As we slide into winter and the MPGs start to drop, I have a month's-worth of November driving experience to help keep the MPGs up. In November, I covered 2,386 miles, and over the 5 fill ups in the month, I was able to average 40.8mpg. Here are some tips I found to minimize your MPG drop in...
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#10 ·
rob_hybrid_2020 said:
I don't really understand the pulse and glide. It seems like you are speeding up to 37, and then gliding until you drop down to 20. I can see it working on a decline road (and with no traffic), but it seems better to use the electric motor to maintain a speed. I don't like the idea of changing speeds all the time.
Click to expand...
When I do pulse and glide, I don't let off the pedal completely and just coast, instead I relax my foot muscles and keep the pedal in about the same position. The car will amazingly maintain or slightly degrade the speed, unless terrain works against you.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
From the experience of you guys that have extensive years of driving hybrids - pulse and glide with a light foot on the accelerator is the best way to achieve the best mpg in Rav4? I would assume the proper driving scheme to achieve the best mpg may be different from that of Prius, correct?
 
#12 ·
If you want good mileage, I recommend you to clean your air filter regularly, remove unnecessary dead weight from the car, maintain 36psi manufacture recommended tire pressure monthly and be gentle on your gas pedal. Do not brake hard so that it makes use of regenerative braking to recharge power back to the battery instead of losing to heat and wear out the brake pads. EV mode only can be switched to in complete stop. Make use of EV mode when drive in slow area like a parking lot. Electric motor is always more efficient than the gas engine.
 
#13 ·
Patrho said:
From the experience of you guys that have extensive years of driving hybrids - pulse and glide with a light foot on the accelerator is the best way to achieve the best mpg in Rav4?
Click to expand...
Do your reading, watch the videos and practice, practice, practice. "Light foot" is not a requirement and can even hurt MPG if the ICE is running. You want to reach cruising speed quickly and get it into EV ASAP.
I would assume the proper driving scheme to achieve the best mpg may be different from that of Prius, correct?
Click to expand...
Incorrect. Its the same HV system, same rules apply.
 
#14 ·
gpsman1 said:
For every minute your gas engine is on, 60% of the gasoline goes into heat whether you want it or not.
Click to expand...

I came across this document recently. It's an exhaustive test the EPA did of the A25A engine. (It's the variant used in the gas model of the RAV4, but the hybrid's is nearly identical.) The graph at the top of page 13 is what I want to point out: that's the efficiency level of the engine at different loads and speeds. The peak efficiency is 39.8%, which matches what you said: if the engine is running, 60% of the energy in your gasoline goes to heat.

It's even worse than that, though. This is the maximum efficiency possible. If the engine is only idling and not doing anything useful (propelling the vehicle or charging the battery), it might only be 30% to 35% efficient. The same thing goes if you're demanding extra power from it.

In my mind, that means there's a balance here. You want it off whenever possible and running at peak efficiency whenever it's running for a long time. But if power is needed for only a short time, it might be most efficient to run it a little harder so it can be shut off completely. There's probably some optimal duty cycle (amount of time on and off) for any given situation, which is where the pulse-and-glide method comes in.
 
#16 ·
It does not take much power to drive fast. It takes A LOT of power to ACCELERATE FAST (accelerate in a short time).

The Rav4 can drive at freeway speeds using less than 20 horsepower. For 20 horsepower you can accelerate about as fast as an 18 wheeler truck. Totally doable and that's why I'm not upset if there is a truck in front of me or behind me on the freeway on ramp. It helps more than you think to accelerate slowly. With the truck there, no one gets impatient with me. ?
 
#17 ·
gpsman1 said:
It does not take much power to drive fast. It takes A LOT of power to ACCELERATE FAST (accelerate in a short time).

The Rav4 can drive at freeway speeds using less than 20 horsepower. For 20 horsepower you can accelerate about as fast as an 18 wheeler truck. Totally doable and that's why I'm not upset if there is a truck in front of me or behind me on the freeway on ramp. It helps more than you think to accelerate slowly. With the truck there, no one gets impatient with me. ?
Click to expand...
If you're behind an 18-wheeler you also get the benefit of drafting. A bicycle can keep up at freeway speeds if it stays close behind a truck. Not that I recommend doing this, though...

Did you just guess the 20 hp number? That's actually pretty close. By my math, 38 mpg at 35% total efficiency and at 55 mph requires 23 hp to maintain.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Drive like molasses. Steady as she goes whatever the cruise speed is, and if in non highway traffic, back off the throttle and coast to stops or slowdowns. One of my favorite things is watching the fuel economy readout skyrocket in slow and go city traffic because that's where the car runs on battery with the gas motor at 0 rpm the most.
Got my RAV4hv late December here in the snow belt of Colorado. The weather is just now getting up into the 40's. I drove home from the filling station yesterday, which is a level drive (as in zero elevation change), 45 & 55 mph speeds, with one small hill, and pulled into the garage with 57mpg on the readout.
 
#19 ·
TZX4 said:
Drive like molasses. Steady as she goes whatever the cruise speed is, and if in non highway traffic, back off the throttle and coast to stops or slowdowns. One of my favorite things is watching the fuel economy readout skyrocket in slow and go city traffic because that's where the car runs on battery with the gas motor at 0 rpm the most.
Got my RAV4hv late December here in the snow belt of Colorado. The weather is just now getting up into the 40's. I drove home from the filling station yesterday, which is a level drive, 45 & 55 mph speeds, with one small hill, and pulled into the garage with 57mpg on the readout.
Click to expand...
 
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