What Chuck Does

60+ mpg

Some of you know that I drive a Prius. Fewer of you may know that I’m pretty fanatic about maximizing my fuel efficiency. In March I achieved 60.4mpg over a full tank and drove 606 miles before filling up.

On my current tank of gas, I’m estimating a new personal record for most miles driven as well as highest mpg rating on a single tank of gas. I know this is going to be a good tank because I’m already averaging over 61mpg. Furthermore the fuel efficiency usually starts out low at the start of a tank of gas and maxes out towards the end of the tank. This is likely due to the fact that the ratio between “miles driven while car is warming up” vs. “miles driven when car is at normal operating temp” is skewed to favor the warm-up time when fewer miles are driven. The reason “warm-up time” yields a lower mpg is because the car keeps the engine running constantly to heat up the catalytic converter for the first 5 minutes to achieve optimal emissions. When the car is at normal operating temperatures, it does not keep the engine on constantly, thus increasing fuel efficiency.

I am guessing I can achieve 63mpg for this tank if I can limit the number of short trips around town. I might even be able to break the 675 mile mark on one tank!