# Drive in EV mode or roll dice for a tip



## ddelro219 (Aug 11, 2016)

I drive a Camry hybrid and on roads with 35mph or lower speed limits, sometimes I’ll accelerate just enough to stay in EV mode to preserve fuel resulting in less gas costs. Obviously the acceleration can be painfully slow when doing this for those familiar with how some Toyota hybrid systems work. 

Some pax might not appreciate this and may stiff me on a tip. But most pax still don’t tip anyway even when I don’t drive this way.

So would you say the savings in fuel costs outweigh the chances of a tip?


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## Signal Twenty (Jun 26, 2017)

I drive very conservatively all the time. Riders have their minds made up before the ride - they're either going to tip or not tip. Your driving style probably isn't going to change that. Keep on conserving fuel!


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## thatridesharegirl (Jul 7, 2016)

There's a lot of articles on PriusChat about fuel economy and maximizing MPG. It's actually more efficient to 'Pulse and Glide'.
In other words use gas+electric to get to speed then switch to EV to coast. This is because of thermodynamics, entropy, and conservation of energy. Basically, to convert gas energy into electric via regenerative braking, a certain amount of energy is lost (wasted) in the process.

http://www.metrompg.com/posts/pulse-and-glide.htm


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## ddelro219 (Aug 11, 2016)

thatridesharegirl said:


> There's a lot of articles on PriusChat about fuel economy and maximizing MPG. It's actually more efficient to 'Pulse and Glide'.
> In other words use gas+electric to get to speed then switch to EV to coast. This is because of thermodynamics, entropy, and conservation of energy. Basically, to convert gas energy into electric via regenerative braking, a certain amount of energy is lost (wasted) in the process.
> 
> http://www.metrompg.com/posts/pulse-and-glide.htm


Interesting. I'll have to try that method out.

Although one of my pet peeves when driving have been drivers who can't maintain the same speed. They pass me up, then slow down, then pass again, then slow down and so on. Maybe this is what they've been doing all along.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

I have blown tips maybe... twice ever. By missing a highway exit and stuff like that.


Tips are a funny thing, people either tip or they don’t. It has less to do with your performance than the person you are driving.


Personally.. on the scruber/gryft platforms getting tips is like... 

Praying for good weather...


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## Prius Mike (Jul 6, 2017)

Let's run some numbers. But first you need to realize that miles per gallon is a misleading figure because as that figure goes up, differences between two MPG numbers mean less. So for example, an increase of 5 MPG from 20 to 25 means a 25% reduction in fuel cost. But to get a 25% reduction in fuel cost at 40 MPG, your MPG would need to increase to 50.

So, let's say that by painfully slow acceleration you can increase your MPG from 45 to 50. That would be an 11% reduction in fuel cost. Assume you drive 200 miles in a night. That means that in a night of painfully slow acceleration, you'll spend $12 on gas (at $3 per gallon) but driving normally you would have spent $13.33. 

The question you have to ask yourself is, $1.33 a night a big enough difference to justify possibly losing tips by irritating passengers and losing fares because you aren't completing as many trips, because all of your trips take longer.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

You may not be saving all that much w/ that.


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## Zebonkey (Feb 2, 2016)

Jo3030 said:


> You may not be saving all that much w/ that.


He is losing more in fairs and definitely even more in tips.


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