Adding one more observation. Cruising on the flat highway at 1,500 RPMS and about 62 MPH consumes about 28 MPGs.Keep trying! It is definitely possible to achieve 29 mpg's on the highway. I did it at sea level on flat terrain in normal mode without much difficulty. The LC had 20 inch OEM wheels and a crossbar but otherwise unmodified.
Below is a summary of information that may be useful if trying to maximize fuel economy.
Background
First, It helps to understand the design philosophy as described by Toyota because the I-Force Max 2.4L hybrid is different than traditional combinations of twin turbos, superchargers, hybrids, or AWD EVs. It uses a standard inline four cylinder turbo as the ICE, mated to a standard 8 speed transmission (less gear searching vs a 10 speed), and with an electric motor (EM) sandwiched in between.
This combination has produced the highest power, highest torque, and highest fuel economy ever in this class of its vehicles (LC and Taco). Other than the electric system, it leverages standard, well proven, and readily available light truck components for the engine, transmission, drive train, suspension, and brakes. It also has the promise of extending the longevity of the vehicle because it has fewer moving parts, and reduces the load on the ICE, transmission, and braking systems over its useful life. Only time will tell.
It is important to understand this architecture because in order to maximize performance the driving technique is counter intuitive. For fuel economy, it should be operated as a very low revving four cylinder vehicle rarely going above 2K RPMs. To do this, the driver must focus on leveraging the electric engine and induce its use as much as possible. Some call this "pulse and glide". Others describe it as driving by RPM vs MPH. Either way, the objective is use the electric engine more and the ICE less.
Driving tactics
1. The electric motor can sustain speeds up to 15mph on its own. RPM is zero and electric sound hums.
2. The EM can solely maintain speeds up to 30mph on its own. Once at speed, RPM drops to zero and electric sound hums. Soft pedal the accelerator so the ICE never kicks in.
3. The EM can sustain highway cruising speeds up to 65 mph while keeping RPMs within the peak torque 1700 to 1800 range using the pulse and glide technique. This gives rapid power delivery and forces the EM to provide the boost rather than revving the ICE or spooling the turbo. RPMs remain constant yet you feel the boost/pulse of the EM to push faster.
4. Just a note. Although not moving, I have noticed the vehicle can run the AC and other systems for a relatively long period of time while parked before the ICE kicks in temporarily and then shuts of automatically. This saves quit a bit of gas compared to other vehicles that must sit there and idle the whole time.
When people complain that they are driving 75 mph and getting lower than expected MPG it suggests they are thinking about it backwards. For those who would complain that it is too much trouble to think about and just want to drive the vehicle, remember that this philosophy will keep you constantly in the optimal power band (about 1800 RPMS) and provide the most rapid power delivery. In sport mode, it is a total blast.
By understanding how this very clever and capable system was designed and re-training your driving instincts it is amazing what can be achieved for both fuel economy and driving performance. I fully expect someone with a little time and practice can break the 30 mpg barrier soon.
Good luck
View attachment 42537
I think it’s also worth noting that the old adage “What gets measured, gets managed” applies here. One of my default dash views is to have the electric boost on one side and the turbo boost on the other because there are times when you don’t even need to be in boost to maintain a steady speed that the engine is in the boost and you wouldn’t know unless you can see it and back off for a second and see the turbo boost drop and steady speeds able to be maintained easily.
Your speedo is off by 7 percent btw . Check with radars speed checks . Every lc I’ve seen reads 4mpg or so higher at 65, meaning your mpg is impacted by that amount as well
Keep trying! It is definitely possible to achieve 29 mpg's on the highway. I did it at sea level on flat terrain in normal mode without much difficulty. The LC had 20 inch OEM wheels and a crossbar but otherwise unmodified.
Below is a summary of information that may be useful if trying to maximize fuel economy.
Background
First, It helps to understand the design philosophy as described by Toyota because the I-Force Max 2.4L hybrid is different than traditional combinations of twin turbos, superchargers, hybrids, or AWD EVs. It uses a standard inline four cylinder turbo as the ICE, mated to a standard 8 speed transmission (less gear searching vs a 10 speed), and with an electric motor (EM) sandwiched in between.
This combination has produced the highest power, highest torque, and highest fuel economy ever in this class of its vehicles (LC and Taco). Other than the electric system, it leverages standard, well proven, and readily available light truck components for the engine, transmission, drive train, suspension, and brakes. It also has the promise of extending the longevity of the vehicle because it has fewer moving parts, and reduces the load on the ICE, transmission, and braking systems over its useful life. Only time will tell.
It is important to understand this architecture because in order to maximize performance the driving technique is counter intuitive. For fuel economy, it should be operated as a very low revving four cylinder vehicle rarely going above 2K RPMs. To do this, the driver must focus on leveraging the electric engine and induce its use as much as possible. Some call this "pulse and glide". Others describe it as driving by RPM vs MPH. Either way, the objective is use the electric engine more and the ICE less.
Driving tactics
1. The electric motor can sustain speeds up to 15mph on its own. RPM is zero and electric sound hums.
2. The EM can solely maintain speeds up to 30mph on its own. Once at speed, RPM drops to zero and electric sound hums. Soft pedal the accelerator so the ICE never kicks in.
3. The EM can sustain highway cruising speeds up to 65 mph while keeping RPMs within the peak torque 1700 to 1800 range using the pulse and glide technique. This gives rapid power delivery and forces the EM to provide the boost rather than revving the ICE or spooling the turbo. RPMs remain constant yet you feel the boost/pulse of the EM to push faster.
4. Just a note. Although not moving, I have noticed the vehicle can run the AC and other systems for a relatively long period of time while parked before the ICE kicks in temporarily and then shuts of automatically. This saves quit a bit of gas compared to other vehicles that must sit there and idle the whole time.
When people complain that they are driving 75 mph and getting lower than expected MPG it suggests they are thinking about it backwards. For those who would complain that it is too much trouble to think about and just want to drive the vehicle, remember that this philosophy will keep you constantly in the optimal power band (about 1800 RPMS) and provide the most rapid power delivery. In sport mode, it is a total blast.
By understanding how this very clever and capable system was designed and re-training your driving instincts it is amazing what can be achieved for both fuel economy and driving performance. I fully expect someone with a little time and practice can break the 30 mpg barrier soon.
Good luck
View attachment 42537
All that being noted, assuming no modifications to your vehicle, you should definitely be able to get higher efficiency than you’re getting. There’s a lot of good information (sift through the nonsense) in this thread and in others where people have shared their practices on how to get as much as high-20s mpgs.
The key to getting the most fuel efficiency out of the LC is to drive like a fighter pilot.
No, I don't mean like Tom Cruise kicking in the after burners in Top Gun. I mean consider the principles of energy management. If fighter pilots want to live long, they are always thinking about how much energy they need to add, subtract, or keep in reserve to fly their maneuvers.
IMHO the Toyota designers of this hybrid system are brilliant. They know land drivers tend to over accellerate to get up to speed, waste gas while cruising with lots of throttle intervention, and break too hard to shed energy.
So they gave us a battery to supplement a high torque start, nudge us along at cruise, and capture energy when stopping. If you think about it that way you will quickly realize how much energy you have been wasting and how to leverage the battery to extend your miles in our world. Accelerate, maintain, deccelerate.
Of course, another advantage of the hybrid is that the battery energy reserve is also there for high energy maneuvers. If MPGs are not the objective, you can always put it in sport mode and have some fun!
I use the Tach........
Same here...I watch the tach pretty regularly to see where I'm at and when the ICE is on or off.
I’m very happy you’re finding this stuff helpful. Regarding the throttle modulation, I kind of do the sharp but shallow-ish or medium push throttle to get full electric boost and then back off of it more gradually when I’m doing city driving where there is more light to light driving. It’s almost like you pulse the pedal but back off as turbo boost starts spooling up unless you need to keep accelerating hard. In city driving I find I’m not usually on throttle for long periods of time and I believe this is what is described in prior posts as Pulse and Glide by BlueCruiser who must be an absolute pro at hybrid driving. This is my very first hybrid and I can’t get 29 MPGs like he seems to be able to get reasonably consistently. I get about 23 MPGs in the city when I mess around with this stuff and am not in a hurry or rush to get somewhere. That’s insane to me… I could get 21-22 MPGs on a super flat highway at steady speed without any brake use in my 4Runner if all conditions were perfect and here I am in my LC getting 23 MPGs with much heavier and 1” larger diameter tires in stop and go city driving!
But I get about 15-16mpg (RTT and 285/70 AT tires ) so I'm still under 300 miles of range. My wife's electric Hyundai has more range. I would like 400mi but that is not happening.
