HylanderHybrid

Some Good News!

2005-10-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

Well KCT figured out where to put the XM satellite radio in the Hybrid so we are back in business with no commercials. Yippee! I get to listen to CNBC in the morning again. Have to get my morning financial fix. KCT has his coffee fix (gotta hava Wawa), I have my financial fix. I'm back in happy commuting land.

We are using the cassette and it is a much clearer reception. Finally I now know what the cassette player is for. How silly of me. KCT hooked the roady up into the vent by the center display screen so it is within easy reach for the driver. And there was an outlet nearby so everything is close and somewhat neat.

Still a bit challenging as there are some wires that we just didn't know what to do with but it doesn't look bad at all. We certainly didn't want to take the dash apart but once we figure it out perfectly we'll give everyone a hint.

Wish We Had!

2005-10-30T20:04:00.000-05:00

Now I haven't confirmed that we don't have this feature but boy would I like to know the average miles per gallon per trip we take. Certainly we can reset every time we take a trip but then we would lose the average miles per gallon for the tank of gas. Guess I can't have it both ways but boy wouldn't it be cool to challenge each other with each ride we take, especially since KCT is letting me drive more often. I'm getting better at higher miles to the gallon. It sure is a different way to drive. But so much more relaxing.

The non hybrid feature that I really wish we had was the memory seat. Some how the passenger seat got mixed up from where it normally is and I still haven't gotten it quite right yet.

Happy driving!!!! We still love our hybrid.

Finally My Turn To Drive

2005-10-06T20:42:00.000-04:00

Well I finally got my turn at driving the Hybrid for a couple days. It is definitely a different feel than the Acura TL. The drive has a much softer feel but one thing I notice I am doing is looking at the screen ALOT!!!! I keep wanting to know how I am doing with the mileage and trying to use the battery as much as possible. There is definitely a difference in driving style. I do see myself driving much slower and more aware of coasting when going downhill. You definitely drive slower in a hybrid. I wonder does anyone else do this or is it just me and Kevin? Let us know your style.

The brake and accelerator are much softer. I feel in the Acura I know I am pressing on the peddles and pressing hard. The Hybrid takes a softer touch. You don't need to push much to get it to go or to stop. Once you get use to it, it is wonderful. I am enjoying the driving when I get to do it. Yes, Kevin loves driving the hybrid. But I don't know if he likes looking at the screen more or driving it. Hmmm he'll have to tell us.

I have a goal though to get enough juice in the battery. I want to get 8 bars. The only problem with that goal is that would mean I'm using more gas to charge the battery than using battery to drive the car. I'll take a picture of it when I reach the goal.

Kids still love it too. They find something new everyday to experiment with.

Happy driving everyone!!! We love our new ride.

8 yr-old child's thoughts on the nano & Hybrid

2005-10-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

So I got to record a podcast in the Hybrid with my 8-year old son, Tyler late last week. We cover a bunch of topics and he tells us what he likes best about the Hybrid. He's not paying the gasoline bills, but it's funny that the gas savings enters his thoughts! I also put a brand new iPod nano in his hands to find out if he knows what it is and how to use it.

While you're listening to that, I'll be reworking our gas savings spreadsheet. We got an insightful comment about our last post and the $185 in savings we saw last month. We're comparing the Hybrid gas costs to our old Dodge Dakota. Someone wants to know what the savings is compared to a regular Toyota Highlander, so we'll do the math and let you know!

Almost $185 saved in first 30 days

2005-10-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

We've had the Hybrid for 30 days now and we've saved $183.53 in gas costs in that time. This is based on our old vehicle and reflects the changing gas prices, of course. Overall, we've got over 1,600 miles on the Highlander right now, because we're trying to use it as much as possible. Barb's car, an Acura TL, uses premium gas so we're trying to use it sparingly.

Last week's podcast from the hybrid. Oops!

2005-10-01T15:45:00.000-04:00

Holy cow, I completely forgot to point out last week's podcast in the Hybrid! I'm uploading another one right now, so I'll let you catch up from last week and then post up the new one in a few days.

My bad! On this 'cast we talk some more about the battery dying as one of our listeners & readers drops us a note to explain what will happen. Thanks Benson!

Our Hybrid survived the NASCAR race

2005-09-27T18:15:00.000-04:00

We took the Hybrid down to Dover, Delaware on Sunday for the MBNA RacePoints 400. Oh, what a joy it was to sit in traffic and not use gas! The 110 mile one-way trip usually takes us anywhere from 3 to 5 hours on race day. We got lucky somehow; we left by 6:15am and were parked by 9:15 am. The first 80 miles of the trip you run "at speed." It's those last 20 miles where over 120,000 fans are trying to get in to the track that are the killer.

We did the same on the way home; just 3 hours for some reason. The Hybrid kicked butt as usual. We averaged 28.3 miles per gallon for the 220 miles. When you think about the time spent on the road (6 hours), it's even more impressive. Previous years, I've burned a whole tank of gas on race day just because you sit in bumper to bumper traffice for a good several hours.

On the way down, we got to thinking. Why doesn't NASCAR start a new racing series that only allows hybrid vehicles? You can change as many tires as you want, but you only get one tank of fuel!

Another fill-up: update on our savings

2005-09-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

We had a little less than a quarter of a tank on Tuesday, so I stopped in to fill up. Prices of regular gas have dropped about twenty-five cents per gallon in the past ten days; hopefully the trend continues. We did well on the last tank, averaging 30.7 miles per gallon as shown in our spreadsheet:

With our commuting schedule, it looks like we'll be filling up every 10 days or roughly three times per month. Most interesting is our cumulative savings over our prior vehicle. It would have cost us $105.47 more over the past 20 days if we still had our Dodge Dakota. Hey, I don't mind saving $5 a day; that really adds up, not to mention the lower exhaust emissions too!

Pictures of the Hybrid energy display

2005-09-17T12:45:00.000-04:00

While driving home yesterday, we did our CommuteCast where we described the display of the Hybrid Synergy Drive usage. Traffic wasn't so bad and I had our digital camera, so I took a few pics of the touchscreen at different times to illustrate the type of information it provides. You can see a larger view of these three pictures by clicking on them.

This first picture shows the basic functions and status of the Hybrid Synergy Drive. You can see the battery indicator in the center, which at this time shows 6 of 8 "bars", so we're roughly at a 75% capacity level. You can also see that neither the gas engine, nor the two electric motors are in use. At this point, we were just idling in traffic, as indicated by the "Current 0.0 MPG" at the bottom of the screen.

I took the next picture as we started moving. Since we were at a standing stop, both the gas engine and the electric motors were kicking in. The brown arrows going from the engine to the front wheels indicate the power created from the standard V6 engine. The orange arrows from the front electric motor are also powering the front wheels at this time. The use of the gas engine is evident by the poor gas mileage at this point.

This last pic was taken after I got up to speed and took my foot off of the gas pedal. I guess I should say "off the accelerator" since it's NOT just a gas pedal! ;) We started coasting so I snapped a pic showing the return of energy to the battery. Notice that all four wheels, or both axles are returning energy and our Current MPG is maxxed out!

The central touchscreen display adds tremendous value to the Hybrid, but is only included in the $2,000 DVD Navigation option. I'd like to see Toyota make this display standard at a much lower price because not everyone needs the nav system. We'll follow up with more pictures and information on the other functions in the future.

Another podcast in the Hybrid

2005-09-17T09:45:00.000-04:00

In episode 33 of our CommuteCast, we spend a few follow up minutes discussing how much the battery was used during my one hour commute the other day. There's a bunch of other non-hybrid stuff, but we cover the battery issue with our concerns about next week's long trip. We're heading to Dover, Delaware for the NASCAR race and we'll be traffic for hours!

If you have questions about the Hybrid, just shoot us a note and we'll try to answer them while we record our podcast IN the Hybrid!

What if the battery dies?

2005-09-16T13:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was driving in to work with the Hybrid and traffic was awful. I don't just mean there were occasional delays, it was painfully slow at least 75% of the way. Normally, I wouldn't mind at all. Why should I? The Hybrid is a champ in those situations as it carefully sips gasoline only when needed, which really wasn't often in this case.

I tapped the touchscreen display just to see how often the engine was kicking in and then I saw it. The battery indicator showed about a 25% charge remaining. The graphic is comprised of eight "bars"; if all eight are filled, the battery is fully charged. The picture above is an example from another vehicle. I was halfway to work and only had two bars showing. I didn't really panic and traffic seemed to ease up the rest of the way. The battery meter indicated six bars by the time I got to work, so there was no issue.

I have to wonder though: will the Hybrid let the battery fully drain and then just run on gasoline? This will be interesting next weekend when we take the vehicle from the Philadelphia area to Dover, Delaware for a NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Typically, we sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic for a good two hours near Dover. I'm sure we'll get there, but will it be on a dead Hybrid battery?

Hybrid gas savings spreadsheet

2005-09-13T18:45:00.000-04:00

We're working on creating a simple spreadsheet of our gas costs with the Hybrid. Here's a partial screen shot:

Once we get a few tanks under our belt and work out any kinks with the spreadsheet, we'll upload it to our server and make it available for download over in the sidebar. We'll be showing the basics of course: MPG for the tank, cumulative MPG for the vehicle, cost of each fill-up, and more. Additionally, we're going to calculate what it would have cost us to drive the same miles with the vehicle we traded in. We averaged between 13 and 14 miles per gallon in the long term on the pickup truck, so we'll use 13.5 mpg for all calculations. This will give you a running total of how much money we've saved, not including any other savings such as tax deductions or reduced emissions inspection fees.

Let us know if there is a metric you would like to see and we'll try to add it to the spreadsheet!

Hybrid Nav system in the podcast!

2005-09-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Our next "CommuteCast" from the Hybrid is available. If you want to hear the pleasantly annoying Navigation system, we run it through most of the show. I say "most of the show" because it got TOO annoying! :)

Don't forget that you can subscribe to the podcast we do in the Hybrid by using iTunes.

First fill of the gas tank

2005-09-11T22:45:00.000-04:00

I milked that first tank for all it was worth, partially because the vehicle cost so darn much and partially because the dealership provided the Hybrid with a full tank of gas upon delivery.

End result for the first tank was:
30.6 miles per gallon
397 miles driven

Actually, I didn't run the tank dry or even close to it. No indicators came on to warn me that I was down to a gallon or so. The Highlander has a 17 gallon gas tank and it only took 14 gallons at the pump, so I probably could have got another 50 to 75 miles on it before refueling.

I'll be keeping a running spreadsheet link of our fuel efficiency in the sidebar so you can tune in and check it out at any time.

What does "Hybrid Synergy Drive" mean?

2005-09-09T22:45:00.000-04:00

I don't mean from a technical standpoint, I mean from a marketing standpoint. According to the New York Times, a Toyota spokesman says:

"We are not marketing them only as highly fuel-efficient vehicles; that is a natural association people have with the word hybrid," Mr. Nolasco said, referring largely to the Highlander and the Lexus. "We are marketing hybrid synergy drive - great environmental performance and, at the same time, great driving performance."

After just 10 days with our Hybrid, I'd have to say the vehicle completely fits that description. It's a joy to drive, has performance when we need it and is still frugal at the gas pump. Toyota expects 25% of their vehicle sales in 2010 to be hybrids; if they keep building cars like our Highlander, I think they will meet their goal sooner.

Will cold weather affect the battery?

2005-09-09T15:30:00.000-04:00

I'm sure it will, but the question is: how much? What got me thinking about this was a cool morning yesterday. It was 52-degrees when I left for work in the Hybrid and I noticed that the gas engine was running longer and more often than usual. Today, the morning temperature was in the low 60's and the vehicle seemed much more efficient. The gas engine didn't run as long and the vehicle was responsive on battery power alone.

We all know that batteries don't like cold weather. What's going to happen to the 288V NiMH battery in the frigid winter and what has Toyota done to plan for cold weather?

Still Navigating the Nav System

2005-09-07T18:30:00.000-04:00

Well we used the Navigation System the other day to my grandparents house. We plugged in their home address and the path was set. Inputting the destination address is very simple and the coolest thing is the system offers only the letters that it thinks it needs next. It is right on the money with the remaining letters and you can even select the name of the location as you complete the word. Wow I didn't expect that feature. Of course, safety is always a concern and the system will not allow you to input anything when the vehicle is in motion.

Another cool feature is you get a choice of 3 routes - quick 1, quick 2, and really quick. We haven't tried all 3 but for the road to Nana's we picked Quick 1. It wasn't as quick as we knew but it was nice to see all the new horse farms and roads we hadn't been on before. The path is shown on the screen and a very polite lady comes on as you approach the intersection and tells you what to do. So anyway, why is the voice always a women? Is it because men never ask for directions? Hmmm. Not sure I'll have to see if you can program another voice. But I give the lady credit she is extremely polite.

We purposely went a different way (OK maybe not so purposely, we missed the crazy turn) and the route was rerouted instantly to make up for the difference. She didn't come on and say I didn't say to turn there, she just said proceed 9 tenths of a mile and turn right.

When you get to the destination she says "You arrived at your destination." She is just so polite. I'll have to get it on the podcast for ya'll next time so you can hear it.

Many more cool things came with the system which we haven't tried out yet and I'll post more as I figure them all out. And maybe I can get KCT to teach me how to add pictures to my posts and I'll show you some photos of the Nav System.

By the way, my grandparents were so amazed that the route to their house was shown for them. Happy driving everyone! We are having so much fun with the Hybrid. We can be in stealth mode and noone expects us to be there.

30 mpg!

2005-09-06T20:45:00.000-04:00

With a little room to spare, I went from 29.1 mpg this morning to 30.2 today! Yes, I am driving very conservatively, but my driving today consisted of:

- Ride to WaWa for coffee (GottaHavaWawa!)
- Continue on to work
- Ride to Boston Market for lunch
- Trip to Target for my son's birthday present (LEGO's Millennium Falcon which was out of stock)
- Ride back to work from lunch
- Drive to another Target after work (success!)
- Drive home

I find myself coasting downhill as much as possible and I'm also accelerating fairly slowly in order to get this gas mileage, but to me it's worth it.

By the way, this pic is a great example of the instrumentation on the Highlander Hybrid. Your current MPG are always reflected on the right side. Your cumulative MPG for the trip is on the bottom. Every 5 minutes you get a graphical representation of your mileage during that time period, as well as the amount of electricity you regenerated by braking or coasting.

Is the Hybrid worth the extra $7,000?

2005-09-06T13:15:00.000-04:00

That's the question that is answered by Warren Brown of the Washington Post. Warren basically says "No" because the fuel efficiency wasn't as good as promised and the extra seven grand can purchase a bunch of gasoline. I disagree with Warren and here's why.

First things first: is the gas version of the vehicle actually $7,000 less than the Hybrid version? I don't think so: to compare apples to apples, you have to equip the gas version with all of the included options on the Hybrid version. I did just that and found that the exact same Highlander, minus the Hybrid system of course, was $5,400 less, not $7,000.

Secondly, everyone's gasoline cost savings is different because it all depends on what you're driving now. Sure, you can compare the miles per gallon between the gas Highlander and the Hybrid Highlander, but who cares? If you're not driving a gas powered Highlander that approach means nothing. Since I was driving a gas hog that ate through a gallon of gas every 13 miles, my savings are well over $2,000 a year. My extra costs are recouped in about two and half years and that's if gas doesn't rise. The more it rises, the faster I reach my break-even point!

179 miles on roughly 1/3rd a tank

2005-09-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

This picture says it all. I snapped it this morning before work when our gas tank was roughly reading about one-third of the fuel used:

You can see that on our first "trip", we're averaging 29.1 miles per gallon. I took it easy on my 18 mile drive to work this morning and we're sitting at 29.5 right now. I'm after that elusive "30", of course!

By the way, this is the awesome touchscreen unit in the console we mentioned in our recent podcast. The screen is the primary interface for all user controls and vehicle data. We'll go through all of the screens over the next few weeks.

Cruise control is smooth

2005-09-05T09:45:00.000-04:00

We'll cover the CVT or Continuously Variable Transmission in a future post, but I can provide some observations on it; especially on how it helps the Cruise Control feature. If I had to use one word to desribe the overall shifting of the Highlander Hybrid, it would be: smooth. You often don't feel the shifts.

It's especially nice with the Cruise Control. I used it this morning on the way to WaWa for coffee. I set the cruise at 45 and sat back. The ride has two good-sized hills and with my old vehicle you could really hear and feel the downshift as it went up the hills. The Hybrid was much quieter and smoother due to the CVT.

Gas savings: how much?

2005-09-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

CNET has nifty little on-line calculator to illustrate how much you can save in gas money for various hybrids. You need to know either the current city or highway gas mileage of your current vehicle and what the cost per gallon is for gas. If you switch to a hybrid vehicle, your gas savings will vary; it all depends on what you're driving now.

Example: if person A already gets 20mpg and person B only gets 15mpg on their current vehicles, person B will save more by switching to a hybrid.

Since we were getting roughly 13mpg, I used that figure. Additionally, I used $3.25 per gallon as the cost of gasoline.

With those estimates, a year of driving for us (roughly 15,000 miles) will cost us $1477 in gas. With the old vehicle, it would have cost us $3750, or $2273 more! WOW!

First podcast from the Hybrid

2005-09-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

Barb and I record a podcast on our way to work, which we call the "CommuteCast". A podccast is an audio recording saved in a digital format, such as .mp3. If you want to hear our first CommuteCast in the new hybrid, we have it hosted here. In this show, our 31st episode, we describe our hybrid as we drive it to dinner. There are some other topics towards the end, as the show typically revolves around our lives and mobile technology. Enjoy!

Oh, and if you are an iTunes user, you can subscribe to our show with this link.

Tax deduction of $2k

2005-09-03T17:30:00.000-04:00

Back on June 27th, the United States government paved the way for a $2,000 tax deduction on Toyota Highlander Hybrid purchases. This incentive passes along a year-end savings to anyone taking delivery of a Highlander Hybrid in 2005.

Although the government has extended the $2,000 deduction each year for the past several years, we don't expect this to continue much longer. The point of the incentive is to sway taxpayers to the fuel-efficient vehicles. With gas prices in the mid-$3 range right now, isn't that incentive enough?

Welcome to our blog

2005-09-02T14:37:00.000-04:00

Yes, we spelled "Highlander" wrong, but we did this for two reasons:

1. Toyota obviously has all of the relevant "Highlander" domains on the web.
2. We think Toyota should have called the hybrid version the "Hylander"; the "hy-" in both would have been great for marketing.

We're just everyday people that are trying to reduce our dependency on gas and oil. Barb and I currently work in the Information Technology industry. We also do an occasional podcast while commuting to work, aptly named the CommuteCast. Additionaly, I blog on various sites, most recently and notably the high definition television blog, HD Beat.

Through this blog, we'll take you through our decision process for the Highlander Hybrid, what the purchase steps were and what our everyday experience is with the vehicle since we just took delivery of our 2006 Highlander Hybrid yesterday!

We welcome you to join the Hybrid community and share your thoughts with us on the blog. Welcome!