Toyota Prius Owner Drives 5226 Miles On One Tank Of Gasoline

Okay, so I know what you are probably thinking, how in the world did this guy get over 5,000 miles on one tank of gasoline, Trust me, my mind was blown also. I have to keep the name of this Prius owner a secret in order to protect his identity.

I will say that he contacted me, I did not go looking for this. This person and I had a great chat for the better part of 45 minutes, and he told me how he had been achieving this. Here is what I found out.

The Prius Was Telling The Truth
Here is the thing, I was about to call BS on this but something told me that the Prius was telling the truth. It was in the numbers on the display. The reason I knew it was correct, Prius resets the trip ODO on the display screen everytime gasoline is added. It was then my mind began to bend.

I had to figure out how he could have possible done this? Was it solar cells? Was it an extra traction battery? Did he have some freakishly long down hill drive to work then have the car towed home every time? The only way to get miles like this is to drive the car with it on, in Ready, and moving. It was killing me.

The Prius Had Another Fuel Source, But Not What I Thought
Once the guy told me how he did it, I felt pretty dumb. The whole time I thought he had invented some super hypermile driving style. Nope, it was just a way to keep moving. The source? Natural Gas. That was his big secret. He had done a conversion that allowed his Prius to start up on gasoline, then switch to CNG once it was up to operating temperature.

This heavily minimized his gasoline usage enough to where he was able to fill up after 5226 miles of driving on CNG and hybrid battery power. We talked then about the benefits of CNG if you can get it for cheap. This is where I was also astounded.

CNG For Prius Makes It Even Less Expensive To Maintain
I love cheap maintenance, in fact my 3 secrets to cheaper maintenance guide can show you how. I now want to add this into my list of things to do.

CNG is a far cleaner burning fuel. It burns so clean that it will actually clear up carbon deposits, that can cause oil consumption in your Prius. Not only that, but it will also greatly extend the life of your oil changes as well. Mystery man X, told me he recently changed his oil, at 40,000 miles. No joke. He had been doing oil sampling to ensure the engine was still being protected, and every oil sample came back fine.

The reason, he said, that the oil got changed, was because he felt he needed to. He could have, according to him even gone longer. This was crazy to think about. I have heard going 25,000 miles on oil changes under stringent supervision, but this blew me away.

Conclusion
If CNG sounds like it could be something for you, let me know. I would be happy to entertain the notion of doing more research to help people that want to get the most out of their Prius. I think that If you live in an area with plenty of fueling stations, and if it is at least $1 more per gallon cheaper, it would make sense to do it.

You won't see an immediate return on your investment, which could cost anywhere from $3500 to $6000 but you will gain those added benefits along with cost savings overtime.

Thanks for reading, See you in a Prius story where I am discussing why Carista is the best $20 tool for your Toyota Prius.

Check out my article 5 Top Common Prius Repairs, that can help you with fixing your Prius.

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Peter Neilson is an automotive consultant specializing in electric cars and hybrid battery technologies. He is an automotive technology instructor at Columbia Basin College. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Service Technology from Weber State University. Peter is also an Adjunct Instructor of automotive technology at Columbia Basin College. Peter can be reached on Linkedin and you can tweet him at The_hybrid_guy on Twitter.