- If I only use gas and don't charge the prius hybrid
You never ever plug in or charge a Prius. Every bit of energy that the Prius uses comes from the gas tank. Charging the battery is automatically done. You just drive it.
The Prius gets it's good MPG because the engine is sized for steady state driving rather being sized than for acceleration the way old fashioned cars are. The motor/generators (MG) are there to provide the additional power needed during acceleration without requiring a giant gas engine. The MGs also allow the Prius to turn the gas engine off during periods of very low power demand.
As to the MPG you can achieve that depends on your driving conditions (terrain, weather, tire type, etc.)
2004 Prius MPG from the logbook. (Complete years only):
2003-2004 -- 50.8 mpg 17,628 miles
2005 -- 52.6 mpg 14,688 miles
2006 -- 56.3 mpg 16174 miles
2007 -- 57.3 mpg 18384 miles
2008 -- 59.9 mpg 21755 miles
2009 -- 61.4 mpg 16177 miles
2010 -- 65.2 mpg 12134 miles
You can find out more information by joining one of the Yahoo Prius groups.
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- it turns the friction into energy and uses that to charge it self
Although the Prius does have regenerative braking, most of the charging happens because one of the MGs is always opposing the other one. Regenerative braking maybe accounts for 5% of the electricity created.
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