Hi PSU; welcome to the forum! What city are you in?
What color is your new Insight? Anyway, the first and best way to keep the battery SOC (state of charge) up, is to tread much LIGHTER on the gas pedal. In other words, try to minimize your use of electric assist. During the daytime if your SOC is down a few bars, just turn on the headlights for a few minutes, and that accelerates the rate of charge a little. If you are interested in maximizing your MPG and getting up in the 80's, spend some time reading the threads on this site, under MPG issues. But basically, you need to put more air in your tires (at least 44 lbs) . Get out on the highway, drive 55 mph steadily, then very gently reduce pressure on the gas pedal. You will see the graph display jump up to about 125 mpg. You are in LB (lean burn) From that point on, the whole game, or challenge, is to keep it in LB, not letting the graph fall below about 80 mpg. It takes some practice, but you will soon be able to join the ranks of the hyper-milers.
For your short commute here's some tips: Start the car and drive away, don't sit and let it idle to warm up. Look way ahead to the next stop light and anticipate it. Keep your momentum, do not stop if possible. Try NOT to use your brakes; keep it rolling. Again, accelerate rather slowly and try not to use electric assist. KEEP your SOC up at or near full at all times. After about 7500 miles, consider changing your oil to a synthetic 0-20 such as Mobil 1 or Pennz Platinum. Good luck to you, and congrats on your new car! Billy...........
