Should I be getting better mileage?

[mikenmar]

I've got a brand new FFH with about 100 miles on it. So far, I'm only averaging about 33 mpg in mostly city driving.

 

Question: Is the mileage supposed to be this poor when the car is still this new?

 

I've had several trips when I've been able to eek out 45-50 mpg, but the car doesn't seem to behave consistently. Yesterday I got 50 mpg on my trip home from work, but today it was only 32, even though I took the exact same route, and drove in the same style. For some reason, the EV just wasn't kicking in as much. Yesterday I could accelerate up to speed, and as soon as I backed off the accelerator, the EV kicked in. Today, that wasn't happening. Is that normal?

 

Should I wait until I've put some more miles on the car before I start worrying about this, or should I be getting better mileage right off the bat?

[fsb99]

I've got a brand new FFH with about 100 miles on it. So far, I'm only averaging about 33 mpg in mostly city driving.

 

Question: Is the mileage supposed to be this poor when the car is still this new?

 

I've had several trips when I've been able to eek out 45-50 mpg, but the car doesn't seem to behave consistently. Yesterday I got 50 mpg on my trip home from work, but today it was only 32, even though I took the exact same route, and drove in the same style. For some reason, the EV just wasn't kicking in as much. Yesterday I could accelerate up to speed, and as soon as I backed off the accelerator, the EV kicked in. Today, that wasn't happening. Is that normal?

 

Should I wait until I've put some more miles on the car before I start worrying about this, or should I be getting better mileage right off the bat?

 

Mike, how far is your commute? Short commutes will drive down your MPG since the engine needs to warm up. I get 25-35MPG if driving less than a few miles starting with a cold engine (my driving style is not the most efficient). With an 18 mile commute (one way), 70% highway I can get up to 45MPG because the engine warmup overhead is averaged over the distance. In general you'll not see your car go into EV mode during warmup period (especially if Accessory power demand is higher). If you're in EMPOWER setting, you'll get the data points you need.

[mikenmar]

My commute is about 3.5 miles, all city.

 

I understand that the car has to warm up first, but why would the mileage differ so much from one day to the next, under the exact same conditions? Same distance, same time of day, the car had been sitting around all day, etc.

[fsb99]

My commute is about 3.5 miles, all city.

 

I understand that the car has to warm up first, but why would the mileage differ so much from one day to the next, under the exact same conditions? Same distance, same time of day, the car had been sitting around all day, etc.

 

With your commute so small, I think you can say that they are margin of error measurements. We know that the MPG per trip, or even the short term average (Miles to E calculation) are estimates. Consider that your 3.5 miles at 35MPG uses 0.1 gallon of fuel, while at 50MPG it uses 0.07 gallons of fuel. The .03 gallons difference or 3.84oz of fuel is less than half a cup...that can be explained by estimation error or Accessory power demand difference, or acceleration, etc. Don't know for sure but it's not high enough to worry about to me, I'd just consider both measurements down in the mud and not accurate. I would measure your actual MPG when you do longer trips ~10 miles or more. Hope that helps.

[rlawson4]

I would agree. You should do a test drive late in the evening (after 11:00 p.m) when all traffic is gone. Do a mix of highway and city and then see well you do. You should easily get 37-38 mpg during the first 1000 miles. After the 1000 miles, your milage will increase 1-2 mpg. You are being hurt by the warm up time taking away from EV opportunity. I learned how the engine can detroy mileage when I say outside a department store running the air conditioning while my wife went in for "one thing." That tank of gas only averaged 33 mpg. I am easily getting 38-40 now.

 

Richard

Atlanta GA

[Ranger_Rick]

My commute is only a little longer and my average (which I have not reset once) is 34.4 MPG.

I don't worry about it so much:

a) If I want to go to the beach I know I'll be getting 45 MPG on the trip.

B) I'll be filling the tank every two months rather than every two weeks.

c) I am driving a lowemission vehicle.