MPG Happy Talk

[gkinla]

This is a return trip from Beaumont, CA to LAX. Temp 75 deg F, AC on, ACC set to 65mph. 10 FWY to the 605 to the 105, then 405 and home. ACC was the main controller on this trip, the ACC only dropped out twice during slow traffic. I didn't use the brakes at all except when the ACC dropped out, and FWY transition ramps. I just let the ACC do it's job.

 

 

[Hybrider]

Well, I still haven't reached that elusive 62 MPG mark I have been shooting for. But I was still not too far off on this tank average (61.2 MPG) during this past week. Mother Nature gave me a reprieve from the sweltering summer heat here for the last two weeks with unseasonably low high temps. The average for the high temps here are now in the upper 90's, the _average_. But we have been well below average for the high temps here for these last two weeks. With the average temps for the highs to climb soon to over 100° here, I'm sure this was my last shot at reaching 62 MPG for what will be several months now, since I will have no choice but to use my A/C every day on my commute from now until fall gets here, at least on the way back home for the evening portion of my commute.

 

 

I don't really use any extravagant hypermiler techniques. But from one of hybridbear's old posts I ran across the other day, I did figure out that there is a hypermiler term for the way I have been frequently able to drive during my commute recently, and that term is DWB (driving without brakes). The DWB approach is to pretend your brakes have gone out, so then you would be forced to drive ultra-careful to keep from running into anything since you have no brakes to stop you. So then coasting is your only stopping option, and you are always mentally thinking about when you need to start coasting to stop safely, especially considering the crazy drivers around you could slam on the brakes to make a turn at any moment.

 

But personally I would just call it granny-like driving. And so do those fellow commuters around me.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do sometimes misjudge when the traffic light is going to change to red, and I end up getting a brake score in the 30-50% range, but that is rare. Since much of the time during my commute I can drive at 35 MPH, even if I were to have to stop at a every single red light, it would not be the end of the world, since it takes so much less energy to get up to the 35 MPH speed which I usually drive at, rather than up to say 70 MPH, or even 45 or 50 MPH. So even if I were to have to stop at every single red light, which are usually spaced exactly 1 mile apart on my commute, I would still be able to get super fuel economy since it does seem to take so little energy for the FFH to get back up to 35 MPH from a complete stop. And then with 1 mile to the next red light, there is still plenty of distance left before the next red light to cruise for a while in EV mode, after the ICE acceleration period is done, which is great for obtaining incredibly optimum fuel economy.

 

As Austin Powers would say, "It's all about the energy use, Baby!", or rather lack thereof.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Hybrider

[Hybrider]

Oh, and one other thing, those countdown timers for the pedestrian crosswalks at the traffic lights are one of the greatest inventions for us hybrid drivers. Those countdown timers help us to know if we can just coast since we can see the light will turn red before we get there anyways, or if we should accelerate a bit to make the light while it is still green to avoid having to come to a complete stop, which would force us to then rebuild our momentum again with the ICE from a dead stop.

[corncobs]

Oh, and one other thing, those countdown timers for the pedestrian crosswalks at the traffic lights are one of the greatest inventions for us hybrid drivers. Those countdown timers help us to know if we can just coast since we can see the light will turn red before we get there anyways, or if we should accelerate a bit to make the light while it is still green to avoid having to come to a complete stop, which would force us to then rebuild our momentum again with the ICE from a dead stop.

I agree the timers are awesome unfortunately it seems in most cases we (hybrid drivers) are the only ones to pay attention.

[corncobs]

And talking about MPG Happy Talk.

 

Current trip avg. in the Explorer is 23 MPG that's with 4 adults + kid in car seat + luggage.

 

One observation I have already made is that the display and calculated tank mileage are very close to each other. It almost seems that the inaccuracy increase with increasing MPG.

[GrySql]

And talking about MPG Happy Talk.

 

Current trip avg. in the Explorer is 23 MPG that's with 4 adults + kid in car seat + luggage.

 

One observation I have already made is that the display and calculated tank mileage are very close to each other. It almost seems that the inaccuracy increase with increasing MPG.

You are a seasoned hybrid driver and now can apply those techniques to any car you drive. I know my other car benefits from my new driving habits learned from my FFH.

[Hybrider]

...

 

One observation I have already made is that the display and calculated tank mileage are very close to each other. It almost seems that the inaccuracy increase with increasing MPG.

 

My experience totally agrees with this statement about increasing inaccuracy with increased MPGs, even within a. single car, such as an FFH.

[Texasota]

It almost seems that the inaccuracy increase with increasing MPG.

This has also been my experience. The amount of inflation and volatility in my trip display MPG increases dramatically as the trip display exceeds 45 MPG. This pattern became very noticeable in Florida last winter (flat roads and warm temps) where a tank that reported 56 MPG on the trip display was overshadowed by 8.06 MPG inflation compared to actual MPG. This phenomenon is consistent in my FFH.

[hybridbear]

Oh, and one other thing, those countdown timers for the pedestrian crosswalks at the traffic lights are one of the greatest inventions for us hybrid drivers. Those countdown timers help us to know if we can just coast since we can see the light will turn red before we get there anyways, or if we should accelerate a bit to make the light while it is still green to avoid having to come to a complete stop, which would force us to then rebuild our momentum again with the ICE from a dead stop.

I love them too! I wish all intersections had them!

[acdii]

And talking about MPG Happy Talk.

 

Current trip avg. in the Explorer is 23 MPG that's with 4 adults + kid in car seat + luggage.

 

One observation I have already made is that the display and calculated tank mileage are very close to each other. It almost seems that the inaccuracy increase with increasing MPG.

Thats great! Better than I got in the MKT which aerodynamically should have a lower COD than the Exploder. Then again it does have about 100 more HP that the Exploder does. LOL My F150 so far is doing almost as good as the MKT did, its hovering just under 20 MPG, with less than 2000 miles on it.

 

The trip gauges are dead freaking on! Each fill except for one, have been within .02 gallons, the exception was at a station that I question their pumps as I had also filled up two gas cans, one with gas, the other with diesel, and the diesel can holds 6.6 gallons to the mark, but the pump said I put in 7.1 gallons. The other can also filled up with more that it holds, so if I eliminate that one fill, which was off by nearly 2 gallons, then my average goes up .5 MPG. I filled at 4 different stations for 5 fills now, and each one was right on the money except that one. I towed my plane hauler Friday, got about 11 MPG, but the entire tank average still came out over 19 MPG.

 

Doesn't sound that great compared to the Fusion, but factor in COD, size and weight, it is doing just as good as the FFH did. It may only be half the MPG, but it is nearly twice the mass. I would say that is happy MPG talk! :)

[corncobs]

 

Doesn't sound that great compared to the Fusion, but factor in COD, size and weight, it is doing just as good as the FFH did. It may only be half the MPG, but it is nearly twice the mass. I would say that is happy MPG talk! :)

That's why I posted it in the Happy MPG talk even if it's not FFH related.

We now have an additional passenger + luggage and it dropped by about 1 MPG. The AC runs pretty hard all the time just because it's so freaking hot down here in FL which doesn't help with high MPGs as we all know.

[dalesky]

Since the topic now includes a non FFH, I will post a remark about a rental car I am driving in Mpls.this week. It is a brand new Chrysler 200. It is getting 27mpg in mixed driving. I think it has a 7 speed transmission, because it seems to shift a lot.

[Hybrider]

So I have some MPG Happy Talk of a different type for me.

 

This holiday weekend I was hauling around 3 other people in my FFH (about 500 extra pounds), and doing several more short trips than usual, with much of the miles on the highway, and also running the A/C for more than half of it. And I was still able to get 45 MPGs, which is well above the current EPA Combined rating of 42 MPG, and still higher than even the current EPA City rating of 44 MPG. :happy feet: :love_shower: :yahoo: :dance:

Edited May 26, 2015 by Hybrider

[DeeCee]

My lifetime MPG just clicked over to 48.0 at 42k Miles. My current avg. mpg (reset at the beginning of May) is showing 52

[Hybrider]

Down...but not out. Here is a shot of my MPGs for a full week of sweltering heat which caused me to run the A/C for half of my commute mileage, for the trip home in the 100°-105° high temps. I was able to get away with using the cracked window method for cooling in the mornings since the temps were still only in the 80°-82° range by the time I drove to work at 7am. I also had a few short city trips during the weekend with the A/C on which brought this tank's average down some.

 

Edited June 4, 2015 by Hybrider

[Sleddog]

I hit 53.4 lifetime this morning and passed train time also (22222.2 miles). I'm finding it's taking longer to see my lifetime average go up. As my lifetime gets closer to my average trip mileage the increases slow down. But I did get 61.2 on the way home today. I made all the lights but 1 and had a tailwind.

[md13ffhguy]

I'm finding it's taking longer to see my lifetime average go up.

Darn math! ;)

 

My lifetime dash is up to 51.8, which was my high water mark last fall. I'm thinking I might reach mid 52s by that time this year.

[Hybrider]

Man, these FFHs are incredible feats of engineering. I'm so ecstatic about the stellar MPGs (59.6) which I'm currently getting, in the dead-middle of the oppressive Arizona desert summer heat, highs in the 105° to 110° range.

 

Using the A/C seems to cause my MPGs to drop anywhere from about 3 to 6 MPG. But since I only have to use A/C for my evening drive home, because the morning temps are about 85°- 88°, my total average MPGs have only dropped by about 3 to 4 MPGs from what they were during the spring right before the summer temps hit.

 

And during these past few weeks I believe I have still continued to improve my driving efficiency somewhat on my commute to work, by continuing to adjust my speed to better time my passage through the traffic lights to further decrease my fuel usage. This happened purely by accident, due to me being in a hurry to get to work a few times and realizing my fuel economy had improved because of the different traffic light timings I had encountered by staying at the speed of the traffic flow ahead of me instead of falling back and then having to stop, at one light in particular. This improved my efficiency since I didn't need to accelerate abruptly after stopping at that light just to make the next light while it was still green.

 

But it still is somewhat of a crap shoot since the traffic light timings never stay perfectly the same from day to day for me during my commute to work.

 

Edited July 9, 2015 by Hybrider

[lsherlockl]

Its been a little over 6 months and 10,000 mi in my FFH SE and still every day getting out of work i cant help but think that's a darn nice looking car then i get in to drive home and enjoy the nice comfortable leather seats as i tell the car what music to play and let the sound envelope me. And all that while getting absolutely absurdly good MPG Since breaking out of winter my daily commute jumped from mid to high fortys to 56mpg avg for the past 2-3 months. As others have stated even using the A/C a bit doesn't hurt the returns that much 1-2mpg (tho WI is cooler ish in the sumer)

 

 

Side note too I find venting the moonroof Plus 2-3 in on back right window create a nice sorta cyclone of air around the driver without adding much noise.

 

All in all far better than the 41mpg i was using to calculate the break even point when deciding to purchase this car

[mwr]

r my daily commute jumped from mid to high fortys to 56mpg avg for the past 2-3 months.

At what speed are you getting 56 mpg?

[mwr]

Yesterday I drove 50 mils on freeway (no wind as far as I could tell) at 70 mph; displayed mpg was 44. Drove back on non-freeway, mostly 50-55 mph, a small amount at 70 mph; displayed mpg was 49.5.

Edited July 17, 2015 by mwr

[Hybrider]

It doesn't get much hotter than this (114°) in an FFH.

 

Of course I had the A/C on during my 25 mile commute home keeping me plenty cool, and even with that and the slightly increasing elevation (400') on the way home, I was able to get 48 MPG on my trip stats while driving on city streets. :bliss:

 

[hybridbear]

It doesn't get much hotter than this (114°) in an FFH.

 

Of course I had the A/C on during my 25 mile commute home keeping me plenty cool, and even with that and the slightly increasing elevation (400') on the way home, I was able to get 48 MPG on my trip stats while driving on city streets. :bliss:

 

Your "My Temp" & "Dual" buttons are bigger than on our screen... That's crazy hot! It's only 70 with rain in Mpls today...

[Hybrider]

Your "My Temp" & "Dual" buttons are bigger than on our screen... That's crazy hot! It's only 70 with rain in Mpls today...

 

That is probably because I don't have the heated seats, which seems to take up half of the real estate of where my big buttons are located.

[GrySql]

 

That is probably because I don't have the heated seats, which seems to take up half of the real estate of where my big buttons are located.

PHX weather takes care of heating your seats.... ;)