MPG Happy Talk

[hybridbear]

Driving around Vancouver last night

 

 

Also very happy that our overall MPG for the day (about 685 miles) was 45.2 MPG driving through the mountains at high speeds, but more on that in my road trip thread

[jeff_h]

I really had the makings for a great tank MPG, a really great one... until the afternoon commutes for yesterday and today. Yesterday there were thunderstorms on the way home, so there was a lot of inching along and cycling of the ICE to run and get the HVB charged and be good for a couple minutes, then repeat the cycle. This brought the tank average from 55.1 to 54.4 by the time I got home. At least the bad weather was a decent reason for the delay. TODAY, we inched along for an additional 20 minutes until we got to the source of the delay, which was a lady's car on the side of the road and a guy's car also stopped as he was changing her flat tire for her... it was not blocking anything, and you'd think that people would just drive on by, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gotta rubberneck since there MIGHT be something to see, and hold everything up. What a waste of time, and where the morning's commute was good and kept the tank MPG at 54.4, by the time I got to the gas station it was down to 53.9 (the temp of 96 outside didn't help either), see below.

 

So the display above said 11.94 gallons, and once again that was a bit optimistic, as I was able to cram 12.464 gallons in there. I was pretty sure I filled it completely the last fill-up, sure don't think I left it ½ gallon short, so it again appears that the display calculations are a bit optimistic as compared to the actual, at least for my car. But this tank averages to 51.67 so that's pretty darn good.

[acdii]

Not a good MPG post, but when you consider that the trip I took for this normally returns a 38, I'll take it! It is mostly uphill, and the return trip gets me mid 60's.

 

 

 

My trip home from work 46 and change, and I wasn't really trying, just kicked back and let the car do its thing. :)

[gadgetguy]

I really had the makings for a great tank MPG, a really great one... until the afternoon commutes for yesterday and today. Yesterday there were thunderstorms on the way home, so there was a lot of inching along and cycling of the ICE to run and get the HVB charged and be good for a couple minutes, then repeat the cycle. This brought the tank average from 55.1 to 54.4 by the time I got home. At least the bad weather was a decent reason for the delay. TODAY, we inched along for an additional 20 minutes until we got to the source of the delay, which was a lady's car on the side of the road and a guy's car also stopped as he was changing her flat tire for her... it was not blocking anything, and you'd think that people would just drive on by, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gotta rubberneck since there MIGHT be something to see, and hold everything up. What a waste of time, and where the morning's commute was good and kept the tank MPG at 54.4, by the time I got to the gas station it was down to 53.9 (the temp of 96 outside didn't help either), see below.

 

So the display above said 11.94 gallons, and once again that was a bit optimistic, as I was able to cram 12.464 gallons in there. I was pretty sure I filled it completely the last fill-up, sure don't think I left it ½ gallon short, so it again appears that the display calculations are a bit optimistic as compared to the actual, at least for my car. But this tank averages to 51.67 so that's pretty darn good.

OMG you only got 53.9?!?! How can you live with yourself hahaha.... I wonder if AL Gore will let borrow some of your carbon footprint your not using for my mid 40's lol...

[gadgetguy]

Not a good MPG post, but when you consider that the trip I took for this normally returns a 38, I'll take it! It is mostly uphill, and the return trip gets me mid 60's.

 

 

 

My trip home from work 46 and change, and I wasn't really trying, just kicked back and let the car do its thing. :)

Dude 41 is not "bad" and 46 is good! I don't care what people say this car is badass! My "no hybrid driving" test is not going bad at all. Not like I thought it would. Had to go to another campus today which is about 80 miles up a ridge. Speeds ranged 65 to as high as 80 mostly uphill and got 39.6 mpg by the time I got there, forgot to snap a pic.

On the way back I got over 41 same speeds but more down than up. Oh and it's hot and humid today so the A/C was set at 70 using recirculate both trips. The average for the tank so far is almost 40. I have driven like I would drive a regular car and have barely even looked at the dash stats. Tomorrow morning will be a good test since I'll be going to my office and taking my normal route that I know I can get 55 mpg average on.

[jsolan]

Last night I followed home a truck who drove 35 MPH pretty much the whole way. Normally I'm annoyed because I just want to get home, however once I got home I noticed my trip MPG was a bit on the ridonkulous side so I didn't mind as much yesterday. Still a bit annoyed at the 99% score, I'm almost always 100% for my commute, but both times I posted a pic on here it's been 99 haha.

 

 

 

 

To answer someones earlier question, my round trip to work usually nets me 44-54, well within the EPA numbers. It's been in the 50's more and more as the miles go up. Monday was 48 and I had the A/C going full blast.

[LEM]

Last night I followed home a truck who drove 35 MPH pretty much the whole way. Normally I'm annoyed because I just want to get home, however once I got home I noticed my trip MPG was a bit on the ridonkulous side so I didn't mind as much yesterday. Still a bit annoyed at the 99% score, I'm almost always 100% for my commute, but both times I posted a pic on here it's been 99 haha.

 

 

 

 

To answer someones earlier question, my round trip to work usually nets me 44-54, well within the EPA numbers. It's been in the 50's more and more as the miles go up. Monday was 48 and I had the A/C going full blast.

 

Those are incredible numbers. Congratulations! I'm surprised you were able to stay on EV for such as long time. Was the road mainly downhill? How fast was the battery discharging?

[jsolan]

 

Those are incredible numbers. Congratulations! I'm surprised you were able to stay on EV for such as long time. Was the road mainly downhill? How fast was the battery discharging?

 

It's mostly downhill, but not enough to coast. A light feathering of the accelerator was all I needed to keep up at 35 mph so the battery didn't discharge much (a lot of neutral charging statuses). There 1 or 2 "well placed" hills that allowed for enough of a regen to keep the EV number up. At such a slow pace, the ICE was only doing 1500-1800 rpm, so it was mainly used to charge except when I went uphill.

[acdii]

With the flooding and lousy traffic this morning, I didn't bother looking much, but did see the numbers were blue, so at least I stayed above average. yeah. The lifetime on the Empower screen is back to 43.3 as well, and My office is finally showing as EV+.

[corncobs]

Same here with the flooding, road closures and a general grid lock. I didn't expect much but I take 46.2 MPG any day after the ordeal this morning.

[gadgetguy]

Ok I wanted to post this earlier but it has been a busy day. My tank of driving my FFH like any other car is actually going very well! The post I made yesterday was pretty much all highway and I achieved the same mpg as I would have normally.

 

These numbers here are from my normal commute to work and home and a trip to the movie theater. I am very very pleased with these numbers considering I have done nothing but drive my car like I would any other car.

 

Morning commute started with battery at just below 1/2, temp 75, no A/C

:rockon: :headspin:

 

Commute :shift: home, which is 75% interstate, left with battery almost dead, temp was a humid 95 so A/C was blasting...

:victory:

 

A short trip to the movies this evening

 

Again in all of these drives I did nothing as I normally would in trying to achieve good mpg. Now my morning commute was 49.9 instead of 54 or 55 but that pretty awesome. My interstate mpg is consistent and it is what it is. When going 60 to 75 mph 39-40 mpg is all you can expect which again is fine with me!

 

This car rocks!!! :rockon:

[acdii]

I am finding I dont have to drive this car any different other than braking sooner and smoother than the other hybrids. I too got 49+ on the way home last night. The lifetime since I reset it pulling off the dealers lot is now at 43.4! Looks like for our daily commute about 44 MPG average is where it will be, that's 3 MPG higher than the 2010 can do on a cool day, and this morning, 45+ on the way in with the AC on. Very Pleased! I picked it up 6-4, and it now has just under 2100 miles on it. Nothing other than going to and from work with couple trips to customers. Adds up fast!

[gadgetguy]

Ooopps I did it again... bwahahahaha.... My morning commute :shift: was awesome! Left the house with 1/2 battery, 75 degrees, no A/C with windows down. Drove pretty normal by accelerating normally up to the speed I wanted to maintain and just drove like I would any other car! Hardly looked at the mpg display and didn't care if I was in EV or not. My brake score is not so hot because of a couple lights I had to brake hard for, didn't feel light running a red...

:banvictory:

 

That's winning!!! :yahoo:

[Rupert]

I'm still getting high 40s to low 50s on my trips to & from work. Very nice. The last few days have been terribly humid and I've been using the AC. The AC seems to put the mileage down to high 30s but I don't mind. It's not worth taking a shower before work, then being all sweaty again by the time I get to work.

[acdii]

Yes! I finally did it this morning, broke the 47 MPG barrier on the way in.

 

:happy feet: :happy feet:

 

[corncobs]

Nice work! Looks like you went a different way could that be? The total miles seem more which makes it even better I guess.

[acdii]

Pretty much the same route, but have to drop the kids off at the inlaws now. They were getting picked up at a mid point, but now we have to go another 6 or so miles in the morning. If I dont go out for lunch we put about 90 miles on a day, 100 if I go to lunch. When kids are in school though its only 70 miles round trip, and that is up and down 14 from Harvard. We take 176 now during the summer.

[aaronj1159]

I didn't have time to take a picture today but I managed to reach 59 MPG on my 36 mile drive in to work (mostly highway). If I can manage above 40 on the return trip, and I have been recently, that'll be a nice daily average.

[corncobs]

Sounds like my daily "fight" with your numbers showing the bigger difference between the directions. I'm between 50-52 to work and 45-47 going home but going home I also use the AC in the morning it just open windows.

[kuzzi]

I tend to get ~42 in the morning and ~48 in the afternoon. I park in a garage though so cooling down isn't an issue.

[aaronj1159]

Sounds like my daily "fight" with your numbers showing the bigger difference between the directions. I'm between 50-52 to work and 45-47 going home but going home I also use the AC in the morning it just open windows.

It's almost all about elevation change for me. My AC has to work a little harder in the afternoons but I manage it pretty well I think.

[keithsm2]

It's almost all about elevation change for me. My AC has to work a little harder in the afternoons but I manage it pretty well I think.

 

same for me....my commute is only 7 miles.....but the 200' elevation change makes the difference between 50 or more MPG one way and 37 mpg the other way....

[gadgetguy]

Another great "normal" drive :shift: to work this morning. Pretty much identical to yesterday except what's odd is (I'm sure Dewey Decimal is to blame again lol) I have less EV miles this morning than yesterday, 21.8 vs 22.0, and used the same amount of fuel .6 gallons. However I got better mpg today than yesterday by 2.1 mpg lol... That Dewey he's such a trickster hahaha... :play:

 

This was yesterdays commute.

 

My afternoon trips with A/C kicking and more interstate I am getting as I always have which is anywhere from 39 to 42 mpg. I would say that this week of my "drive it like its a normal car" test has been a huge success. I have learned that I do not need to be hypersensitive to achieve good mpg results. My overall tank average right now is close to 41 mpg and I have over 100 miles left before I fill up again, my interstate driving really kills the overall but that ok.

 

I think I will just kick back and enjoy the ride :peelout: from now on and not obsess over wringing out every last bit of mpg saving juice from the battery lol.

Edited June 28, 2013 by gadgetguy

[acdii]

I have to use the defrost in the morning though, darned windshield keeps fogging up. I think I will get some of the rain-x fogging stuff and see if that helps. Even with the windows open I get fogging. No way to turn the AC off when in defrost mode either.

[fhalasz]

 

So, from reading that info, it sounds like drafting could still be dangerous because if the semi slammed on the brakes, even with the warning and this system there's still the potential to hit the truck

 

 

It would have been a nice feature to have, but I believe it required getting MFT which we didn't want. When we test drove a C-Max with MFT and a Fusion with the conventional buttons we decided that we just wanted the conventional buttons. Mainly because we did not want a back up camera. We both found it to be distracting and hard to use. So to get ACC we would have been required to spend $900 for MFT which we didn't want and then another $2k or something like that for the Tech Pkg with BLIS and ACC...oh well, maybe on our next car in 10 years...

That's exactly what we did -- spent an extra $2K or so mostly for features we didn't want; but I believe the ACC will pay for itself in fuel savings over time. My technique is to engage the ACC (ECO setting) to accelerate above 25 mph, because the robot acceleration is more patient than I am. In moderate commute traffic I'm getting about 54 mpg now - round trip, 42 mph top speed, traffic lights every 1/4 mile or so, temperatures in the 90's and not using a/c. And there's basically no time penalty during my 10-mile trip.