Chicago to LA

[corncobs]

We left this morning on our road trip Chicago to LA in three days.

 

My lifetime has been dropping like a rock for the first 300 miles. I started at 40.4 mpg now 5 hours later driving on I88 and I80 ECC set 70 mph into same really nasty head wind we are down to 38.3 mpg.

Sometimes it was so bad that we would only see 20 mpg on the instant gauge going on a level road.

 

At the first fill up which also included 200 miles of my commute driving the trip 1 showed 37.1 mpg. The trip summary after the first 150 miles showed 31.9 mpg but that included about 40 miles driving on county & city roads@ 55 mph.

 

So far after the fill up trip 1 shows 222 miles at 30 mpg (just went up as I type this) The wind is not as bad anymore which now allows an instant display of around 36 mpg compare to a max 30 mpg against the wind.

 

Once we have reached our destination for today I will add some pics and some comments.

 

Ohh and on the new findings note; I usually have my screen on Empower but when I switched to Engage I saw for the first time that ICE and EV actually work together even at 70 mph. That was very surprising to me and showed the EV supplying as much as half the power of the ICE going uphill.

 

Stay tuned ...

[fusionTX]

Thanks for the reports. Look forward to hearing more. My lifetime dropped from close to 43 to under 35 after an 1,100 mile trip at 75 MPH, most of the trip. The car is very average on long trips. Not sure why Ford went to a smaller engine. It does not do great at sustained highway speeds. The small engine has to work overtime.

[CombsAuthor]

Thanks for the updates. I'm curious to see how it will do over a trip of that distance.

 

Head winds always cut into the mileage, but how did the Fusion handle in it?

 

Travel safely.

[corncobs]

Just drove thru Omaha during "rush hour" geez that's like driving around Chicago on a Sunday afternoon. ?

 

The Fusion is a great trip companion so far, nock on wood that it stays like that; damn there is no wood in here.

It handles the wind very well even with sudden wind gusts you don't find yourself one lane over or the opposite if you counter stir.

 

For now I enjoy being co-pilot for a little longer.

[corncobs]

Ok we made it to our first over night pitstop in North Platte NE.

 

After Omaha the wind was finally loosing its strength which help with gas mileage and some test runs.

 

Unfortunately I can't attached pics anymore and I need to find a different way.

I added a few pics in my gallery with some short comments.

 

Quick summery:

Head wind sucks as mentioned before;

Driving up and down IA hills kicks in the hybrid drive ICE & EV together;

Setting the ECC @ 65 mph returns about 42 mpg;

Setting the ECC @ 70 mph returns about 38 mpg;

Setting the ECC @ 75 mph returns about 34 mpg;

Driving @ 70 mph into head wind only returned 30 mpg; ?

 

Measured with the fuel economy gauge over 30 min / 6 min intervals and some eyeballing based on the average line.

Driving 65 mph at 75 mph speed limit wasn't really fun but then again not a lot of traffic.

The stretch of I80 after Lincoln was perfect for those three speed test; NE being as flat as land can be the wind was gone and temperature was @ 70*

[GrySql]

Ok we made it to our first over night pitstop in North Platte NE.

 

Good info, we travel that way sometimes and spent the night at the Holiday Inn in N. Platte last year, going East - say hello to Buffalo Bill.

Are you going through Denver on I70, up and over into Utah?

That will be a test going Westbound up the Rockies and through the Eisenhower Tunnel at 11,000'.

Edited April 27, 2013 by GrySql

[corncobs]

@ GrySql

Yes that's the route we have planned. We are going to end up in Richfield UT.

 

What you are saying makes me very excited about today's section. Sounds like fun I love mountains unfortunately there aren't to many of them around Chicago ?

 

Ohh and on a forgotten side note from yesterday; I counted 10 13' Fusion's driving along. 8 going east; 1 passed me; 1 @ a gas station.

[jeff_h]

@ GrySql

Yes that's the route we have planned. We are going to end up in Richfield UT.

I used to live in CO and you would be interested in those results on I-70 between Denver and Richfield, there are a lot of long uphills and downhills... when you get to UT take a quick stop at Bryce Canyon and take some pics!

 

However for the rest of I-70 or I-80 through KS or NE, there's normally a steady wind coming from the west so you're dealing with nothing but headwinds... are you coming back the same way? If so, be sure to log the stats there too, would be interesting to see how things go with a steady tailwind.

[mokee]

Thanks for the report, and I'm looking forward to more. The winds on I-80 suck (so to speak) IMO. It seems you can never loosen a tight grip on the wheel. I'd rather go the southern route on I-40 than fight the winds. Eastbound is just as bad as westbound. Also, will you fillup with the lower octane regular or go with mid-grade in the mountains?

[GrySql]

@ GrySql

Yes that's the route we have planned. We are going to end up in Richfield UT.

 

What you are saying makes me very excited about today's section. Sounds like fun I love mountains unfortunately there aren't to many of them around Chicago

 

Ohh and on a forgotten side note from yesterday; I counted 10 13' Fusion's driving along. 8 going east; 1 passed me; 1 @ a gas station.

You're going to be short of breath for a while, the elevation in CO is amazing. We stay at the Holiday Inn in Richfield, UT too. Utah is quite a sight, definitely pull over and look around.

 

If so, be sure to log the stats there too, would be interesting to see how things go with a steady tailwind.

I was driving with a 20-30mph tailwind last week and was amazed to see 50mpg + at 75mph, loved it. Lasted for about 40 miles, my best highway mileage ever.

[acdii]

I drove that in 2 days. Went to Chino CA last August in my F150. Stopped in Denver overnight, then finished up in Chino the next day. I was the only driver. What funny thats more miles than going to FL, yet I made better time.

[corncobs]

Hey folks quick update from I70 somewhere between Denver and Grand Jct.

 

First of all the last 3 hours or have been really cool; went thru Denver made a quick stop at lookout mtn. Then up the Rockies thru the tunnel and down again.

 

So far I'm more than impressed with the FFH performance; it's a truly awesome piece of modern technology; all the nice curvy roads just a blast; and the FE is IMO just astonishing;

We filled just before Denver and so far this tank is showing 36.3 mpg at 227 miles. Yes it's not 47 mpg ? but for going 65 mph thru the mountains it makes me more than happy.

I'm going to add pics tonight to back up my claims. I have some really cool once like ICE and EV working together and the EV pulling twice the load.

 

I love this car if that wasn't clear already

[jeff_h]

Hey folks quick update from I70 somewhere between Denver and Grand Jct.

 

First of all the last 3 hours or have been really cool; went thru Denver made a quick stop at lookout mtn. Then up the Rockies thru the tunnel and down again.

 

So far I'm more than impressed with the FFH performance; it's a truly awesome piece of modern technology; all the nice curvy roads just a blast; and the FE is IMO just astonishing;

We filled just before Denver and so far this tank is showing 36.3 mpg at 227 miles. Yes it's not 47 mpg but for going 65 mph thru the mountains it makes me more than happy.

I'm going to add pics tonight to back up my claims. I have some really cool once like ICE and EV working together and the EV pulling twice the load.

 

I love this car if that wasn't clear already

 

I used to love that trip on I-70 to go take day trips to go skiing... provided the road conditions were not too bad. That long uphill to get to the Eisenhower Tunnel and the long downhill back out the other side, pretty cool, eh? I wondered what kind of MPG would result, as of course it will stink going up those long uphills, but then on the long downhills you're using no gas but the HVB probably hits max charge and then burns off and may run the ICE just to do so.... did it?

 

Thanks for the update and the trip down memory lane too.

[GrySql]

Hey folks quick update from I70 somewhere between Denver and Grand Jct.

 

First of all the last 3 hours or have been really cool; went thru Denver made a quick stop at lookout mtn. Then up the Rockies thru the tunnel and down again.

 

So far I'm more than impressed with the FFH performance; it's a truly awesome piece of modern technology; all the nice curvy roads just a blast; and the FE is IMO just astonishing;

We filled just before Denver and so far this tank is showing 36.3 mpg at 227 miles. Yes it's not 47 mpg but for going 65 mph thru the mountains it makes me more than happy.

I'm going to add pics tonight to back up my claims. I have some really cool once like ICE and EV working together and the EV pulling twice the load.

 

I love this car if that wasn't clear already

The Glenwood Springs highway east of Grand Junction is a beaut too. Now for some mind boggling Utah high desert vistas.

 

Yes, making mpg's back after climbing the mountains is tough, plus your car is loaded for the trip.

[corncobs]

Finally made it to Richfield UT. That was a tough but really amazing day.

We decided to take a little detour to visit Arches National Park we timed it almost perfect and got there right around sunset.

 

The mpg keep impressing me the whole stretch between Brush CO and Thomson UT returned 36.8 over those 400 some miles. Oh yeah and I forgot probably 100 miles or so were driven by my wife at 75 mph she wanted to go faster and not care about mpg's ?. Otherwise we probably would have scratched 39 mpg or so.

 

Going down the mountains the HVB system was working overtime. With the down hill assist it uses the compression of the ICE and charging the HVB to keep the car at speed. Once the HVB was full the RPM of the ICE would go up quite a bit but even that wasn't always enough so I had to use the brakes once and a while.

As soon there was even the slightest chance for the car to discharge the HVB it would run the ICE but the car was propelled by EV; at least that what it looked like. Really fascinating for an electrical engineer like me to watch such awesome technology in action.

 

Our two detours today delayed our arrival by a few hours so no pics tonight. Tomorrow we are going to start the day at Bryce Canyon - very exciting.

Edited April 28, 2013 by corncobs

[CombsAuthor]

Fantastic!

I was thinking of you today and wondering about the trip. I grew up in Colorado and did that I-70 drive many many times. It's interesting to hear that how the Fusion did on those mountain roads (both up and down). It's got to be the ultimate test and it sounds like the Fusion performed very well.

 

Your mpg numbers sound very consistent with reviews and test drives. 36 to 40 mpg sounds pretty good for a car of this size traveling at highway speeds.

 

Travel safely out there...sounds like tomorrow is going to be pretty cool.

[corncobs]

Finally made it to our final stop in Thousand Oaks; what a drive today!

 

We went from Mt Carmel Jct UT where we filled up all the way to Thousand Oaks on one tank!!!

 

That's 478 miles on one tank which is a grand total of wait for it; 41.5 mpg.

To be fair we went thru Zion National Park which we drove completely in EV mode. I have a pic that shows 64.2 mpg after Zion and 29.7 miles.

We stopped just outside Las Vegas and between there and the final stop I managed to get 42.4 mpg.

 

Beside the amazing FE today the views were even more amazing. I have some nice once with the FFH in the canyon unfortunately she is a bit dirty; not really unexpected after 1500 miles but she still shines just like she was proud to be there.

 

I'm gonna add some pics to my gallery I only have my iPhone right now and I can't use the picture link method.

[CombsAuthor]

Congratulations on a successful journey!

 

Great mileage, and no problems...you can't beat that.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[LASooner]

I drive that route a lot because my dad lives just outside of Boulder, that's pretty exciting stuff.

[Da0ne]

thats still good mileage regardless, im hoping for similar if not better results on my drive from nyc to orlando,fl in 3 weeks i will also make a similar thread and update with pics along the way

[acdii]

Use facebook if you have it. I post pics off the iphone to only me, then copy the image url and post it here.

 

Like This.

[hybridbear]

Thanks for all the updates. We look forward to hearing more

[neod192]

Use facebook if you have it. I post pics off the iphone to only me, then copy the image url and post it here.

 

If you have an Android phone, just enable Instant Upload in Google+. My pictures upload automatically and all I have to do is use the URL when I post here :)

[gadgetguy]

If you have an Android phone, just enable Instant Upload in Google+. My pictures upload automatically and all I have to do is use the URL when I post here :)

That's a great idea.. Not sure why I didn't think about doing that. I use G+ all the time. Check your PM neod192...

[BradS7535]

Finally made it to our final stop in Thousand Oaks; what a drive today!

 

 

 

If you see me in my Deep Impact Blue Titanium around T.O. honk and wave!