Road trip fuel mileage

[hybridbear]

I'm going to use this thread to share information about our road trip. I think I'm going to reset Trip 1 when we leave home on Saturday and leave it alone for the duration of the trip and I'll reset Trip 2 each time we buy gas and I'll record the gas stops on Fuelly. I think I'll reset the MPG that are shared across the Empower, Engage etc screens with every 1000 miles to have a longer term fuel economy number than the per tank average on Trip 2 but less than looking at the entire trip MPGs, especially as we get closer to home. I might reset this MPG display more often too, I'm going to play it by ear for this one. Maybe I'll reset it daily to see what our MPGs are for each day of travelling or each day of driving around the city where we're staying visiting family.

 

Hopefully this will provide valuable real world data for prospective and current owners about what the car can do at highway speeds across different types of terrain and varying temperatures.

[gadgetguy]

I'm going to use this thread to share information about our road trip. I think I'm going to reset Trip 1 when we leave home on Saturday and leave it alone for the duration of the trip and I'll reset Trip 2 each time we buy gas and I'll record the gas stops on Fuelly. I think I'll reset the MPG that are shared across the Empower, Engage etc screens with every 1000 miles to have a longer term fuel economy number than the per tank average on Trip 2 but less than looking at the entire trip MPGs, especially as we get closer to home. I might reset this MPG display more often too, I'm going to play it by ear for this one. Maybe I'll reset it daily to see what our MPGs are for each day of travelling or each day of driving around the city where we're staying visiting family.

 

Hopefully this will provide valuable real world data for prospective and current owners about what the car can do at highway speeds across different types of terrain and varying temperatures.

Sounds great! I'm sure with your hybrid ninja skills you will do great! Safe travels and as always I look forward to your posts...

[neod192]

Where are you going?

[acdii]

Will you be back first week of July?

[hybridbear]

Where are you going?

Driving across Canada to visit family. My wife is from Canada originally and my dad is as well so we both have family spread out across Canada.

 

Will you be back first week of July?

Yes, we're taking 2 weeks for the trip.

 

Left today. Here is a pic from the first leg from home until first bathroom break. Construction delays cost us MPGs because we spend 30 mins inching along. It was all in EV mode but it wasn't a good use of the battery because once we sped up again it took a long time at 20 MPG for the ICE to build up charge and go back to 40-45 on the instant gauge. Looking over at the dash now we show 43.3 so far for today after 200+ miles. Hopefully traffic crossing the border into Canada won't be too bad.

 

 

Also, absolutely no reason not to use grille cover even on summer highway drives. It's 80 degrees and sunny and we've had A/C on since the beginning and the coolant temp hasn't exceeded 85 C according to ET Mode that I've seen. The coolant temp actually gets warmer in city driving in this heat than on freeway

[corncobs]

Safe travels ...

[fusionTX]

Enjoy your trip and be safe!

[djminfll]

Have a safe trip, looking forward to mileage updates! :)

[hybridbear]

42.8 as of today. Was 42.4 when arriving in Winnipeg but limited city driving the past few days has raised the avg MPG. Tomorrow we drive to Calgary. Temps are supposed to be in the high 70s but with strong winds out of the south at 15-20 MPH. The winds will again be hitting us from the side and will no doubt lower our fuel economy. I'll update again within the next few days

[hybridbear]

Here is a pic of driving around Winnipeg showing that it's not just in Minneapolis that I can get great mileage

 

[hybridbear]

Here are some pics of individual tanks so far. Overall trip is about 42.5 MPG going 65 or 70 MPH with strong crosswinds most of the miles. The current tank is the worst so far, less than 40 MPG

 

Minneapolis to Fargo

 

Fargo to Winnipeg

 

Winnipeg to Balgonie, SK

Edited June 19, 2013 by hybridbear

[hybridbear]

Finally arrived in Calgary. It seems that the highway mileage isn't any better than any other 4 cylinder car at high speeds. The electric assist only serves to offset the weight penalty from the batteries. But in the short city bursts the hybrid has a big advantage!

Edited June 19, 2013 by hybridbear

[hybridbear]

Worst mileage yet today, only about 40 MPG overall. We drove 70 MPH most of the day because we had such a large distance to cover. We were also dealing with strong crosswinds all day. First we had 15-25 MPH winds from the south while we drove west and then the winds shifted and were out of the north, both times across the car. Again using AC all day. We also climbed from 750 ft above sea level in Winnipeg to 4000 ft above sea level here in Calgary.

 

Overall 40 MPG in those conditions is very good and I'm very happy

[fusionTX]

Worst mileage yet today, only about 40 MPG overall. We drove 70 MPH most of the day because we had such a large distance to cover. We were also dealing with strong crosswinds all day. First we had 15-25 MPH winds from the south while we drove west and then the winds shifted and were out of the north, both times across the car. Again using AC all day. We also climbed from 750 ft above sea level in Winnipeg to 4000 ft above sea level here in Calgary.

Overall 40 MPG in those conditions is very good and I'm very happy

Close to 40 MPG hanging around 70 MPH, under windy conditions and climbing, seems quite good to me.

[corncobs]

Close to 40 MPG hanging around 70 MPH, under windy conditions and climbing, seems quite good to me.

I have to agree your MPGs are a lot better than mine at this speed. I guess having the luxury wheels results in slightly lower numbers especially at higher speeds.

[aaronj1159]

Finally arrived in Calgary. It seems that the highway mileage isn't any better than any other 4 cylinder car at high speeds. The electric assist only serves to offset the weight penalty from the batteries. But in the short city bursts the hybrid has a big advantage!

My experience would disagree with this. My electric assist can get and hold my instantaneous MPG in the mid-50's or so very frequently. Then when it shuts off or recharges it'll drop back down to around 40. But there are a lot of variables like wind, road condition, temperature, etc.

[hybridbear]

My experience would disagree with this. My electric assist can get and hold my instantaneous MPG in the mid-50's or so very frequently. Then when it shuts off or recharges it'll drop back down to around 40. But there are a lot of variables like wind, road condition, temperature, etc.

I wonder if you're descending when you see this. Since we spent all day yesterday climbing our instant fuel economy usually hovered right around 40 MPG unless we were on a noticeable downhill grade. The next few legs of our trip will be significant changes in elevation as well.

 

Edmonton has an elevation of 2200 feet do we will be descending almost 1800 feet compared to where we are here in Calgary.

 

Grande Prairie has an elevation of 2195 feet do that trip should be pretty flat. From there we'll go up into the Rockies and down the other side to sea level in Vancouver. I'll watch to see how the car performs on flat drives.

 

The first day (Mpls to Winnipeg) we went from 830 feet in Mpls to 904 feet in Fargo to 781 feet in Winnipeg. Yet we saw the best gas mileage that day from Minneapolis to Fargo because north of Fargo we had very strong crosswinds. This shows how much the wind penalty is. By clicking my Fuelly badge below you can see my notes from each fuel up which document the fill up location and the travels covered. Notice that MPGs from Mpls to Fargo are higher even though Fargo to Winnipeg is a more favorable elevation profile

Edited June 19, 2013 by hybridbear

[aaronj1159]

I wonder if you're descending when you see this. Since we spent all day yesterday climbing our instant fuel economy usually hovered right around 40 MPG unless we were on a noticeable downhill grade. The next few legs of our trip will be significant changes in elevation as well.

 

 

Near as I can tell, no. It's not noticeable anyways. Generally when I'm descending and I see good MPGs, the car takes that opportunity to recharge instead of discharge. I do see what you're talking about in other portions of my drive, but on the flattest road I take I see the previously mentioned behavior.

[acdii]

At least crosswinds in the Fusion dont knock you around like they do in a Prius. Between that and that stupid off/on traction control, we did not like that car at all, even if it did get 65 MPG highway.

[hybridbear]

Filled in Calgary. This is our worst tank so far. From Balgonie, SK to Calgary, AB. We drove 70 MPH with 20+ MPH crosswinds and also were climbing. Balgonie is 2200 feet above sea level and in Calgary we're 4000 feet above sea level

Edited June 20, 2013 by hybridbear
fix typo

[keithsm2]

well..i dont feel quite as bad now getting 35 mpg at 78 mph with a slight climb from dallas to Wichita

[hybridbear]

Last night driving to Edmonton from Calgary we got about 42.5 MPG. We were driving 65 in some stretches and 70 MPH in others. Overall our elevation declined about 1800 feet on many rolling hills. The winds were very strong, 20-30 MPH blowing out of the east while we drove north. We also drove through heavy rain for about 15 miles or so. Calgary to Edmonton is about 175 miles. I was hoping for better since we were going downhill but the winds were terrible.

[keithsm2]

what are you carrying for people and luggage?? I had 3 and a pretty full trunk on my trips.

[MXGOLF]

Thanks for the road reports! They confirm all the variables in driving the FFH. You are really getting pretty good mileage compared to my lemon. I am taking a trip in August so I am curious to what my mileage will be since I am not getting very good MPG so far.

[hybridbear]

what are you carrying for people and luggage?? I had 3 and a pretty full trunk on my trips.

Just my wife & me, and a trunk full of luggage along with quite a bit of stuff in the backseat. I don't know how much the luggage weighs but I'd guess it's at least the weight of having a 3rd person in the car