Road trip fuel mileage

[hybridbear]

Here's the last fill up in Edmonton. This was the drive from Calgary to Edmonton along with a few miles of driving around town. Edmonton is quite a bit lower than Calgary so that helped out gas mileage but we were also fighting the wind

 

[hybridbear]

Trips from today

 

From my aunt & uncle's house in Edmonton out of town to the first stop where my wife needed more coffee

 

Highway trips today. Good gas mileage because we were driving NW with ENE winds. The winds weren't perfectly behind us but were pretty close. There were a lot of hills and small mountains driving from Edmonton to Grande Prairie but the overall elevation is basically the same in Edmonton as where we are now in Grande Prairie. The overall day was over 46 MPG. The non-100% brake scores are from when my wife was driving lol

 

 

 

[corncobs]

But still 99% and still very good MPG #s you teached her well. ;-)

Edited June 21, 2013 by corncobs

[milleron]

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.

 

When I occasionally see numbers like that and the battery discharges, the ICE instantaneous MPG drops down to about 20 and gradually works it's way back up to near 40. You're saying that at highway speeds, you get 40 MPG even when bringing the charge back up?? If so, I think there's something wrong with my motor/generator or the HVB.

 

This is such a problem for me that I try to keep the cruise control high enough to prevent going into EV mode. I seem to do better just taking what the ICE will give me with occasional assistance from the motor on upgrades as opposed to allowing it to go into EV and then having to chug along at 64 mph and 20 mpg until the SOC gets fairly high again.

[milleron]

Is the ethanol content of regular gas different in Canada than it is in the States?

[hybridbear]

Is the ethanol content of regular gas different in Canada than it is in the States?

Most gas stations that we've bought gas from have said 10% ethanol on their pumps, just like MN

[aaronj1159]

 

When I occasionally see numbers like that and the battery discharges, the ICE instantaneous MPG drops down to about 20 and gradually works it's way back up to near 40. You're saying that at highway speeds, you get 40 MPG even when bringing the charge back up?? If so, I think there's something wrong with my motor/generator or the HVB.

 

This is such a problem for me that I try to keep the cruise control high enough to prevent going into EV mode. I seem to do better just taking what the ICE will give me with occasional assistance from the motor on upgrades as opposed to allowing it to go into EV and then having to chug along at 64 mph and 20 mpg until the SOC gets fairly high again.

It really depends on the situation. If my battery has been mostly discharged (let's just say it's at below half capacity) then I do see exactly what you describe. But what I usually see the car doing, and again this is on relatively flat stretched that I'm talking about, is it will say it's charging the battery most of the time, and then when it needs the extra help it discharges a little. It's like the car is trying to stay at 45 MPG instantaneously while keeping the battery around 80%. So it's playing a little balancing act, and I sometimes see it discharge a little more and the instantaneous will go even higher for awhile. I think this is when it's getting close to capacity on the battery.

 

And yes, this all happens above the EV threshold. Everything I've described was observed at 65 MPH, so no EV mode.

[hybridbear]

Trips from yesterday, Grande Prairie to Vancouver. We were driving through the mountains, tons of up & down and slowing down for sharp curves & small towns. Mostly we had the cruise set at 65 MPH but sometimes dropped down to 55 or 60 in areas where the speed limit was lower. Some sections the speed limit dropped to 80 kph which means we slowed down more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was really disappointed in my own brake scores yesterday. But in Canada they give you almost no warning. For example, in the US the LEAST warning we get to a decreased speed for construction etc is 1/4 mile. In Canada the MOST warning is 200 meters or 1/8 mile, if you get ANY warning at all. This means that a few times we came around a curve only to find that we had to go from 65 MPH down to 30 MPH in 1/8 of a mile. Or a few times we had to go from 65 to 0 in 1/8 mile because of construction requiring us to completely stop.

 

There is also no warning as you near small towns so the speed limit drops from about 65 MPH down to 30 with only 200 meters warning. Most towns are also at the bottom of a hill which further hurts the brake score :(

[hybridbear]

Gas tanks. Check out Fuelly notes by clicking in my signature for more info about tanks

 

Grande Prairie to Jasper, AB

 

Jasper to Abbotsford, BC

 

That's 14 hours driving yesterday not counting the time stopped for breaks. It was a long day!! And I drove the whole day because my wife wasn't feeling good

[kuzzi]

How do you keep your disc brakes from rusting seeing as how you NEVER USE THEM! ;)

[terryb]

How do you keep your disc brakes from rusting seeing as how you NEVER USE THEM! ;)

And how do you get such high mileage with such low EV percentages?

I get EV#s approaching 50% of tank miles and get <38mpg!

[acdii]

Very light usage on the go juice is how.

 

 

 

 

Secretly though I heard he makes his wife get out and push occasionally.

[corncobs]

Or he cut a hole in the floor and doing it Fred Flintstone style.

[hybridbear]

And how do you get such high mileage with such low EV percentages?

I get EV#s approaching 50% of tank miles and get <38mpg!

We have been doing. 65-70 MPH on this trip which keeps the ICE from turning off and discharging the battery which seems to lead to higher gas mileage. When I drive I've been trying to roll with the hills by speeding up down the grades and slowing down uphill which also likely helps

[hybridbear]

Very light usage on the go juice is how.

 

 

 

 

Secretly though I heard he makes his wife get out and push occasionally.

Hahahaha! We haven't actually even been that light on the pedal. It's just all highway miles

[hybridbear]

Trips from Vancouver to Spokane, WA yesterday

 

 

 

 

 

Overall MPG for the day was 43.5 going 65 MPH all day

[hybridbear]

Trips so far today

 

 

 

 

 

So far today is tracking at 44.6 MPG with just under 150 miles to go to Billings where we're going to spend the night

[hybridbear]

Gas tank from Abbotsford to Coeur d'Alene, ID. Click on Fuelly signature to see my notes with more info about this tank

 

[hybridbear]

Fill up in Billings. I filled up with mid-grade 88 octane since the regular is 85.5 octane here and the mid-grade was only $.02/gal more. See Fuelly notes for more details

 

[hybridbear]

Last leg of our journey, mostly 75 MPH because my wife was in a hurry to get to the hotel & to bed. Very pleased :) overall MPG today was 44.3 from start to finish

 

[corncobs]

Those are again some impressive numbers for such long distance travel.

Keep traveling safe and fuel efficient you are truly an inspiration to always try to improve on MPG #s.

[acdii]

It might come down to me having to take the HyTi to Mn this week. The Flex still isnt done, which p1$$3$ me off since the main reason for having the Flex is for these trips! With 5 people and luggage cramming the trunk I do not look forward to the trip now, since I know the car will be overloaded, already tried a trip with all of us in the car without the luggage and the car struggled. I could feel the weight in how it rode and handled. If the Flex isnt ready on Monday as they say, then looks like I will have to cancel the trip.

 

Besides, I dont want to screw up my getting really good lifetime!

[hybridbear]

First leg this morning @ 75 MPH. Since we have 850 miles to cover today to get home we're doing 75 MPH the whole way. So far we're getting 37.3 for the day

 

 

We're nearing Bismarck now where we'll get gas and then I'll drive again for awhile. Tomorrow or Monday I'll add the overall trip numbers and some notes we've made about highway driving in the FFH

Edited June 29, 2013 by hybridbear

[hybridbear]

Next leg driving 75 MPH east across North Dakota with strong north winds blowing the car sideways

 

 

Going to get gas now

[hybridbear]

The elevation change from Spokane to Billings was not in our favor but we still got good gas mileage. From Billings to Bismarck was downhill but the high speed hurt our MPGs

 

Spokane elevation - 1873 ft

Billings elevation - 3123 ft

Bismarck elevation - 1686 ft