My fuel economy master equation

[majorleeslow]

Hi everyone.. long time no msg.. been busy with stuff. finally got around getting back.. wanted to post this updated mpg averages I've been getting over the different temparature ranges.

 

hope it gives you some more understanding.

 

 

the lower axis is temperatures the trip was taken at and the mpgs (average for one or many trips) are across the vertical axis. Enjoy!

[majorleeslow]

Another important note is that this is just showing the mpg readout after the trip and does not account for the warmups during low temps in winter. Which usually shows up as a negative variance from the gallons used to fill up. usually around a little over 1 gallon per fillup.. so the actual mpg (as shown by Fuelly) is a bit lower than whats shown.

[hybridbear]

Looks like a bell curve

[majorleeslow]

The point I wanted to make is that some how 50F is a cutoff point where the car drops rapidly in mpg. Even with the same amount of (electrical) loads and driving the car simply doesn't allow same amount of EV miles ratio. Same is the case for rainy days. Seems the saved energy is used elsewhere to keep the battery temps at operational range.

[hybridbear]

The point I wanted to make is that some how 50F is a cutoff point where the car drops rapidly in mpg. Even with the same amount of (electrical) loads and driving the car simply doesn't allow same amount of EV miles ratio. Same is the case for rainy days. Seems the saved energy is used elsewhere to keep the battery temps at operational range.

I've found the same thing.

[tr7driver]

So this thread would indicate that I could leave my grill blockers in place until the daily low temperatures average above 50F to get the best mpg, It seems unless the highs would be freakishly high on those days, I would not damage the care from overheating during the warmer commute home.

[acdii]

I havent had mine off yet and have driven in 70* temps without issues. Going to leave mine on until daily temps are above 65*, still have the lower grill blocked too.

[hybridbear]

So this thread would indicate that I could leave my grill blockers in place until the daily low temperatures average above 50F to get the best mpg, It seems unless the highs would be freakishly high on those days, I would not damage the care from overheating during the warmer commute home.

We kept the foam in the grille for our Winnipeg trip a few weeks ago. We had the upper grille fully blocked and the lower grille almost completely blocked. In another thread (I think the winter strategy one) I detailed what we observed for temps. I would expect that temps might actually get higher in city driving with the blocking. Our temps then promptly dropped back down to the 30s & 40s so I haven't tested at higher temps in city driving. I'm thinking that I'll keep the upper grille blocked until temps reach the 70s during the day consistently.

[acdii]

The grill blocking helps keep temps up in city, but they wont be higher since you could be doing mostly EV. When I was monitoring temps, I saw it as low as 125* in city driving.