Efficiency on longer highway trips...

[Griswald]

I am taking my new FFH on a failry long highway trip next week.

 

The first 275 miles will be on fairly flat 65 - 70 mph interstate (95 from Fayetteville, NC to Fredricksberg, MD) then about 50 on secondary highways to another 50 on interstates 66 and 81. Going to stop in Winchester VA.

 

As an option, I could go 200 miles on 95, 100 on interstate 64 and 92 on interstate 81. That might take longer, but would I benefit from it?

 

After that, I will be in the mountains of MD, VA and PA up to near State College.

 

I have made this trip many times in my Explorer Sport Trac and got about 20 MPG, getting 22 on the highways and 18 on the mountain roads.

 

Any helpful hints on highway driving? So far, I'm am able to average 40.6 on my commute and running around town, but have not had any time on highway driving.

 

I use the Empower screen, have ECO cruise turned on, disabled EV+ and try to use the 2-bar method of accelerating as much as possible.

 

Any guess on my MPG's for this trip?

 

Thanks

[rjent]

First of all, think about using the secondary highways. Usually less traffic, prettier views/drives, and a much less stressful drive. It usually adds about an hour on a days run, so factor that. If you have to use the Interstates, drive as slow as you can (60 to 65 should return around 44 to 45 MPG) without disrupting traffic flow. If you can drive the secondary highways, you can see as much as 50 on many stretches with averages in the high 40's.

 

I have been driving the US highway system for about 10 years now most of the time. Started in the Corvettes and now the FFH. Lay a route out on the older roads and try it. You may be pleasantly surprised!

 

JMHO :)

Edited May 16, 2014 by rjent

[Da0ne]

going straight i95 at 70 mph will probably net you 41 - 43 mpg that what i usually get from NYC to FL both ways better heading north for some reason

 

now on a trip i did from NYC to Charlotte NC i did most of my trip down I95 that got me this all the way to VA

 

and this was the other part thru the back roads and interstate like rjent said less traffic and able to maintain 60 - 65 mph

[KLH]

I travel 60m for a commute and average 43mpg. I would expect your experience to be similar on the highways.

[hybridbear]

We've typically experienced close to 45 MPG @ 65 MPH, 42 MPG @ 70 MPH and 38 MPG @ 75 MPH. A/C use, wind and elevation changes are assumed to be zero in those estimates and they're based on warm temps in the 60s.

[Waldo]

Using hybridbear's estimates over a 300 mile interstate trip means that at 65mph you will arrive 20 minutes later and save about $1.75 in gas versus driving at 70mph and 35 minutes later and save about $4.50 in gas versus 75mph.

 

Time is money, so only you can decide if your time savings justifies the fuel cost.

[Griswald]

Great advice.

 

I understand the secondary road thing, as I am a motorcycle rider as well. Maybe on the ride back home I will try to use secondary roads as far as I can.

 

On this trip, I will be leaving Fayetteville at around 4:00pm, so I shouldn't have a whole lot of traffic to deal with. Richmonds rush hour will be over long before I get there and that's the only real big city on the trip. I will set my cruise control to the speed limit and let it roll. The good thing is that the speed limit is mostly 70 from here to Richmond, and is 65 for the rest of the trip. I know my truck didn't feel "right" at anything over 72, so I'm used to that speed limit.

[jeff_h]

We've typically experienced close to 45 MPG @ 65 MPH, 42 MPG @ 70 MPH and 38 MPG @ 75 MPH. A/C use, wind and elevation changes are assumed to be zero in those estimates and they're based on warm temps in the 60s.

 

Road trip to PA last night was 109 miles at 54 MPG (had the Energi HVB help with that) with AC on, and then 208 miles at 45 MPG (Energi HVB long gone) with AC off, setting the CC mostly at 65 MPH. I'm pretty happy with that.

[hybridbear]

Using hybridbear's estimates over a 300 mile interstate trip means that at 65mph you will arrive 20 minutes later and save about $1.75 in gas versus driving at 70mph and 35 minutes later and save about $4.50 in gas versus 75mph.

 

Time is money, so only you can decide if your time savings justifies the fuel cost.

You're absolutely right. On both of our road trips in 2013 we drove faster on the last day coming home because we were ready to be back home. On our Canadian road trip we drove 75 MPH most of the last day to get home and our MPG correspondingly suffered. But, since we were covering 850 miles from Billings, MT to home in one day, driving 65 MPH would have taken almost 1.5 hours more than driving at 75 MPH (the speed limit). Thus we drove 75 that day. When we made the trek from Winnipeg to Calgary we also drove 70-75 because that was also 850 miles in one day plus a time zone change working against us. Grande Prairie, AB to Vancouver, BC was 800 miles in one day through the mountains with another time zone change working against us. We drove 75 MPH on the flat/straight stretches to save time as well. That day was the longest of them all, almost 17 hours on the road, because the mountains really slow you down. And Canadian highways have no shoulders and often no barrier to stop you from crashing down the side of the mountain so the speed limit was often 40 MPH on the mountain highways.

[jeffo65]

Just hop in the car and drive how you like. You will still do better than the 20mpg you have been getting with the Explorer. If you keep it around 65 you will get better mpgs than if you were going faster.

 

We recently got around 45 during trips to Chicago, Lousville, and Little Rock. It is better than we were getting without the FFH.

 

Drive the car to enjoy it.

[Griswald]

Just hop in the car and drive how you like. You will still do better than the 20mpg you have been getting with the Explorer. If you keep it around 65 you will get better mpgs than if you were going faster.

 

We recently got around 45 during trips to Chicago, Lousville, and Little Rock. It is better than we were getting without the FFH.

 

Drive the car to enjoy it.

 

Love that attitude...

I make this trip every year, so its not like I wouldn't go if I was only getting 35mpg...

 

The friends and fishing are worth it.

[acdii]

Whats funny is my MKT gets better MPG at 75 than 55. Complete opposite of the FFH.

[Griswald]

Ok, 1075 miles on 23.99 gallons of gasoline = 44.8 mpg.

 

 

Can't complain... I did not baby it or hypermile except tried to keep +3 on speed. I was on some seriously twisty mountain roads and did not have any problems with lacking power. No where as comfortable as the 03 Sport Trac, but nothing is!

 

The Ford nav is really quirky. Way too difficult to set.

[acdii]

Try using the Sync Destinations and send it to the car, much quicker to do.

[swingdj]

Using hybridbear's estimates over a 300 mile interstate trip means that at 65mph you will arrive 20 minutes later and save about $1.75 in gas versus driving at 70mph and 35 minutes later and save about $4.50 in gas versus 75mph.

 

Time is money, so only you can decide if your time savings justifies the fuel cost.

Absolutely true. But slower is generally safer. My time is worth more than a few bucks an hour but so is my life and those of my family.

[acdii]

Here is something I discovered recently. I was getting 50 MPG doing 70 MPH today. What I did was get the HVB up as high as it will go and feather the throttle to stay on ICE, and maintain speed. When going up grade I let it slip down in speed and recovered the speed on the other side.

 

Here is a shot I took of it last time I noticed it.

 

 

Here is the trip result from today.

 

[dalesky]

Love that attitude...

I make this trip every year, so its not like I wouldn't go if I was only getting 35mpg...

 

The friends and fishing are worth it.

At or under 70 is usually a good bet. I keep it at 65 and typically get 43mpg. Nothing to complain about!

[jeff_h]

At or under 70 is usually a good bet. I keep it at 65 and typically get 43mpg. Nothing to complain about!

 

Yep - we're on the road right now in her Energi, where we see from the other thread that the sticker rating is moving from 43 to 38? Ok, but keeping the cruise at 68 and staying nice and smooth can still yield pretty good numbers, as shown from yesterday's segments in the road trip from the MFM web site that Energis use.

 

[Eddie Sessum]

Whats funny is my MKT gets better MPG at 75 than 55. Complete opposite of the FFH.

 

 

I know im a bit late here, but my MKZ gets better MPG at 75 vs 65.

[Eddie Sessum]

Here is something I discovered recently. I was getting 50 MPG doing 70 MPH today. What I did was get the HVB up as high as it will go and feather the throttle to stay on ICE, and maintain speed. When going up grade I let it slip down in speed and recovered the speed on the other side.

 

Here is a shot I took of it last time I noticed it.

 

 

Here is the trip result from today.

 

 

 

This is something I have been saying about going into EV on the highway gives worse milage. They should have put a option in the menus for us with a couple of options for max speed EV.

[swingdj]

Do you think it makes a difference as you stay in ICE to keep the battery charging as much as possible (arrow up) or does that not matter?

[acdii]

I posted a video yesterday of a short section where with a nearly full charge(car wont go any higher under speed) the instant hovers around 50 MPG. Its a 38 second video to show its not a brief spurt with me taking my foot off the gas to take a picture. Had the windows down and enjoying the weather.

 

I dont remember where, or if it even works.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=739584589417011

 

If not I will upload to YouTube and repost.

Edited June 27, 2014 by acdii

[tgomer]

I just drove from Dallas to Houston and back and got 40.7 MPG. Had the A/C on and set the cruise on 77. Speed limit is 75 here in Texas. Barely any EV miles at all. It appears the ICE and CVT are more efficient above 65 MPH. Maybe the CVT stays in the tallest gear ratio at that speed.

[hybridbear]

I posted a video yesterday of a short section where with a nearly full charge(car wont go any higher under speed) the instant hovers around 50 MPG. Its a 38 second video to show its not a brief spurt with me taking my foot off the gas to take a picture. Had the windows down and enjoying the weather.

 

I dont remember where, or if it even works.

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=739584589417011

 

If not I will upload to YouTube and repost.

I get an error message.

 

This content is currently unavailable

The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.

[hybridbear]

I also agree that keeping the car out of EV mode is best on the highway. Larryh has done some computing of the MPGe that would be needed in EV mode to be better than just running the ICE the whole time and the threshold is rather high which means that you're unlikely to be better off on the freeway with EV cycling. You're better off rolling with the hills and keeping the power demand just above the threshold when going downhill and speeding up along the way and then gently slowing down as you go uphill.

 

I've been testing this out recently. It's hard to get conclusive, statistically sound results, but I believe it is increasing MPG.

 

Yesterday we drove out to a friend's house in Buffalo, 44 miles each way of rolling hills through the country at 55-60 MPH. We got 47 MPG going out with A/C on driving in the rain and 50 MPG coming home with windows cracked & the sunroof open. The 44 mile trip had less than 10 EV miles versus maybe 25 EV miles if I had let the cruise control drive and do normal cycling.