What is your current MPG

[djminfll]

Since I started my commute to Miami each day, the traffic conditions are optimum for hybrid mpgs. I have been running 47-48 mpg each way to work pretty consistently, and my dashboard lifetime has finally gone from 43.9mpg to 44mpg! I'm anticipating continued improvement since my daily commute is so ideal for my car.

Edited November 17, 2014 by djminfll

[larrylwill]

Pretty good, When I bought the car I drove from Va to Al and got 42mpg. I live at the top of a Mt about 1400 ft and have to drive up/dn. I was getting 37.6 until last month and now 36.6 in the last month.

I'm wondering how the hybrid computer works. Tonight I was sitting at a red light on level ground. Battery full charged, engine off. I slowly pressed the gas and the engine starts, Why doesn't it start on battery? Later I was again at a light on level ground battery almost full and slowley gave it gass and it started on battery for about 100 yards then switched to engine. It acts like its more important to charge the battery then use it.

[mwr]

I'm wondering how the hybrid computer works. Tonight I was sitting at a red light on level ground. Battery full charged, engine off. I slowly pressed the gas and the engine starts, Why doesn't it start on battery? Later I was again at a light on level ground battery almost full and slowley gave it gass and it started on battery for about 100 yards then switched to engine. It acts like its more important to charge the battery then use it.

I've noticed the same thing. but when I look closer I see that the battery is discharging at the same time the gas engine is running; the engine is at lower rpm and very quiet. It seems to be using the engine in an "easy" way to supplement the battery/electric motor power.

 

But when the SOC is low at a full stop, starting to accelerate uses the engine to both accelerate the car and also charge the battery, causing the engine to rev higher and get louder, not very "refined" at all. I guess that's the price we pay for the high mpg.

[djminfll]

Pretty good, When I bought the car I drove from Va to Al and got 42mpg. I live at the top of a Mt about 1400 ft and have to drive up/dn. I was getting 37.6 until last month and now 36.6 in the last month.

I'm wondering how the hybrid computer works. Tonight I was sitting at a red light on level ground. Battery full charged, engine off. I slowly pressed the gas and the engine starts, Why doesn't it start on battery? Later I was again at a light on level ground battery almost full and slowley gave it gass and it started on battery for about 100 yards then switched to engine. It acts like its more important to charge the battery then use it.

Batteries alone aren't powerful enough to propel the vehicle when acceleration is necessary. If you accelerate painfully slowly, you can usually keep the batteries providing the power, but I wouldn't do that if there is anyone behind me since most people will not be too pleased to be behind you. Going downhill should keep the car in EV mode almost 100% of the time,

[larrylwill]

True, going downhill, starting my battery does charge but the mpg goes below 20mpg until I get up to speed.

[acdii]

A lot has to do with how you trained the car. If you were a Hybrid driver prior to getting the car, chances are you would have trained the car to use battery more from a dead stop, where if you were a non hybrid driver, your training would have preferred more ICE to go from a stop. With mine I can easily accelerate to 25-30 MPH on battery alone. The only time I can't is if its cold outside. This morning 8-12*, and the slightest touch puts it on ICE. Normally I can lightly press the pedal and get up to 25 MPH dead silent.

 

These cars have a learning curve, and react by how you drive them the first few hundred miles, and once trained, they tend to stay that way even after you changed your driving habits, unless you wipe the memory and start over, or wait several thousand miles for it to gradually relearn new curves.

[mwr]

A lot has to do with how you trained the car. If you were a Hybrid driver prior to getting the car, chances are you would have trained the car to use battery more from a dead stop, where if you were a non hybrid driver, your training would have preferred more ICE to go from a stop. With mine I can easily accelerate to 25-30 MPH on battery alone. The only time I can't is if its cold outside. This morning 8-12*, and the slightest touch puts it on ICE. Normally I can lightly press the pedal and get up to 25 MPH dead silent.

 

These cars have a learning curve, and react by how you drive them the first few hundred miles, and once trained, they tend to stay that way even after you changed your driving habits, unless you wipe the memory and start over, or wait several thousand miles for it to gradually relearn new curves.

I can lightly press the pedal and get up to 25 MPH dead silent as long as the SOC is high enough. If I press harder on the accelerator, the ICE starts but stays low rpm and quiet, sort of in assisting mode. Good acceleration but still pretty quiet.

 

But at a lower SOC (not almost 0 SOC but just fairly low), the ICE revs and gets loud as it both accelerates the car and charges the HVB. Is there any way to avoid that last mode, instead making the car wait to charge the HVB until a constant speed is reached?

[acdii]

Thats quite normal, and how it should operate. For those who have a full SOC and can't accelerate on pure EV, its a training issue. You trained it well :)

[mwr]

Thats quite normal, and how it should operate. For those who have a full SOC and can't accelerate on pure EV, its a training issue. You trained it well :)

I didn't/don't usually accelerate in EV mode because it's too gradual, but instead get up to speed fairly quickly. Nevertheless, what I said above is how it works for me at about 1,i00 miles. I do wish there was a way to get the car to also use the HVB/electric motor during acceleration with fairly low SOC, waiting to charge the HVB at cruising speed.

Edited November 17, 2014 by mwr

[hybridbear]

The only time I can't is if it's cold outside. This morning 8-12*, and the slightest touch puts it on ICE.

This is the key. When the HVB temp gets below freezing the car begins to limit how quickly the battery can be charged or discharged. This will lead to 100% brake scores that used almost all brake pads and limited EV acceleration or cruising. Once the HVB warms up it will run like in warmer weather.

[larrylwill]

Since my mpg has dropped at least 1mpg over the last 2 months, should I reset it and try again? What would it hurt? What in entailed in a reset and how do I do it? How long does it take for the retraining. This is my first hybrid.

Driving up/dn the mountain is a problem. I only have about 3800 miles and this is the first winter. It was around 50 last night when I noticed the starting from the light I posted about.

Thanks for all the answers.

[darrelld]

Since my mpg has dropped at least 1mpg over the last 2 months, should I reset it and try again? What would it hurt? What in entailed in a reset and how do I do it? How long does it take for the retraining. This is my first hybrid.

Driving up/dn the mountain is a problem. I only have about 3800 miles and this is the first winter. It was around 50 last night when I noticed the starting from the light I posted about.

Thanks for all the answers.

 

I reset trip 1 at every tank and use trip 2 for my vehicle lifetime tracking.

[acdii]

Retraining is a complex procedure. You have to disconnect both the 12V and the HVB, let the car rest for at least 30 minutes, then plug it all back in. The Key though is to be able to train it on normal roads. Since you travel up and down a mountain, I think you would be back where you are now.

[skyleaf]

I love this car In warm weather ,the av mpg is going up quickly (0.1mpg increased every 2-3 days), now the winter is coming, the last few days It dropped so quickly (0.1mpg decreased every 2 days), the av mpg on my dashboard drop from 49.8 to 49.4 since my last post :( Im living in Chicago, weather is turning very cold already , Im wonder how low my mpg will be when the winter end lol.

 

Also have anyone seen this before? This morning, I was driving to work, I drove about 15 miles and after I made a right turn, the av mpg on my dash(@empower screen) changed from "49.4" to "- -" for few seconds ,then the av mpg going down to 22 something then going up to 72 then back down to 33 something, after that the av mpg on that screen is just like live time mpg , When ICE on it goes down 0.1-0.03+ , EV on it goes up 0.01-0.03+ . Sorry Im not in good English ,hope you guys understand what I say.

[acdii]

OOH a new bug!

[keith705]

I love this car In warm weather ,the av mpg is going up quickly (0.1mpg increased every 2-3 days), now the winter is coming, the last few days It dropped so quickly (0.1mpg decreased every 2 days), the av mpg on my dashboard drop from 49.8 to 49.4 since my last post :( Im living in Chicago, weather is turning very cold already , Im wonder how low my mpg will be when the winter end lol.

 

Also have anyone seen this before? This morning, I was driving to work, I drove about 15 miles and after I made a right turn, the av mpg on my dash(@empower screen) changed from "49.4" to "- -" for few seconds ,then the av mpg going down to 22 something then going up to 72 then back down to 33 something, after that the av mpg on that screen is just like live time mpg , When ICE on it goes down 0.1-0.03+ , EV on it goes up 0.01-0.03+ . Sorry Im not in good English ,hope you guys understand what I say.

The first rule of living in Chicago and driving a hybrid is to not watch your MPG in the winter, it's depressing. In the summer, my commute shows 53-57mpg but in the winter... Well, last night it was about 10f when I left work and when I got home I pulled an amazing 46mpg. It will get worse once we have some snow, the combination of traffic congestion and low temperatures kill my MPG since, unlike in the summer, I'll burn some gas while stopped when the engine gets too cold. In then end this translates to an extra 1 - 1.5 gallons of fuel per week for me (I fill up every Tuesday night, not when the tank is empty) so I have to stop bragging about using 5 gals to drive 270 miles, at the worst last year I was using 6.5 gals on an average 270 mile week. It's not really bad, all things considered, to still get better than 41mpg in a car this size. And, I suppose I could get it a little higher if I wanted too but I refuse to give up comfort for another mpg or two by turning the heat way down.

 

My lifetime average has dropped .3 from 48.8 to 48.5, it isn't even December yet and this isn't the lowest it will go. Since I have 33k miles on my hybrid now the lifetime average is normally a little slower to change so this is kind of depressing. Last spring I started at a lifetime average of 42 and quickly climbed into the 47's and then took a couple months to get back to the upper 48's. One good trip doesn't do it for me anymore, now I need a full good week :)

 

Edit:

I should also add that I have a heated garage at home and I warm up the car for about 10 minutes with the remote start before leaving from work. Without those I';m sure my winter MPG would be even lower.

Edited November 19, 2014 by keith705

[hybridbear]

Edit:

I should also add that I have a heated garage at home and I warm up the car for about 10 minutes with the remote start before leaving from work. Without those I';m sure my winter MPG would be even lower.

Remote start fuel used is not counted by the car anywhere either which inflates your dash readings.

[Short Fuse 14]

I noticed an interesting phenomenon the other day! I had just filled up and NEVER top off the tank and very shortly noticed that there was a small gap on the fuel gauge. I only had 8.4 miles since the gas station.

 

I decided to get gas again the next day and, again, just allowed the pump to shut itself off. The receipt showed 1 gallon more fuel dispensed than the car indicated had been consumed.

 

So, every conversation / statement regarding fuel economy is related to yet one more variable; The fuel pump!

 

Edited because I can't spell

 

Just saying,

Edited November 19, 2014 by Short Fuse 14

[darrelld]

I noticed an interesting phenomenon the other day! I had just filled up and NEVER top off the tank and very shortly noticed that there was a small gap on the fuel gauge. I only had 8.4 miles since the gas station.

 

I decided to get gas again the next day and, again, just allowed the pump to shut itself off. The receipt showed 1 gallon more fuel dispensed than the car indicated had been consumed.

 

So, every conversation / statement regarding fuel economy is related to yet one more variable; The fuel pump!

 

Edited because I can't spell

 

Just saying,

 

 

I noticed this first with my C-Max. Now I fill up till the pump shuts itself off and squeeze the handle one last time till it shuts off again. More consistent fills on both my C-Max and Fusion by using this technique.

Edited November 19, 2014 by darrelld

[keith705]

Remote start fuel used is not counted by the car anywhere either which inflates your dash readings.

 

It's painfully obvious with how severely the number of EV miles drops when I don't use it :)

 

I wouldn't say it "inflates" MPG readings, the dash readings still record the trip as it is. Saying remote start inflates MPGs is like saying shutting the car off when you run errands inflates the MPG readings because the car is still warm when you start it back up to leave. Regardless, in the spring, fall and summer I use about 5 gallons a week, in the winter I use around 6 gallons a week and I almost always get in a total of right around 270 miles per week. Since I see around 20% fewer EV miles in the winter at the end of each trip the fuel used by warming it up is insignificant for me. I'm sure if my commute was 5 miles instead of 20 I would feel differently.

 

The drop in recorded EV miles and decreased displayed MPG also lines up almost perfectly with the increase in fuel added at the pump. I lose 20% average MPG on my commute, I get 20% fewer EV miles on an average commute and I use 20% more gasoline in an average week. So whether or not the fuel used when warming up is included or not seems really irrelevant to me. Maybe in the summer it matters.

[acdii]

I have come to use the same pump for every fill so at least I know that when it clicks off it will be the same as the last fill and the one before that. However, here is something to note, which goes back a ways to what I had originally stated after reading the PDF on how the systems function. If you run well past the DTE based on fuel consumed, when it says DTE 0 at 10.5 gallons, and you drive another 40-60 miles past, then fill it up and put in a bit more than the trip says you used, after a few tanks like this, DTE gets to be closer to reality than previously. Mine used to go red at 10.5 gallons and this last tank with 6 miles past DTE 0 it said I used 12.4 gallons, and I put in just a little more than that at first click. Yeah! Getting to be more accurate.

[Nick P]

Quick update. I'm at 28,790 miles with lifetime average MPG of 50.1. Unfortunately it's mid-November so I'll be dropping until the weather gets above 50 degrees. 50 degrees seems to be the cutoff between lower mileage and higher mileage. I won't stay above 50 MPG through the winter but I'm not complaining one bit. Especially with that nice check from Ford all snuggly and warm in my bank account.

[md13ffhguy]

I have come to use the same pump for every fill so at least I know that when it clicks off it will be the same as the last fill and the one before that.

Or so you think... I mean, it's a good theory...

[mwr]

I just did my second fill-up with all driving done by me. This tank came in almost exactly the same as the first one. Same pump, same first-click-off.

 

Tank 1: 501 miles, 11.055 gallons, 45.3 mpg. Car computer showed 47.1 mpg, 30 miles to E.

Tank 2: 502 miles, 11.126 gallons, 45.1 mpg. Car computer showed 47.4 mpg, 25 miles to E.

 

Same type of driving, suburban including town streets and 60 mph freeway, hills, some 70 mph freeway.

 

Curious to me that the car's computer showed a bit more divergence from actual mpg, not less.

[md13ffhguy]

Curious to me that the car's computer showed a bit more divergence from actual mpg, not less.

That's fairly typical. My dash numbers are routinely 2-4 MPGs over calculated. It can vary wildly from tank to tank, based on the volume pumped. Even over the long run, my dash is 3.3 MPGs higher than calculated.