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Not that you should have to, but have you tried a fuel efficient style of driving? I've been able to extend my gasoline + other's hybrids MPG quite a bit from i

Not that you should have to, but have you tried a fuel efficient style of driving? I've been able to extend my gasoline + other's hybrids MPG quite a bit from it.

varelse 5y ago
Driving at ~50 mph IMO is not a practical driving style for a long trip on ~70 mph highways. But I do mostly set the adaptive cruise control and let it do the mileage management. When I drive around town I get between 4 and 5 miles per kWh doing exactly what you suggest.
bartread 5y ago
I don't hate this idea, but GP already added 3.5 - 4 hours to their trip just in charging. You really do have to start taking this stuff into account. I visit my parents who are ~200 miles away several times a year. The drive, during the day, averages 4 - 4.5 hours without stopping. At night it can come down to about 3 hours, but that's not always practical or - if I'm too tired - safe. Factoring in a charge along the way, assuming everything works, and I don't need to queue for a charger, would add 30 - 45 minutes. I'd have to do this because my parents live in a flat with no charging facilities onsite. Fuel efficient driving might add another 30 - 60 minutes to the journey, so suddenly we're into maybe a 5 - 6 hour drive each way even for the night driving option. Bearing in mind I'm often only able to go and visit them for a weekend, and that's a lot of time being sucked up just getting there and back. Shoddy charging infrastructure here in the UK is one of the main reasons I went plug-in hybrid in the end. I can charge at home overnight and do the journey to the office and back (not that I'm doing that very often) on electricity alone, and then the petrol engine is good for longer trips. Also, the car's pretty quick in "power" mode because it uses both electric and petrol together. (I'd also observe that fuel efficient driving can be aggravating for other road users and may not be practical or safe on some types/classifications of road.)
BluePen8 5y ago
On the flip side, I wish EV makers would advertise range at higher speeds. Hell, I wish ICE car makers would advertise MPG at higher speeds. Every weekend I head up around 200 miles away, and it's on an empty mountain pass with a 80MPH speed limit. In town, my sports sedan gets the same fuel economy as my old Tacoma, but on that trip the Tacoma consumes over 50% more if driven even remotely comparably (80+). The sports sedan has surprisingly little variance between 70-90MPH. While the truck's aerodynamics aren't helping, I've experienced the same in other "fuel-efficient" vehicles, where the fuel economy falls off a cliff once you go above 60MPH. A Chevy Aveo I owned was actually one of the worst offenders, you'd get on the highway and get SUV-tier fuel mileage.
- dahfizz 5y ago
  Its a trade-off with engine power. A small, low power engine is really efficient around town at low speeds (and scores well on EPA tests). But to drive at 80 mph, you have to put significant load on that tiny engine, making it really inefficient. A more powerful engine consumes more gas in general, but is operating in a much more efficient range at 80mph because it is not under much load.
- spicybright 5y ago
  It's weird, I've driven a few different cars and measured the MPG in them, and that's what I'm finding too. 60mph seems like the sweet spot. I wonder if they design specifically for that speed, as it's the speed on most highways in america (someone correct me if not true)
  - BizarroLand 5y ago
    Anecdotally I was once told that vehicles are turned to optimize their fuel economy around the 55mph mark.

Not that you should have to, but have you tried a fuel efficient style of driving? I've been able to extend my gasoline + other's hybrids MPG quite a bit from it.

varelse 5y ago

Driving at ~50 mph IMO is not a practical driving style for a long trip on ~70 mph highways. But I do mostly set the adaptive cruise control and let it do the mileage management. When I drive around town I get between 4 and 5 miles per kWh doing exactly what you suggest.

bartread 5y ago

I don't hate this idea, but GP already added 3.5 - 4 hours to their trip just in charging. You really do have to start taking this stuff into account. I visit my parents who are ~200 miles away several times a year. The drive, during the day, averages 4 - 4.5 hours without stopping. At night it can come down to about 3 hours, but that's not always practical or - if I'm too tired - safe. Factoring in a charge along the way, assuming everything works, and I don't need to queue for a charger, would add 30 - 45 minutes. I'd have to do this because my parents live in a flat with no charging facilities onsite. Fuel efficient driving might add another 30 - 60 minutes to the journey, so suddenly we're into maybe a 5 - 6 hour drive each way even for the night driving option. Bearing in mind I'm often only able to go and visit them for a weekend, and that's a lot of time being sucked up just getting there and back. Shoddy charging infrastructure here in the UK is one of the main reasons I went plug-in hybrid in the end. I can charge at home overnight and do the journey to the office and back (not that I'm doing that very often) on electricity alone, and then the petrol engine is good for longer trips. Also, the car's pretty quick in "power" mode because it uses both electric and petrol together. (I'd also observe that fuel efficient driving can be aggravating for other road users and may not be practical or safe on some types/classifications of road.)

BluePen8 5y ago

On the flip side, I wish EV makers would advertise range at higher speeds. Hell, I wish ICE car makers would advertise MPG at higher speeds. Every weekend I head up around 200 miles away, and it's on an empty mountain pass with a 80MPH speed limit. In town, my sports sedan gets the same fuel economy as my old Tacoma, but on that trip the Tacoma consumes over 50% more if driven even remotely comparably (80+). The sports sedan has surprisingly little variance between 70-90MPH. While the truck's aerodynamics aren't helping, I've experienced the same in other "fuel-efficient" vehicles, where the fuel economy falls off a cliff once you go above 60MPH. A Chevy Aveo I owned was actually one of the worst offenders, you'd get on the highway and get SUV-tier fuel mileage.

dahfizz 5y ago
Its a trade-off with engine power. A small, low power engine is really efficient around town at low speeds (and scores well on EPA tests). But to drive at 80 mph, you have to put significant load on that tiny engine, making it really inefficient. A more powerful engine consumes more gas in general, but is operating in a much more efficient range at 80mph because it is not under much load.
spicybright 5y ago
It's weird, I've driven a few different cars and measured the MPG in them, and that's what I'm finding too. 60mph seems like the sweet spot. I wonder if they design specifically for that speed, as it's the speed on most highways in america (someone correct me if not true)
- BizarroLand 5y ago
  Anecdotally I was once told that vehicles are turned to optimize their fuel economy around the 55mph mark.