pluggedin Posted October 14, 2013 at 02:29 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 at 02:29 PM Last Friday my wife and left our home in AZ to attend a Saturday memorial service for a long time friend who passed away recently. The memorial was to be held on the flight deck of the USS Midway which is currently docked in downtown San Diego as a museum. I wanted to run a little test of what speed would do to my miles per gallon so I held the car to a maximum of 70 mph on the way over and 80 mph (in AZ) on the way back. The air conditioner was running about 50% of the time and the vent open the rest of the time. At the outset of the trip my average mpg, displayed on the center of the console, was around 154 mpg and that dropped like a rock, since this trip was almost all freeway driving and I was in EV Later mode practically the whole trip. When I left AZ I had 21 miles of EV battery available and when I got back I had 12 of those mile left, which I used up just before I got back to the house Saturday night. I was unable to plug in anywhere during the trip. On the first leg of the trip I used Trip 1 and noted that it reported 453.6 miles driven, with 11.3 gallons of fuel used, for an average of 40.1 mpg on the way over to San Diego. Those miles also include driving from where we stayed Friday night to downtown San Diego and back, which was also mostly freeway driving. On the way back to AZ I reset Trip 2 to zero and kicked the max speed up to 80 mph and logged 439.2 miles and used 12.46 gallons of fuel for an average of 35.2 mpg on Trip 2. The difference for the two segments is 40.1 mpg (trip 1) minus 35.2 mpg (trip 2)=4.9 mpg; which represents about a 12.22% drop in efficiency at the higher speed. My total drive time was 15:01:29 hours with an overall average of 37.6 mpg, according to Trip 1, which I didn't reset until after I got home. A drop of 4.9 mpg is pretty significant and it still took us around 7 hours to get home at the higher speed. So if you are not in a hurry to get from point A to point B, a slower highway speed will give you much better fuel economy without sacrificing that much time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckJ Posted October 17, 2013 at 01:07 AM Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 at 01:07 AM Thanks for the feedback, it's about the same as I'm experiencing. Usually people say you have to get 10,000 miles before you start getting your best mileage. With the engine being off most of the time, I'm not sure when we will hit the sweat spot, but 40 on the road is just fine with me given the fantastic mileage (now have hit 60 MPGe overall since we've owned the car-2800 miles). ChuckJ pluggedin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluggedin Posted October 17, 2013 at 01:30 AM Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 at 01:30 AM Thanks for the feedback, it's about the same as I'm experiencing. Usually people say you have to get 10,000 miles before you start getting your best mileage. With the engine being off most of the time, I'm not sure when we will hit the sweat spot, but 40 on the road is just fine with me given the fantastic mileage (now have hit 60 MPGe overall since we've owned the car-2800 miles). ChuckJIf I had been able to use the 120V charger in San Diego my numbers would have been a little better but it just isn't easy to find a plug that you can use for 7+ hours while on the road. Local driving, using EV Now, is where we really realize the benefit of this car and, fortunately for me, that is what most of my driving is. I have had some pretty phenomenal mileage stats since I purchased this car...not to mention its ride, comfort and outstanding appearance. Filling the gas tank once every other month really puts a smile on my face. So far, I am a very proud owner. ChuckJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD Diver Posted October 17, 2013 at 02:32 AM Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 at 02:32 AM I'm going to be going on a long trip over the holidays. If I assume that I can find a plug at a hotel, I'd still be nervous having the L1 factory supplied charger out in the open. If I assume that I can use a heavy duty extension cord, I think I'll try to get a thick cable lock to lock the unit to either the front left wheel or some other convenient point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulinPalmSprings Posted November 13, 2013 at 05:25 AM Report Share Posted November 13, 2013 at 05:25 AM SD Driver - when I took my Energi Cross country, I kept it plugged in at hotels overnight. I turned the 'light ring' off (in your preferences on the sync system) so the flashing ring around the charger wouldn't draw attention. Then I would drive the car over the cable so it went from the charging port to under the front wheel.. no one would be able to take it. I had a small heavy duty extension cord - but once I used a friends long, not-so-heavy-duty extension cord and it actually shorted the extension cord out.. so beware. Have a great trip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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