First road trip (and 500 miles of my standard commute data)

[Doug0716]

So I took the Energi on it's first road trip this weekend, here's the details. (TLDR go to the end for the final number)

Before the trip I had put about 500 miles on it at about 78 MPG.  My average commute is 14 mile each way so a little over half on battery.  Most of that 500 miles is with the climate control off because we happen to be in the middle of some strange weather that didn't really require it for most days (Go times in the morning is awesome!).  My best to/from work (28 miles total) was at 128 MPG, and worst was (using heater because Go time didn't come on due to clock being set wrong) about 38 which included a full charge :-/

I was attempting to hit 1000 miles on the first tank, it would have been close due to my weekends being further from the house than work but it was looking do-able. The road trip came up half way through that (with half a tank left) and I only got about 750 miles before needing to fill up (only, heh)

On the trip: Me plus my girlfriend and some luggage + a duffle bag full of games (decently heavy but nothing supper heavy).  While in town we also had another passenger in the car most of the time.  The rather large duffle bag fit in the trunk bottom along with my small carryon that I keep car stuff in (nicer air pump, flat repair kit, first aid kit, jumper cables, ect).  Then stacked on top of that and into the "shelf" above the battery was my g/f's carry on size luggage.  There was still room for a little more, but not much.  Traffic was relatively light most of the trip except one 15 minute stint in the city of bumper to bumper for a few blocks.

Before starting the trip I only had a partial charge of 7 miles.  On the first half of the trip we took a route where we averaged about 70MPH, with some sections of 65 and 75, for the top end on the highway, that 280 miles or so was at about 38.6 MPG after factoring out the 7 electric miles.

In town was about 100 miles, I did not calculate these miles, but my average went down a bit due to people not using blinkers when they were turning and causing me to brake harder.  I would guess it was still about 37-38 though.

On the way back we took a different route where the speed limit was 85.  So we may or may not have been traveling at about 90 MPH, which I just watched the range and gas gauge drop like a rock, but I wanted to drive this like I would have any other car for comparrison.  This route was also a bit longer.  The rest of the drive was averaging about 75-80, so all in all we were traveling about 10-15 MPH faster.  I didn't get the exact details but based on the other numbers it was somewhere in the 34-35 MPG for the return portion.

Overall: 707 miles at 36.6 MPG (36.2 with initial electric miles calculated out), not bad considering the speeds we were traveling.

Next: I'll fill the tank up tomorrow morning and take a second run at the 1000 mile tank challenge.

[Doug0716]

(All numbers based on the on board computer)

Also, forgot to discuss comfort because I didn't think about it much, and that's a good thing.  The adaptive cruise worked flawlessly and was amazing to use on a road trip.  The lane keep assist worked well for most of the trip, but it does have problems in the construction zones (no surprise, completely understandable.) 

The two negatives I came up with was
1) The car was constantly alerting me to keep my hands on the steering wheel when they were... it was just driving so straight that I wasn't having to move it at all for a while.  I've had it do this on my way to work every now and then but on a longer trip it happened very frequently.  Anybody else notice this?  Possibly limited to those with lane departure, I'm not sure?
2) When something occupied each cup holder in the front, the armrest was less useful if you like to keep your arm straight.

Edited December 8, 2014 at 04:31 AM by Doug0716

[murphy]

You can turn the hands on steering wheel alert off.  There are no sensors to detect your hands on the wheel.  It is based on movement of the steering wheel.

[Doug0716]

I'll have to break out the owners manual on one of my upcoming vacation days and figure that out.. I've dug through most of the menus on my own and don't remember seeing that.  Thanks for the heads up.

[murphy]

I may be wrong about the hands on the wheel alert.  I was thinking of the alert that tells you it's time to take a coffee break and shows an icon of a cup of coffee in the left screen.

[Hybridbear]

I may be wrong about the hands on the wheel alert.  I was thinking of the alert that tells you it's time to take a coffee break and shows an icon of a cup of coffee in the left screen.

I got excited when you said you could turn that alert off, but then I read your second post and was disappointed. :kookie: :gaah:

[murphy]

I got excited when you said you could turn that alert off, but then I read your second post and was disappointed. :kookie: :gaah:

Sorry about that, I've obviously lost some brain cells.

[Doug0716]

Haha, I went through the menus again while at at stop light today and didn't see anything... now I know why.