Impressive MPG on recent trip

[RickEnergi]

We bought our 2018 late September 2018.  Longest trip was 2 hours each way, until we decided to drive it on a 1,400 mile roundtrip with another 600 or so miles of local driving.  Didn't have to fuel much, and with some overnight charging we averaged just over 40MPG for the trip, including 1,400 highway miles and the 600 local miles.  Used 50 gallons of gas, instead of 100 gallons our F-150 would have used.

 

Things we learned:

 

- Grade Assist can add quite a bit to battery when going downhill - we used this coming down some steep highways near the Smokey Mountains.  At one point we added about 13 miles to an empty battery.  Too bad it resets after you turn the car off, we sometimes forgot to re-engage it.

 

- While speed kills MPG on many vehicles, we drove around 73MPH and still got in the high 30s on the highway.  

 

- While the trunk space is absurdly small, a big duffel and a little duffel fit all our clothes, and we put two coolers on the seats and fit just fine.

[jsamp]

Terrain has a large effect on MPG's as well.  Did a trip to Disneyland that was almost all flat freeway (400 miles).  Got 50MPG with some EV use going there, and 48MPG on the way back with an empty battery (hybrid mode).  I just set the ECO cruise to 70 and let all the speed demons whiz by.  

 

There was one grade (called the grapevine) that I gained 6 EV miles in 6 minutes on the way down the hill.