Quote:
Originally Posted by Mean_Joe_green
McGyver:
Traveling from Bakersfield to Vegas 42-43MPG @ 70MPH mid-day heat with A/C on, the return trip 37-38 MPG late evenings with some headwinds.
I guess i've been called "big" at 6'6" 260 lbs, i dont carry much but some emergency supplies (jumper cables, ect.) and few bottles of water.
I buy costco fuel the last few times i have needed to fill up? I dont believe costco uses "cheap fuel", but i have not thought about it.
stevenvillatoro:
I personally feel like i take off like a "granny", so i'm not sure about how throttle is too much. Would you say "moderate" pressure for accelerating from a full stop would be a better approach?
I have noticed regardless of how much pressure on the throttle, it always goes to 10mpg when leaving a stop sign. I can only cruise to about 20MPH before "ice" kicks in.
Thanks for your comments....
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As noted short trips are the single most detrimental factor in fuel economy for any vehicle. Trips of 10 min or less will likely cut your FE in half. At 15 min you are just beginning to overcome the very inefficient first 10 min.
When the hybrids first came out it was thought that crawling up to speed using battery/e-motor was the most efficient use since you weren't using any fuel. It was soon found out that doing this draws down the battery quickly and makes the ICE turn on sooner and more often to help replenish the low battery. In my Prius I've found that quick strong acceleration to the speed of traffic works best, then letting off the pedal to induce the ICE to turn off or turn down to idle.
Other factors that may not be readily apparent.
Rain will decrease your FE by 15-25%;
Wind, as you've already seen;
Cold weather will decrease it by 10-20% as well;
City driving from light-stop, to light-stop, to light-stop, to stop sign-stop is very inefficient. The more you can keep rolling even at a very slow speed the better will be your FE.