15 Minute Drive to Work - Will FEH Work? - Page 2 - GreenHybrid

WaltPA · #11 (**permalink**) 12-10-2007, 08:05 AM

I have about a 7 mile commute to/from work.

Most of that on a highway, where I stay in the right most lane putting along at 50-55 miles per hour.

For me, the "last mile" is where I have 15 or 25 miles per hour speed limits. That is either the industry park limit (to work) or my housing development limit (back to home).

My battery is nice and charged by the time I exit the highway. I take advantage of that (to the horror of those behind me), and drive in it EV mode for that "last mile". By the time I park, my battery is just about all used up. Which, I think, is good because later when I start up again, the cold ICE has to run and I can, at least, use that otherwise wasted gas energy to re-charge the battery.

I get around 32 to 33 mpg in the summer, and 29 to 30 in the sub-freezing winter.

nicst47 · #12 (**permalink**) 12-10-2007, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpsman1

10-12 miles, if you can go 40 miles per hour or less is ideal for this car.
The first 2-3 miles will be warm-up and you will get ~25 MPG.

The last 7-10 miles, if you utilize all the "hybrid" features and get that engine off and use the battery as much as possible, will get you 40-50 MPG.

2-3 mile trips are the only "killers" to MPG. More than that, and this car does awesome. I did a "cold start" at 11 degrees last night, just to take movies back to the rental store.

3 miles out - no EV, and I got 25 MPG.
3 miles home - EV most of the way, and I got 45 MPG.

6 Mile AVE. = 32.1 MPG @ 11'F

If my trip was longer, I would have crept closer and closer to the 45 MPG mark. Speeds were in the zero to 40 miles per hour range.

-John

John, those are excellent numbers going to and from the movie rental store.
When I read stuff like this, it kills me not having my MMH yet.

gpsman1 · #13 (**permalink**) 12-10-2007, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicst47

John, those are excellent numbers going to and from the movie rental store.
When I read stuff like this, it kills me not having my MMH yet.

Consider I've already had years of practice... and living in a small town with light traffic helps, so I can pick the perfect speed! As always, YMMV.

MyPart · #14 (**permalink**) 12-10-2007, 04:09 PM

My wife does almost all of the daily driving in our '08 FEH. I'm positive she drives just the same in the FEH as she does in the other 2 two-seaters she drove before this (read: sports cars) and she has yet to have a tank under 30MPG. Her commute is ~6 miles with ~2 miles freeway (@60-65MPG), ~2 miles of 35-45MPG stop and go, and then the rest is mixed 15-25mpg stop and go.

I do most of the Interstate driving and can get 32-36MPG regularly but I try my best to employ the wisdom found on this forum.

My younger brother drives an Xterra company car and love both it and my FEH. He was the DD a few weekends ago and got 34.7 with mixed Interstate and Rural 45-55MPG (over 40+ miles) driving on his very first drive.

I think he said he does 17gal fill-ups on the Xterra and still can't get the trip mileage that I get on my 13-14gal fill ups. So at a minimum he's paying $15 more per tank and only going the same distance.

***He is able to pull his huge boat and other trailers with his Xterra, I on the other hand can't pull anything (1000lb load capacity on the FWD FEH)***

I'm glad to see you researching your options and if you don't need to pull anything and can fit your payload into an Escape, I personally feel the FEH/MMH is a better vehicle once you look at the FE, price/tax credits, emissions, size, resale, maintenance, warranty benefits of the FEH/MMH.