I was very surprised at the high MPG I got today during my afternoon commute.
I zeroed the trip meter when I started the car which, having been parked in the shade for 9 hours, was cold.

The traffic conditions were very unusual today.
The 405 freeway traffic crawled, averaging a fairly steady 25 MPH.
I left a ton of space in front of me in the right lane and almost never used my brakes.

I got 72.4 MPG for the 18-mile commute.

Temp was 62 degrees when I started and 72 degrees when I arrived.
Roads were dry and fairly flat, no wind.
I'd normally get about 62 MPG at 53 MPH on cruise control on this same commute.
Maybe this high MPG is mostly due to there being so little drag at 25 mph.

I was under the impression that 45mph was about the optimum speed for MPG, but now I wonder if it is lower.

 

congrats dude! get that for your tank and you'll have heads spin towards you!

 

[QUOTE=kenny]

I got 72.4 MPG for the 18-mile commute.

Kenny,
We are all still learning. I live in a colder climate near Buffalo, NY. Two days ago I got the same 72.4 MPG that you did going 50 MPH on cruise for 18.6 miles!

I have a "test course" that I use on the way home from work. I drive about 5 miles through Jamestown, NY (this ensures that the car is warmed up). Then I get on I-86 and set the cruise where I want it. This day I set it at 50 (light traffic). At mile marker 27 I re-set Trip A. I drive about 9.4 miles, and exit onto US 62. I use the cruise again until I get into town, then go the speed limit 25-35 MPH. The terrain is hilly, with occassional reving up by the cruise. The temperature was around 65 degrees F. I glide alot in town and accelerate slowly.

I did the same test on 3/7/06 and only got 62.2 MPG - the temperature that day was 34 degrees F.

I devised this "test course" because I was frustrated by losing MPG's on my work commute (6.5 miles in cold weather) AND I wanted to see what the car could do. My last tank was 58.5 MPG!! This is much better than the tanks in the low 40's that I had in the cold winter months! My lifetime MPG has climbed from 41.1 (Feb.25th & Tank 5) to 46.1 (May 5th & Tank 15) It should go up until September, '06.
Regards,

 

At 25 mph, EV mode kicks in a lot, which would explain the high mpg.

 

EV mode?
Hmmmm.
I need to learn more about this.

Frankly every thread about it goes on for 9587 pages and gets so complicated and full of conflicting information and misinformation and acronyms that I get lost, throw my hands up and ignore them.

This kind of information overload means I learn nothing.
It becomes as useful as an Internet forum discussing politics, religion or abortion.

Is EV mode where, after reaching cruising speed, you back off on the accelerator till you see the instantaneous MPG reading go to max and 4 bars of assist show up?
I have never tried this but seem to recall that is what I distilled from all the noise I read here.

What I DO do, when not using cruise control, is constantly lift my foot slighty to maintain the lightest touch that maintains my speed.
Maybe this just happend to result in operating in the EV mode a lot without looking at the dash.

 

Yep, that would be EV mode. Pretty elusive on the HCHII, but attainable. Waaaay easier to do in the toyotas, tho.

Don

 

Yeah, that's EV mode. If that's how you got your 72 MPG, you may have started with a full battery charge and ended the trip with half a charge. In that case the 72 MPG is a bit illusory because you depleted the batteries to get it and you have to recharge them eventually.

At 25 MPH you have plenty of opportunity to use your battery pack in EV mode, but very little opportunity to recharge the batteries.

A fair test of FE should specify that the level of charge is the same at the beginning and the end of the test.

 

Kenny, when I go south on the 405, my mpg usually goes up by 5. I think it's a slight downhill slope all the way. Perfect for EV. Traffic was horrible on Friday. Even the 110 was stuck out of downtown.

 

It's been very windy here for the past few days. Wind advisories and everything.

Most days it's been a strong head/cross wind but usually find a slow moving truck to hide behind. (Not drafting)
On my 46 mile commute into Atlanta I can usually break around 60-62MPG in these conditions.

But today it's shifted into a full blasted head wind and no truck to hide behind.
Eee-Gads I could only do around 57MPG, fighting all the way and 53-55MPH.

At 3:00AM winds are pretty much died down so I don't get much benefit for the ride back.
This tank is gonna hurt.

 

Heh MPG is your drug