Hypermiling Challenge for 2.5L Hybrid

[Waterick]

My truck had 48 miles on it at delivery. I assume the dealer reset trip 1 when they fueled it prior to that, I have never reset it. I did adjust the computer down about 5 percent several months ago. Here are my pictures at my fill up last week.

I am retired and have better high speed vehicles so I can drive my Maverick during optimal fuel mileage times like mornings without A/C, limited traffic, and live 10 miles out of town on 35-55 mph roads. About only 400 miles here were on Interstates doing 65-73 mph. I do maintain speed with flow of traffic and never am one to delay it. The fuel mileage ability of this vehicle is almost unreal.

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[Surly Old Bill]

Downhill driving has nothing to do with MPG’s.
You had to go UP the hill, either before or after.
Best mileage is on level ground.

I regularly get 50+/-mpgs. But not at 75-80!
Your tires must be rock hard!
Made even harder in this heat!

Coasting downhill and braking recharge the battery. There is a sweet spot depending on driving style where the equal amount of downhill to uphill will result in higher mpg than flat ground.

 

[Timothyd]

Well, finally hit 800 mi on single tank. Kept getting close in that 720-750mi, but full tank only 55mph and lower roads, not much AC usage pushed me over that hump. Avg for me (now at 40k miles) when I run AC and do highways at ~75-80mph is still in the 50-55mpg. Which is truly insane. Love it.

I tried going slow (60mph) on the highway once but I could only hack it for about 20 minutes. Sounds easy but it's not. Feels like you're never going to get there.

 

[Timothyd]

Coasting downhill and braking recharge the battery. There is a sweet spot depending on driving style where the equal amount of downhill to uphill will result in higher mpg than flat ground.

I was getting great milage on the up and down roads in the Ozarks. The up and down mimics local driving and works the battery.

 

[Surly Old Bill]

I tried going slow (60mph) on the highway once but I could only hack it for about 20 minutes. Sounds easy but it's not. Feels like you're never going to get there.

YES. Taking an hour longer on a 400+ mile drive to try to save $5 really isn't worth it.

 

[dochawk]

I tried going slow (60mph) on the highway once but I could only hack it for about 20 minutes.

when I drove my father's 1998 F-150, 4.6, back from San Jose to Las Vegas, about 500 miles, I got the bright idea to hold it to 65. I think it even lasted an hour before I went to 75, on I-5.

I was stunned when I did the math and found that it got 25mpg that trip! you hit 4000 feet twice, and there's a 2000 foot net increase in altitude, too.

 

[KenE]

Best way to know what your mpg really is, is by filling your tank, write down the miles you have then the next time you fill your tank you write down your miles. Subtract previous miles from present miles then divide those miles by the gallons you put in the last time.
1700-1300=400 miles /9.1 gal = 43.956. Dashboard mpg is only that particular trip you made. Over the last 4 yrs I have averaged 46 mpg on our KIA Niro Hybrid. About 40/60 city/highway. In 25-30 degree weather we have gotten as low as 31 mpg on particular trips and in summer we have gotten as high as 63 mpg on a particular trip. Lowest tank fill was 39.3 mpg and the best tank fill was 49 mpg. There are lot of ways to look at mpg.

Absolutely true, the tank fill method is TRUE. Accuracy is enhanced if you can fill at same station, same pump, each time. Consistent pump shutoff setting and ground level. Really cold & hot weather much less desirable for hpermiling.

 

[KenE]

Come on guys we need more participants in the 700mpt club, you can do it and you have an added incentive, fuel prices..

I am glad to hear that others have seen that first drive of the day can be all in E mode. I also have a mainly down hill drive first thing and can make it a good 1.5m. If i have a good recharge from the day before.

Cruise is ok for long trips, however I can out drive the CC for FE, because its too sensative, plus it cant anticipate when you get close to running out of E mode, i like to back off and run out E mode as long as possible whereas the CC is just going to charge ahead and kick into hybrid mode.

Foot control is where its at for FE.

Indeed, foot control & thinking ahead is paramount to great FE. Cruise control is handy on trips, but superb FE can only be achieved w/o cruise.

 

[The Real Maverick]

840 miles on one tankful remains my best tank.

I routinely have 40 mile trips over 60 MPG.

It's not intuitive, but I, and most hybrid owners agree, hills net higher MPG overall than flat terrain.

 

[Escapologist]

Interesting, might explain then why my Escape PHEV did unexpectedly good on a trip out to one of the inlaws. I always hate the route there, it's up and down a lot while overall gaining elevation, then on the way back the undulations feel like they kill the gain from losing elevation.

Anyway, it's the same motor and transaxle as 2WD Mav, just has additional big battery. But this trip, the range of the big batt is used up on the first third of the way there, so only accounts for 1/6 of trip total. So while you think you'd be getting worst case HEV mileage, about 34mpg, for the rest of it, and the MPGe of about 100 at hwy speed, on only 1/6, leading to 45mpg-ish, it actually gets near 60mpg on that route, meaning the HEV part must be doing over 50mpg by one or two.

 

[The Real Maverick]

Interesting, might explain then why my Escape PHEV did unexpectedly good on a trip out to one of the inlaws. I always hate the route there, it's up and down a lot while overall gaining elevation, then on the way back the undulations feel like they kill the gain from losing elevation.

Anyway, it's the same motor and transaxle as 2WD Mav, just has additional big battery. But this trip, the range of the big batt is used up on the first third of the way there, so only accounts for 1/6 of trip total. So while you think you'd be getting worst case HEV mileage, about 34mpg, for the rest of it, and the MPGe of about 100 at hwy speed, on only 1/6, leading to 45mpg-ish, it actually gets near 60mpg on that route, meaning the HEV part must be doing over 50mpg by one or two.

Here's the thing I have figured out.

Engine off time helps and helps A LOT.

On flat terrain, at highway speeds, the engine is almost always on due to wind resistance alone.

On a downgrade, even at highway speeds the engine can be off a significant amount of time.

There's no "free energy" from hills.
Hills are just less wasteful than flat lands.

People tend to forget that 60% of all gasoline goes into heat and 40% of the gasoline propels the vehicle.

Every minute the engine is off you are not making waste heat. Instant efficiency gain. Instant "no 60% waste".

I have a very fortunate route.
No net elevation change.
Big hill in the middle (760 ft hill).

By going up the steep 4 mile side, I can drive 20 miles with engine off on the gradual downhill side. Big efficiency gain of 60+ MPG at highway speeds I could never achieve on flat roads due to all the waste heat generated on flat roads.

 

[The Real Maverick]

^ the timer above is deceptive.
It records time from key turn to key turn.

It runs while at stops. It runs in the work parking lot. It runs in the final 3 or 4 miles of residential.

Most miles I'm going 60 mph on 55 mph roads.

 

[Escapologist]

I guess that's a result of the paradox whereby conventional gasoline engines are not getting good brake specific fuel consumption at the typical load and rpm of flat highway driving. It's worse than 40/60. That is because, depending how you look at it, the load is too low or the engine is too large. However, running up a hill, the BSFC improves with increased load, and you're getting potential energy for it.

 

[HotRod]

I didn't read through all 13 pages, but I might've won. Final leg of descent down Mt. Washington auto road in New Hampshire.

 

[The Real Maverick]

I didn't read through all 13 pages, but I might've won. Final leg of descent down Mt. Washington auto road in New Hampshire.

Sorry. But no. I've used zero gas for 20 miles.

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