Observed MPG reduction in cold weather.

[r100gs91]

Last Saturday night on my 35 mile drive home was with a dead cold engine at 17°F . Usually on this drive on the combo of 8 miles of 60 mph country highways, 25 miles of Interstate that I drive with the cruise set at 68 mph and 2 miles of intown to get to my address. I set the heat to 68°F. There was a slight headwind.

Normally this drive results in 38 to 40 MPG. When I got home and shut off the truck, it showed 30.7 MPG with only 1.3 miles of electric driving. Pretty sure that electric driving was in the last 2 miles after getting off the interstate.

My 2¢ on this:
Cold and speed are not a good combo for good MPG"s. My truck 90% of the times starts out from a heated garage. Had visions of worse figures, so I am pretty happy as this same tank of 87 oct E10 is half gone now, still showing mid 40's MPG.

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[rjag2034]

Yup, I noticed the same in the last 2-3 weeks that I'm off by about 15%. Normally about 950km range when full, last fill showed about 775km.

 

[BlackMetal]

Same here. In comfortable weather averaging 40mpg, colder weather drops to 34-32mpg. It still makes me smile when comparing it to my 2015 3.5 ecoboost F150 lol.

 

[SpaceCowboy]

Gasoline RVP changes between winter and summer blends, so you'll see a difference.

 

[MLowe05]

My Maverick is averaging 33.9 over 3700 miles, which is pretty good given that about 3,000 of those were at interstate speeds 75-80mph.

I owned an EB for 2,000 miles and drove it in much more efficient conditions and it averaged 26.

 

[jsus]

Yes, exactly. The block heater essentially preheats the engine off electricity from the grid. When an engine is cold, it is much less efficient. Thus, the block heater improves fuel efficiency.

My Escape Hybrid's engine was still cold after the vehicle was on for a half hour last night. 6.5 mi electric out of 11.6 mi total so the engine was only on about 15 minutes total and never warmed up much. ~20%+ less efficient than usual. A block heater would've had the engine warmed up for peak efficiency.

Though cold air, warming the cabin, and winter gas do hurt mileage as well.

 

[Peps]

Same obsession for my Hybrid. In addition the vehicle is indirectly more noisy because the electric motor is less in use. From easily running 40+ mpg I feel that now I will barely pass the 30.
For short commutes even less.

 

[r100gs91]

An observation from a 120 mile drive yesterday, in ambient temps that ranged from 22° to 27°F over the course of the sunny afternoon. Most of the time when I stopped after driving to the next destination, the trip MPG's were between 30 and 34. (Figure 5-8% optimistic) The worst stretch was 30 miles of 65mph into a 25 mph direct headwind. At times on that stretch, on level pavement the MPG, were a steady 24 mpg. All through the driving the water temp never got up to full normal for this vehicle. The indicator was showing about 1/4 lower than normal, in the first half of the gauge. It was a chilly day for this early in the season.

The 29°F high temp yesterday at KCI airport, tied a record for the lowest high temp on that date since 1889. At least Im getting 30+ a little mpg, My 2018 F-150 with 3.3L n/a would not even would not even get 20 mpg in those conditions, probably around 17mpg.

 

[r100gs91]

Filled up today after the horrible trip above + two other trips that were in similar conditions. The first half the tank was warmer weather. 2nd half was the winter condition described above. The mileage figures were for Sam's Club E10
539.3 miles / 14.462 gallons = 37.3 MPG

Oh well, could have been worse.

 

[Hybrid Nut]

An observation from a 120 mile drive yesterday, in ambient temps that ranged from 22° to 27°F over the course of the sunny afternoon. Most of the time when I stopped after driving to the next destination, the trip MPG's were between 30 and 34. (Figure 5-8% optimistic) The worst stretch was 30 miles of 65mph into a 25 mph direct headwind. At times on that stretch, on level pavement the MPG, were a steady 24 mpg. All through the driving the water temp never got up to full normal for this vehicle. The indicator was showing about 1/4 lower than normal, in the first half of the gauge. It was a chilly day for this early in the season.

The 29°F high temp yesterday at KCI airport, tied a record for the lowest high temp on that date since 1889. At least Im getting 30+ a little mpg, My 2018 F-150 with 3.3L n/a would not even would not even get 20 mpg in those conditions, probably around 17mpg.

Similar here. yesteday in the 20s with a strong 20 mph head wind average around 33 mpg on the highway. Just got the Maverick last week so havent been able to see the real great hybrid mileage of the summer time yet. But not complaining about 33 in this cold weather.

 

[Waterick]

I have to wonder if Toyota's location of the battery on their cars/SUVs being inside the cabin is a better plan for the hvb. It maintains it's warmth or cooling better because it's controlled by your passenger compartment temps? Than should definitely be better in extremes of weather.

 

[GPSMan]

I have to wonder if Toyota's location of the battery on their cars/SUVs being inside the cabin is a better plan for the hvb. It maintains it's warmth or cooling better because it's controlled by your passenger compartment temps? Than should definitely be better in extremes of weather.

Your Maverick battery has the ability to use exhaust pipe heat to warm the battery.

I have a scanner. I'm only in 42°F cold. But the battery does go from 42°F to 72°F in about 15 minutes.

 

[Silver Weasel]

Yes, my MPG has gone from 49.4 to @40. Less use of the hybrid engine. It makes me sad but then when someone asks what my MPG is right now, they laugh at me and say that they would love to have that. I think I got a little spoiled in my 600+ miles tank.

 

[Waterick]

If you can wait on the heater until the engine warms up fully, it should help your mpg's. I know this is easily for me to say living in the South.

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