Disappointing 31.5 mpg on 850 miles trip: LA-Arizona-LA

[Mach 1]

The worst milage i get on the highway is 45mpg. I dont drive faster then 70mph, i like 65mph. I run the AC at 75°.

The best i have gotten was 55mpg in city driving.

You were driving too fast, didnt take advantage of E mode, and used CC. At those speeds you wont see E mode and CC will work against you for FE.

I had 600lbs of solar panels in the bed and did 65-70mph i got 40mpg.

The Mav will do it, you have to adjust your driving style to get the FE out of it

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[spexmaverick]

I drive LA to PHX/Scottsdale or Palm Springs to PHX all the time and I know the route well. Going east you should not have any issues, especially out in the Palm Springs to Coachella section, you should be pretty much coasting that section. I got over 70 mpg on my Prius once.

From Coachella there are grades all the way until the downhill to Blythe then once again you’re uphill from the border for a good portion of the drive into PHX.

Westbound, eh, you’re pretty much screwed.Along with the grades you’ll constantly fight headwinds. The worst are out by Palm Springs, by the turbines (aka “windmills “). Winds through there are typically 20 to 30 mph. There’s a reason they put those turbines there!

Best thing I’ve found is to hypermile as much as possible eastbound because of the hit you’re going to take on the westbound route. You may be able to bump up your MPG back up to the upper 30s

Edit: I meant bump the total overall trip average up to the upper 30s again

 

[Sylvester]

I drive LA to PHX/Scottsdale or Palm Springs to PHX all the time and I know the route well. Going east you should not have any issues, especially out in the Palm Springs to Coachella section, you should be pretty much coasting that section. I got over 70 mpg on my Prius once.

From Coachella there are grades all the way until the downhill to Blythe then once again you’re uphill from the border for a good portion of the drive into PHX.

Westbound, eh, you’re pretty much screwed.Along with the grades you’ll constantly fight headwinds. The worst are out by Palm Springs, by the turbines (aka “windmills “). Winds through there are typically 20 to 30 mph. There’s a reason they put those turbines there!

Best thing I’ve found is to hypermile as much as possible eastbound because of the hit you’re going to take on the westbound route. You may be able to bump up your MPG back up to the upper 30s

Edit: I meant bump the total overall trip average up to the upper 30s again

I must have done something completly wrong. As mentioned before, I am usually quite good at getting good fuel economy but either direction the gas mileage was bad. I dont think there was any specific section where I could really coast. I was in Eco mode and AC was on and off. Anyway, it is the way it is, I hope I can go back to my normal fuel economy back at my regular routes

 

[Sykotyk]

1500 mile trip of mine got just under 39mpg. Half city/slow and half freeway.

 

[KenT]

This analysis on another forum has some insight as to what might be at work here:

In my analysis, for vehicles with comparable body styles, the most important figure of merit in determining mileage at a level grade and constant speed is the product of engine displacement times engine revs per mile. This is because there is one fuel:air ratio which optimizes emissions, the stoichiometric ratio. Since the fuel:air ratio is constant, gas usage will vary with the amount of air breathed by the engine each mile. Air volume will entirely depend on engine displacement times the number of times the air is displaced each mile. That in turn will depend on tire size, transmission top gear ratio, and differential ratio.

If the hybrid is not receiving electric assist, the EB should get better highway mileage because because it has a 2.0 liter engine, and the hybrid has a 2.5 liter engine. And on a level highway at constant speed, there will be no electric assist. After the first few score miles or so, the battery will be depleted, and at a constant speed, there will be no regenerative breaking to recharge the battery. The 2.5 l. engine will be powering the Maverick entirely.

The other variable, though, is overall revs/ mile. That is something of a black box for Maverick. Ford lists the top gear ratio and final drive ratio for the EB in its technical specs, but not for the Hybrid. But it’s possible that the Electronic continuously variable transmission on the hybrid lowers the revs/ mile more than enough to compensate for larger engine size. So any recorded improvement in highway mileage—after driving long enough to deplete the battery—should be attributable to the transmission, and not the IC engine or electric motor.

If the overall revs/ mile is not significantly different though, then after a certain number of miles driven after the battery is depleted, the overall highway mileage will equalize between the EB and the Hybrid, and thereafter the mileage will be better for the EB because of its smaller displacement.

 

[MattyG]

Why does this continue to confuse people? It's only rated 33 on highway. You had an extra person. High winds. And up and down hills.

 

[Darnon]

This analysis on another forum has some insight as to what might be at work here:

That operates on some false assumptions that 1) the EcoBoost runs at 0 psi boost at cruise 2) the hybrid only charges via regenerative braking. At about 3.7 PSI boost the EcoBoost is approximately volumetrically the same as the 2.5l (not accounting for air/fuel ratio). Also as they point out a CVT can effectively overdrive as variably as it underdrives to accelerate.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

As I took delivery of my Maverick in December last year, the gas mileage was great. With the first tank I almost got 600 miles and moving forward I was averaging always 40mpg+. I had done all the software updates 2 or 3 weeks ago and noticed that the city mpg had gone down significantly but my overall mpg on my last tank of gas seemed to be unchanged. I still got great gas mileage when I drove freeway routes within LA. In the meantime I have 8k miles on the truck.
Now I took my first longer trip and drove with my Dad from LA to Arizona (a small town around 80-90 miles beyond phoenix) and back in one day. Total of 850 miles. The gas mileage was super disappointing. I got around 31.5 mpg average on this trip. I don't know if it was the strong side wind, the fact that I had my dad in the truck (I usually drive alone) or the fact I had to go up and down the hill, but this is not what I am used from this truck on the freeway. Until now, I actually got the higher mpg on the 30-40 mile trips of the freeway. I would get 50 or 60 mpg on some of my freeway rides. Anyone an idea what was happening here?

First thought at about 62-63 mph (+/-) less can be considered "in town" and more can be considered "highway". As ice can run in in one of it's optimum rpms and put some charge into hvb. Whereas over about 68 mph it appears to me that mpg noticably starts to drop.
2. Your dad and presumably two suitcases would probably triple your normal pounds loaded in truck.
3. When I use cruise it seems to take 2-3 mpg off (seems to accelerate faster as power usage meter when I drive will be max 18-22% and with cruise will be 26-30%).
4. I made one non stop 79.1 mile that had hills and to a 400 ft lesser altitude with the longer downhill slope being not as steep as the shorter uphill steeper slopes. No cruise. Mph generally 70-75 mph but uphill as low as 60 and downhill 80-82 depending on slopes some light Regen braking but not much. Got on trucks mpg meter 79.1 miles at 61.1 mpg. No AC on, me and wife and 20lbs luggage. Probably had perfect humidity in air. Do not remember much if any tail wind, definitely not a headwind.

 

[KenT]

That operates on some false assumptions that 1) the EcoBoost runs at 0 psi boost at cruise 2) the hybrid only charges via regenerative braking. At about 3.7 PSI boost the EcoBoost is approximately volumetrically the same as the 2.5l (not accounting for air/fuel ratio). Also as they point out a CVT can effectively overdrive as variably as it underdrives to accelerate.

And as others have noted, as there is a reduction in volume with each fresh charge, the Atkinson cycle operates as if it were a lower displacement engine.

 

[Darnon]

And as others have noted, as there is a reduction in volume with each fresh charge, the Atkinson cycle operates as if it were a lower displacement engine.

True; I was tempted to edit as much. Not to mention the higher thermal efficiency of the design. As well as less parasitic loss by virtue of no accessory drive on the hybrid.

 

[Sylvester]

At the end of the day, I am convinced that the recent software updates I mentioned in my initial post had something to do with this relatively low mpg. Ever since they have done the updates, my overall mpg is down significantly. I should have just left it alone and not update those damn modules.....

 

[TE37Mav]

At the end of the day, I am convinced that the recent software updates I mentioned in my initial post had something to do with this relatively low mpg. Ever since they have done the updates, my overall mpg is down significantly. I should have just left it alone and not update those damn modules.....

At the end of the day you should have done some research on what you bought. Your truck is rated at 33 mpg hwy. Your getting what your suppose too. Thinking you’d get what others post on here in perfect and unrealistic mpg all the time is stupidity.

 

[Sylvester]

At the end of the day you should have done some research on what you bought. Your truck is rated at 33 mpg hwy. Your getting what your suppose too. Thinking you’d get what others post on here in perfect and unrealistic mpg all the time is stupidity.

Cool down... I am not thinking about what others post, I am simply comparing my current mpg with what I had for the first 7k miles with my truck. I used to get 43-44 per gas tank, now it is down to 35-36. The only main thing which changed was the software updates.

 

[Eagle11]

As I took delivery of my Maverick in December last year, the gas mileage was great. With the first tank I almost got 600 miles and moving forward I was averaging always 40mpg+. I had done all the software updates 2 or 3 weeks ago and noticed that the city mpg had gone down significantly but my overall mpg on my last tank of gas seemed to be unchanged. I still got great gas mileage when I drove freeway routes within LA. In the meantime I have 8k miles on the truck.
Now I took my first longer trip and drove with my Dad from LA to Arizona (a small town around 80-90 miles beyond phoenix) and back in one day. Total of 850 miles. The gas mileage was super disappointing. I got around 31.5 mpg average on this trip. I don't know if it was the strong side wind, the fact that I had my dad in the truck (I usually drive alone) or the fact I had to go up and down the hill, but this is not what I am used from this truck on the freeway. Until now, I actually got the higher mpg on the 30-40 mile trips of the freeway. I would get 50 or 60 mpg on some of my freeway rides. Anyone an idea what was happening here?

The sky's falling...

1. Hybrid's wheelhouse is stop-and-go traffic, where you can regen (regenerate elec to recharge the Hybrid battery) on the highway that doesn't happen.
2. The Maverick is a brick so your MPH will be lower on the highway
3. High temps (I live in PHX) will lower your MPG.

 

[Dad]

Seems normal. I’m in SoCal to. And freeway miles here are more like city miles with all the traffic. On long trips like that the battery has no situations to recharge and at higher hwy speeds it’ll run purely on gas engine. Gotta remember it’s rated 33 hwy so your not far off from where it should be.

Great point. We often forget that the Maverick is one of the rare vehicles that has a higher rating for city than highway. That being said, I make numerous frwy trips to Newport Beach and Brea here in SoCal and almost always get 40-50 mpg.

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