Most realistic mpg

[maby]

If it helps, your overall mpg obviously depends on your mix of journeys. Around town, running only (in theory) on battery I achieve around 100mpg or more but the ICE does kick in from time to time. On a long journey, running on ICE only, I achieve around 40mpg at 70mph (or slightly over when I can). On this journey, my 'power mix' is shown as typically around 60% petrol, 40% battery, presumably from the electric energy garnered when travelling downhill or when braking. So. In summary, I've never managed a journey entirely on petrol or electric power.

I think that "power mix" or %EV figure displayed is very simple minded and it's dangerous to put too much faith in it. As far as I can see, it just displays the percentage of distance travelled with the ICE not running - but does not take into account the source of the charge that was consumed from the battery. I've started out on a long journey with a completely flat battery and running at moderate motorway speeds on the flat - the %EV really should be zero because all the distance travelled was achieved by burning petrol - but it will generally claim 30% or more EV. As we have observed many times, provided your speed and load are not too high, the car runs a hysteresis cycle, charging the battery from the ICE for a few miles, then running on battery for a mile or so, before dropping back to petrol drive. The %EV meter will happily count those periods on battery even though they are achieved as a result of having burned petrol for the previous three or four miles!

 

[Carnut]

Exactly what I find.

 

[K9pvc]

Yes that helps,as all I'm really trying to ascertain here is if on longer journys or when the battery has run out is if I will get 30mpg or lower as some on here seem too. As there seem to such a huge variation in what people are getting when not running in pure Ev. I don't tend to drive my cars hard so I was hopeful that I could get at least 36 to 40mpg around town at around 30 to 40mph normal town driving and 40 to 45mpg when on a long run with the cruise control set at 60 to 70mph when battery's have run out and I let the car just do its own thing. So in my mind the best way to try and find this out would be to try and run the outlander on just Ice. That was my reason for my initial post asking the best way to force vehicle to run just on Ice as I thought doing that would give me a worst possible case scenario. In the short time I have on the test drive if that all makes sense

 

[jaapv]

It would mke no sense to get a hybrid vehicle on pure ICE.

 

[ChrisMiller]

Had my first 100+ mile round trip (to outer London) this week. M25 problems forced me onto local roads, so there was a fair bit of crawling (it wasn't in the rush hour, thank $deity). The electric juice ran out a couple of miles from my destination, with the gauge showing 72 mpg - which was pleasing. Coming home, traffic was light, but it was all on petrol, mostly in parallel mode (even at 50mph on the A3, which I found a bit surprising). Cruising at 75 mph on the motorways (75% of the journey) the gauge was reading 42 mpg when I got home, which (if my arithmetic is correct) means I only got 30 mpg on the return leg. I'll try cruising a bit slower next time, and see if I can get closer to the 45 mpg some have reported.

 

[maby]

Had my first 100+ mile round trip (to outer London) this week. M25 problems forced me onto local roads, so there was a fair bit of crawling (it wasn't in the rush hour, thank $deity). The electric juice ran out a couple of miles from my destination, with the gauge showing 72 mpg - which was pleasing. Coming home, traffic was light, but it was all on petrol, mostly in parallel mode (even at 50mph on the A3, which I found a bit surprising). Cruising at 75 mph on the motorways (75% of the journey) the gauge was reading 42 mpg when I got home, which (if my arithmetic is correct) means I only got 30 mpg on the return leg. I'll try cruising a bit slower next time, and see if I can get closer to the 45 mpg some have reported.

How long were you stopped at the far end? The fuel consumption gauge resets after four hours so that 42mpg could easily have been just for the return leg. That would be a more plausible figure.

 

[ChrisMiller]

How long were you stopped at the far end? The fuel consumption gauge resets after four hours so that 42mpg could easily have been just for the return leg. That would be a more plausible figure.

Hi maby - no, only two hours - the gauge was still showing 72 mpg when I set off on my return leg. Thinking about it, cruising at 75 (I like to leave cruise control on*) means catching up slower traffic, slowing down and then accelerating past, which won't do consumption much good.

* niggle of the day - Mitsi need to put somewhere to rest your right foot when operating under cruise control. I don't like to leave my foot flat on the floor, as I think this would increase reaction time if I need to brake. My previous Skoda had a footrest for this purpose.

 

[gwatpe]

Had my first 100+ mile round trip (to outer London) this week. M25 problems forced me onto local roads, so there was a fair bit of crawling (it wasn't in the rush hour, thank $deity). The electric juice ran out a couple of miles from my destination, with the gauge showing 72 mpg - which was pleasing. Coming home, traffic was light, but it was all on petrol, mostly in parallel mode (even at 50mph on the A3, which I found a bit surprising). Cruising at 75 mph on the motorways (75% of the journey) the gauge was reading 42 mpg when I got home, which (if my arithmetic is correct) means I only got 30 mpg on the return leg. I'll try cruising a bit slower next time, and see if I can get closer to the 45 mpg some have reported.

I have recently used the onboard mileage calculator to check some economies at various speeds, for approx 100km each time, when driving with ICE and in SAVE mode, with the battery level at approx half on the gauge. 100km is a reasonable distance to get a better average for typical hybrid variations. At 100kph, PHEV returned 8.2L/100km. At 90kph, 7.2L/100km, and at 80kph, 6.2L/100km. The mileage was reset at the start of each 100km test.

The numbers returned are clearly massively affected by speed variations and battery usage and road terrain and car load. I suspect that all the high economy figures quoted by forum members at high road speeds are biased by some EV driving and periods of lower speed, and even downhill terrain and only a driver with no luggage.

I also notice that 95octane fuel returns better economy than 91octane, but part fills of the tank and lack of availability of a particular fuel have made obtaining objective data difficult.

If you mainly do high speed motorway, then there are plenty of cars that can return better mileage.

The PHEV is a good all rounder and some countries are still offering tax benefits that sway a new buyer towards a hybrid.

 

[Carnut]

Yes that helps,as all I'm really trying to ascertain here is if on longer journys or when the battery has run out is if I will get 30mpg or lower as some on here seem too. As there seem to such a huge variation in what people are getting when not running in pure Ev. I don't tend to drive my cars hard so I was hopeful that I could get at least 36 to 40mpg around town at around 30 to 40mph normal town driving and 40 to 45mpg when on a long run with the cruise control set at 60 to 70mph when battery's have run out and I let the car just do its own thing. So in my mind the best way to try and find this out would be to try and run the outlander on just Ice. That was my reason for my initial post asking the best way to force vehicle to run just on Ice as I thought doing that would give me a worst possible case scenario. In the short time I have on the test drive if that all makes sense

Personally, when I run out of E on my fortnightly 80 mile round trip, when I am on ICE I decrease regen to 0 and coast as much as possible. you will find that when coasting the ICE is off a lot of the time, except when for reasons unknown to man it suddenly decides to put a bit into the battery, presumably because the latter is at the reserve level. You will still put nano amount back into the battery every time you use the brake pedal whether on ZERO regen or not.

 

[maby]

Yes that helps,as all I'm really trying to ascertain here is if on longer journys or when the battery has run out is if I will get 30mpg or lower as some on here seem too. As there seem to such a huge variation in what people are getting when not running in pure Ev. I don't tend to drive my cars hard so I was hopeful that I could get at least 36 to 40mpg around town at around 30 to 40mph normal town driving and 40 to 45mpg when on a long run with the cruise control set at 60 to 70mph when battery's have run out and I let the car just do its own thing. So in my mind the best way to try and find this out would be to try and run the outlander on just Ice. That was my reason for my initial post asking the best way to force vehicle to run just on Ice as I thought doing that would give me a worst possible case scenario. In the short time I have on the test drive if that all makes sense

Personally, when I run out of E on my fortnightly 80 mile round trip, when I am on ICE I decrease regen to 0 and coast as much as possible. you will find that when coasting the ICE is off a lot of the time, except when for reasons unknown to man it suddenly decides to put a bit into the battery, presumably because the latter is at the reserve level. You will still put nano amount back into the battery every time you use the brake pedal whether on ZERO regen or not.

I don't think the setting on the paddle makes much difference to the amount of power regained when you press the brake - it just sets the "virtual braking level" that is applied when you don't touch either of the pedals.

 

[anko]

I don't think the setting on the paddle makes much difference to the amount of power regained when you press the brake - it just sets the "virtual braking level" that is applied when you don't touch either of the pedals.

I believe this is not true. At a lower B-level the friction brakes are applied earlier than at a higher B-level. And the max recharge current is less.