[JoeReal]

I have been driving on electricity only for more than 8,000 miles now so the display of 250+ mpg on my DIC is the most useless information I have. So I switched over to displaying the MPGe info instead.

I have two routes, almost the same distance, going to work everyday. One route, with a couple of lights and a speed limit of 50 mph takes me 1 mile just before entering the freeway with speed limit of 65 mph.

The other route, almost same distance as the first one, has a feeder road that runs parallel to the freeway, has three stop signs, a speed limit of 40 mph, and about 3.5 miles before it has a ramp that goes into the same freeway.

In the first route my speed is 50-55 mph before merging, then maintain 65 mph in the freeway, after traveling 2 miles, my cold starting MPGe of 124 starts to dip down, and the lowest it will dip to 86 MPGe at the 2.6 mile mark on the freeway and then slowly move up to 118 MPGe until the end of my trip.

In the second route, where my speed is between 40-45 mph, and after the second stop sign at about 2.6 miles, the MPGe climbs to 156, compare this to the 86 MPGe in the first route. Then it slowly dips down after I enter the freeway and maintain speed of 65 mph and stabilized at 124 MPGe. The reading gets maintained thereafter until the end of my trip at 124 MPGe. My entire trip is about 55 miles.

Why the BIG difference here?

The most crucial part is that even if I use other routes, is that I noticed, if I drive at speeds of over 50 mph for the first 3 miles, my MPGe would be very low, whereas, if I drive at 35-45 mph for the first 3 miles, my MPGe would be very high, even though my speed after merging into the freeway is the same, and for the rest of the trip. Just the driving profile of the first 3 miles can have a tremendous impact on the MPGe and your range.

 

[rmay635703]

Step 1 of owning an EV is the fun of mapping its quirks

For me I've taken time to optimize where I drive to maximize EV range.

Very small changes can make a huge difference in range.
Wind
Rain
10 degrees of temperature shift or
A couple fast stops or starts
can reduce range 5 or 10 miles

It's the nature of the beast, ignore it or make a game of improving
Your choice

 

[MP81]

As mentioned above, it's definitely a game. But it's half the fun/involvement in owning the car.

I definitely know the car is really happiest below 55 mph. The "odd" behavior I notice is generally when I start driving the car - especially in the morning (I precondition if it's below 60 out; for longer the colder it is) is that my range will drop substantially within the first ~5 miles of driving. Past that, it hardly moves. Overall, it usually ends up going the same amount of miles that the range dropped - just not a linear relation at all.

Leaving work, it will drop a bit more than it should at the onset again, but not nearly as much. I don't pre-condition at all when I'm leaving work (since I'm not plugged in), so it's not a matter of battery temp. The speeds encountered are roughly the same, as well.