Finally Put My Data on fuelly.com

[raymond963]

I finally got around to putting my fill-ups into fuelly.com the other day and I’m not at all surprised by the results; 31mpg lifetime average, 35.9mpg best. However, I don’t feel any urge to sue Ford over these results because I realize why they are what they are…

 

Cold temperatures require the engine to warm up for emissions and passenger comfort before battery power becomes more useful. Because my daily work commute is only 1.5 miles each way, and I bought the car at the end of October, most days the car had just reached operating temperature by the time I had reached my destination unless I had warmed it up to clear the windows.

 

Fuel economy jumped quite a bit from February to March because my round-trip work commute went from 3 miles to 96 miles from March 2 through March 28 even though it was still pretty cold outside and I still did some city driving.

 

FE increased a little less drastically from March to April because temperatures have improved, but I’m back to the 3 mile round-trip work commute until June.

 

The only highway miles this car has seen are for the period that my work commute increased, and during a trip to Chicago of just over 200 miles. The remainder is all city miles, which were mostly 1.5 mile trips with at least 8 hours between them, and some around-town trips for shopping, dining, etc.

 

Wind speed and direction seem to have a strong effect on FE during highway driving and I, for the obvious reasons, obtained better FE at 60mph than at 65mph. I was in the middle of experimenting with speed and cruise-control settings for highway driving when my commute abruptly changed back. I will experiment and learn more about hybrid driving techniques when my commute increases again.

 

The impending commute increase was the reason I purchased a hybrid car. Passenger space and comfort, handling, noise level, and ride were the reasons I purchased a C-Max instead of a Prius. Well, I’ll admit that acceleration and the UAW ‘built in the U.S.’ sticker also helped. In every area, it beats my 1999 Jeep Wrangler (modified for off-road use) but I’ll keep the Jeep for when winter weather threatens.

 

I don’t believe that the Prius would have delivered any better FE than my C-Max with my personal driving conditions and experience, and the ride wouldn’t have been as enjoyable.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Great post Raymond  :)  Glad to hear you're working on your FE, it will take some time as its a whole different animal to master. Do check out the Fuel Mileage section for lots of tips and FE talk, if you haven't alread.

[DR61]

That is pretty exceptional fuel efficiency for an ICE vehicle doing mostly 1.5 mi trips.  However, I must say a better tool for that job would be an Energi.  Or even better, walk.

[salsaguy]

raymond, I dont have a CMax yet but when you fill up and check your stats and compute mpg before resetting your trip computers, does the gages let you see your AVG mph (miles per hour) over the tankful of driving? if so what is it for you? track this for each fill-up if you can.

this will tell you your % city/% highway driving

I have started to track this to see if when my avg mpH is lower I get worse mpg (for my gas only Passat).

In your case lower mpH would be better in the CMax and higher mpH may be worse

 

the more %city, the better mpg you will most likely get with the CMax

 

if you want better gas mileage you would want to try and see at least a 29 mpH average on a tankful which is about 70% city to take advantage of the Ev mode more and less on the engine

 

the epa has rated that 21 mpH (miles per HOUR) average on a tankful and below is considered 100% city driving and 48 mpH average per tank and above is 100% highway driving

Cmax isnt as good on the hwy as in the city. A diesel would be better for higher % hwy mph averages (and long stretches of 65-75 mph driving)

 

here are the mpH cutoff points for each sector

 

Avg MPH per tank / % Hwy / % City (all #'s rounded up to nearest .1 mph value)

48.0 / 100% / 0%

46.7 /  95% /  5%

45.3 /  90 / 10%

44.0 /  85% / 15%

42.6 /  80% / 20%

41.3 /  75% / 25%

39.9 /  70% / 30%

38.7 / 65% / 35%

37.2 / 60% / 40%

35.9 / 55% / 45%

34.5 / 50% / 50% - mid way 50/50 city hwy

33.2 / 45% / 55%

31.8 / 40% / 60%

30.5 / 35% / 65%

29.1 / 30% / 70%

27.8  / 25% / 75%

26.4 / 20% /  80%

25.1 / 15% / 85%

23.7 / 10%  / 90%

22.4 / 5%  / 95%

21.0 /  0% / 100%

Edited May 5, 2013 by salsaguy

[salsaguy]

Id say this is your worst culprit. 1.5 miles is not going to warm the car up to op temp. ive read it needs 10-15 miles?!

the plugin Energi would have been the better option in this case (for your work commute only, not sure about your other driving locations which may be much further away)

Cmax is great around town but has to use gas not Ev if engine is cold

 

 

Cold temperatures require the engine to warm up for emissions and passenger comfort before battery power becomes more useful. Because my daily work commute is only 1.5 miles each way, and I bought the car at the end of October, most days the car had just reached operating temperature by the time I had reached my destination unless I had warmed it up to clear the windows.

[raymond963]

Thanks for the replies. I bought the car expecting my commute to increase from 1.5 miles to 48 miles each way. That was supposed to happen on February 23rd but didn't start until March 2nd then only lasted a month.

 

The 48 mile commute should be starting again on June 1st so hope to see the FE increase then. The drive is relatively flat but there are a number of small rolling hills along the way so I'll have to experiment with Eco-Cruise and some of the tips I've seen about keeping the battery as charged as possible.

 

I'll have to check if the trip computer shows average MPH but don't recall seeing it. Fill-ups are so infrequent that I'll probably forget!

[MikeB]

Cold temperatures require the engine to warm up for emissions and passenger comfort before battery power becomes more useful. Because my daily work commute is only 1.5 miles each way, and I bought the car at the end of October, most days the car had just reached operating temperature by the time I had reached my destination unless I had warmed it up to clear the windows.

As others have mentioned, the Energi might have been a better choice for you. The very short commute means you could drive all week without starting the gas engine. Probably more interesting for you in the winter is the ability to preheat the car using electricity from the wall, either based on a timer or triggered manually from your fob or phone. And with your longer highway commute, the Energi is still pretty efficient after the EV range is depleted, it's EPA rated at 41 highway instead of 47 (and it actually comes pretty close to that in practice).

[raymond963]

As others have mentioned, the Energi might have been a better choice for you. The very short commute means you could drive all week without starting the gas engine. Probably more interesting for you in the winter is the ability to preheat the car using electricity from the wall, either based on a timer or triggered manually from your fob or phone. And with your longer highway commute, the Energi is still pretty efficient after the EV range is depleted, it's EPA rated at 41 highway instead of 47 (and it actually comes pretty close to that in practice).

 

The Energi wasn't available when I bought the C-Max in October, which I needed to do then because my Jeep needed more work than I had time to take care of. I was looking for a car with good fuel economy and that was relatively inexpensive because I expect to put over 25,000 miles on it every year. I also expected to be making the longer commute by now but won't complain that I'm not.

 

The other option, suggested by DR61, walking the 1.5 miles to work isn't really doable either. I work the evening shift and would have to cross six lanes in the dark on a busy road (even that late) that doesn't have a crosswalk anywhere near where I would cross, and then I'd have to walk past a few areas that I wouldn't want to be in after dark to get to my neighborhood.

 

My original point was that I understand why I get the mileage that I get and hope to realize the better fuel economy when I have to make the longer commute. And that I plan to do a lot of experimenting, which seem pointless with the current short commute. The car seems fully capable of reaching, and exceeding, the claimed 47/47/47 numbers but I'm just not there yet and can explain why.

[zhackwyatt]

raymond, I dont have a CMax yet but when you fill up and check your stats and compute mpg before resetting your trip computers, does the gages let you see your AVG mph (miles per hour) over the tankful of driving? if so what is it for you? track this for each fill-up if you can.

this will tell you your % city/% highway driving

I have started to track this to see if when my avg mpH is lower I get worse mpg (for my gas only Passat).

In your case lower mpH would be better in the CMax and higher mpH may be worse

 

the more %city, the better mpg you will most likely get with the CMax

 

if you want better gas mileage you would want to try and see at least a 29 mpH average on a tankful which is about 70% city to take advantage of the Ev mode more and less on the engine

 

the epa has rated that 21 mpH (miles per HOUR) average on a tankful and below is considered 100% city driving and 48 mpH average per tank and above is 100% highway driving

Cmax isnt as good on the hwy as in the city. A diesel would be better for higher % hwy mph averages (and long stretches of 65-75 mph driving)

 

here are the mpH cutoff points for each sector

 

Avg MPH per tank / % Hwy / % City (all #'s rounded up to nearest .1 mph value)

48.0 / 100% / 0%

46.7 /  95% /  5%

45.3 /  90 / 10%

44.0 /  85% / 15%

42.6 /  80% / 20%

41.3 /  75% / 25%

39.9 /  70% / 30%

38.7 / 65% / 35%

37.2 / 60% / 40%

35.9 / 55% / 45%

34.5 / 50% / 50% - mid way 50/50 city hwy

33.2 / 45% / 55%

31.8 / 40% / 60%

30.5 / 35% / 65%

29.1 / 30% / 70%

27.8  / 25% / 75%

26.4 / 20% /  80%

25.1 / 15% / 85%

23.7 / 10%  / 90%

22.4 / 5%  / 95%

21.0 /  0% / 100%

It doesn't show average MPH only MPG.