400 mile trip at 70 - 80 MPH

[Jus-A-CMax]

foto...I think he did "blip" it and its negative split mode - remember, in this mode and the old "ICE HIGH MPG" mode, the gauge remained white.....the only way to tell its in this mode is when the instant MPG starts dancing high. From what I can tell, I did not pick up any EV used in the ENGAGE mode as the battery is still charging.

 

McGyver may be onto something with the higher CVT...those with scangauge, if you have the fuel & time et al...lets play with it and confirm his findings independently. This would be great news, if true. I run the Tujunga in a couple of weeks and check that out. I can't run the 14 until November......earth to GaryM....earth to GaryM...please read this thread.... ;)

[MacGyver]

I don't have a clue what exactly he's doing or even what he says he's doing.  Is it this (bold emphasis mine)?  "I DO "blip" the pedal to kick it out of full EV into the negative split mode on a regular basis, but the 40-60mpg is in ICE mode (maybe with some EV assist), torque shows EV instant mpg at Torque's max=255mpg, with the higher mpg coming with high battery, level ground, etc."

 

His qualifier, "maybe with some EV assist"  sounds like "high ICE" aka "negative split mode" or as the prius folks call it "blending".   What do you think?

 

To clarify (because I realized the sentence I wrote is confusing as heck) the 40-60 displayed is ICE mode with (sometimes) EV assist. If the ICE isn't running, (in other words, EV mode ONLY) torque will display instant mpg as 255 since it's not designed to interface that closely with the hybrid system and figure out battery charge-speed-load+charging level or whatever the algorithm would be to figure EV mpg, so 255mpg is its way of saying, "I dunno, crazy high, ok, I'm just a java program, cut me some slack, willya?" or whatever a java program might say in that situation...

 

The 42-60mpg jumps around a lot, just like the bar graph does on our dashboards, it's really sensitive to even slight up or downhill slopes, and even at 2am here in Los Angeles I can run out of road behind someone slower so it's hard to say at this early point, I've only recently discovered 75mph=42-60mpg... when I took that screenshot it was jumping between 52-59 with some 60mpg peaks, but I would say that 45-50mpg at 75mph is a solid expectation with higher mpg possible with good conditions, level ground, high ICE, etc.

Edited October 18, 2013 by MacGyver

[MacGyver]

 the optimum gearing for mpg is 75mph, which garners easily 40-42mpg on up to 60mpg, depending on slight downslopes, battery charge, wind, car load, etc.

 

You're now putting a lot of qualifiers in here.  You're previous post seem to indicate just driving 75mph was the ideal speed for mpg due to gearing.  

  

And I stand behind that previous post, it does seem to be the optimum speed/gearing, and I've added those "qualifiers" as you call them, because they are real world conditions, and as such will and do affect mpg, engine load, ev assist level, etc.

 

I added those "qualifiers" in an attempt to be as clear as possible.

 

All I can say is try it for yourself, you should see the same increase in mpg if I'm correct about the cause.

 

I've seen a similar phenomenon in my Grandma's '97 Lincoln Town Car, which can get 25-30mpg on the highway, BECAUSE once you get up to speed, it's not working hard to MAINTAIN that speed. Her car has instant digital mpg, lots more useful than the bar graph the C-max has, and I can see the same impact on second-to-second mpg slight up or downhill slopes give or take away. And of course neither does that mean that the car gets 25-30mpg average, probably more like 15-18mpg average, but it is a heckuva highway car, she can drive form Los Angeles to San Francisco on one tank of gas, the ride is a big soft pillow and quiet. Almost as quiet as my C-max.

 

 so usually will set my eco-cruise at 65.5 (as indicated by torque) or as high as 67 or 68, that being a relatively safe speed that will not get me pulled over, and be fast enough to (mostly) keep people behind me happy.

 

The 65-68 speed range in eco-cruise been the consensus of the forum for the best possible hwy mpg.

 

I would agree, but not for the reason you probably think- a ticket is a nasty way to wipe out $500 worth of fuel savings. But in terms of hard math, 75mph should be optimum gearing.

 

Your original post in this thread of getting 59mpg @ 75mph really, really caught my interest as that is the typical legal highway speed here in Texas (rural or interstate) and I thought you might have found some new technique. <shruggs>  Setting the eco-cruise at 75 per on level ground with the a/c on nets me about 38mpg.  I'm hoping with the oncoming cooler weather (sans a/c)  that it will bump that up a few to the low to mid 40s.  

 

I would expect that to be a very reasonable expectation and would be surprised if you don't get it! If you don't, check with a clinometer for slight uphills, they can be hard to detect without an instant mpg display. Also, the A/C is probably a factor- we can't really do 75mph during the day when it would be hot enough to need A/C...

Edited October 18, 2013 by MacGyver

[fbov]

...255mpg is its way of saying, "I dunno, crazy high, ok, I'm just a java program, cut me some slack, willya?" or whatever a java program might say in that situation...

Priceless... almost has me using emoticons... almost.

 

The 42-60mpg jumps around a lot,

 

You're seeing a lot of noise because you're looking at mileage in the range where its very sensitive to small changes in fuel consumption. Try looking at fuel consumption directly, gal/100 miles is commonly used, and the data will be much less noisy.

- At 40 MPG, 1 cup of gas per 100 miles is worth 1 MPG.

- At 60 MPG, that same 8 oz. cup of gas, is worth 2.5MPG.

- At 120 MPG, it's worth 10 MPG!

 

HAve fun,

Frank

[C-MaxSea]

...255mpg is its way of saying, "I dunno, crazy high, ok, I'm just a java program, cut me some slack, willya?" or whatever a java program might say in that situation...

 

Priceless... almost has me using emoticons... almost.

 

double priceless,  (man on floor laughing)

Edited October 18, 2013 by C-MaxSea

[PapaJ]

We are leaving Monday for a 350 mile mostly flat interstate trip to FL.

 

I plant to set the Eco-cruise at 75 and will report back; we'll be delighted if MacGyver's observations are borne out

[MacGyver]

We are leaving Monday for a 350 mile mostly flat interstate trip to FL.

 

I plant to set the Eco-cruise at 75 and will report back; we'll be delighted if MacGyver's observations are borne out

 

You've probably already thought of the following, and you probably know how to do all this, but in the spirit of helpfulness-

 

The car will track trip mileage automatically, so if you really want to see the 75mph mpg, I would reset the average display (by holding down the left "OK" button) only once you're cruising at 75mph. You probably won't get 55-60mpg average over the whole trip (although I have at times) but I'd be surprised if you got less than 45-55mpg.

 

If you're using the instant mpg bar graph display, you'll likely see it bouncing quite a bit, this high mpg is predicated on the engine only having to maintain speed, so any little up or downslope will affect it greatly.

 

Drafting behind a semi or other vehicle is not recommended- you don't need to to achieve this mpg, and it's unsafe when you're close enough for it to have much effect.

 

I suspect the wing shape of the car is what enables it to achieve this effect in defiance of the accepted wisdom of 55mph being a brick wall of air/wind resistance.

 

Bear in mind your speedo might be a bit more or less accurate than mine, so maybe try 72-78mph to find your optimum speed- as you can see just from my screenshot of torque, the GPS speed doesn't agree with the OBD speed, which doesn't agree with my speedo.

 

You can try higher speeds, I'd be interested to see the results, but I tested all the way to 90mph, with no positive results after 75. Which if I were Ford, is exactly how I would engineer it.

 

Good luck and drive safe! I eagerly await the results!

[MacGyver]

UPDATE / CORRECTION; Torque DOES try to estimate EV mpg, either I hadn't noticed it, or maybe an update has added that functionality- how accurate it is I couldn't say- as there's nothing to compare it to, the C-max bar graph goes to 60mpg, and Torque goes to 130,140, 200 before maxing out at 255mpg.

 

Which makes me really curious as to what EV mpg is and whether torque is doing its math correctly or just approximating (my guess would be a rough approximation since whatever formula it's using would likely be applied to all hybrids)... though maybe it could look at SOC, current consumption, etc.

Edited October 22, 2013 by MacGyver

[PapaJ]

We traveled 350 miles Monday, virtually all of it Eco-cruising the interstate at a constant 75 MPH, A/C set at 73 -- trip computer indicated 40.1 MPG. Two adults, dogs, luggage, etc.  -- I am quite happy with that.

[ScubaDadMiami]

We traveled 350 miles Monday, virtually all of it Eco-cruising the interstate at a constant 75 MPH, A/C set at 73 -- trip computer indicated 40.1 MPG. Two adults, dogs, luggage, etc.  -- I am quite happy with that.

That lines up with my numbers.  I also set the A/C to 73F. 

[Jmonty]

We traveled 350 miles Monday, virtually all of it Eco-cruising the interstate at a constant 75 MPH, A/C set at 73 -- trip computer indicated 40.1 MPG. Two adults, dogs, luggage, etc. -- I am quite happy with that.

Yea that's very good considering the size of the vehicle.