Unbelievably poor mileage

[Laurel]

Edit

Edited October 12, 2013 by Laurel

[Bob999]

The A/C is activated when you use defrost so that might contribute to your experience.

[asb]

If you are running the defrost, then you are running the AC - so that accounts for some of it.  I live in Florida, and I've noticed that my mileage is worse when it is raining.  Hopefully, the upgrade will help.

[drdiesel1]

Running the defroster turns on the A/C compressor to remove the moisture from the air. You're also running it on HIGH,

so it's gonna use maximum power to operate the system at that level. Try setting it to a slightly lower fan speed.

Crack two windows for cross flow air and turn the defroster off in favor of the dash vents.  This should keep the cabin

vented and the windows clear.  This should improve your MPG's. What tire pressures are you running ????

I run 50 psi in mine.  I have 3500 miles on my C-Max and the tires are wearing nicely.  Give it a try, before you lose it :victory:

 

[Laurel]

Edit

Edited October 12, 2013 by Laurel

[drdiesel1]

Thanks everyone as I learned something from all of you i.e. running defrost on high it is the same as using air conditioning. I didn't know that!  Oh well  This is sort of a pain isn't it?  I had to be moderate with my AC all summer and now with the monsoons I have to be moderate with my defrost fan.  drdiesel1 I am not sure about my tire pressure.  Hubby checks it routinely and the pressure would be according to Hoyle as hubby is a retired pilot and goes by the book. He was used to adhering religiously to his flight operation manual and we aren't going to to change him LOL.

 Running the defroster runs the A/C compressor no matter what speed the fan is on. Tire pressure minimum is 38 PSI per the door label.

 I always run higher pressure on all my vehicles. Better wear and tire life are the other benefits. Better MPG is the main goal.

[catsailor]

Ms Laurel,

I have found that rain with loss of tire to road traction is not helping you out, seen it first hand, also wipers, head lamps and AC drains battery power and this retards the software from dedicating the battery to EV mode to run your electric motors. I get much worse MPG's when driving at night then during the day...as you can now guess why. Add wipers and rain and AC to the mix and your cooked. 

[Laurel]

Edit

Edited October 12, 2013 by Laurel

[drdiesel1]

Catsailor thanks for your response.  I guess you are right.  Me and my beloved C-Max are cooked for the winter LOL.  We are now in for our 3 to 4 months of heavy rain and mild temperatures. Still love the car, but get perplexed with all of the many things that tank the mileage.

Now that you have a car that's capable of reading the effect of running accessories and the added resistance from wet roads, you'll find lots of things that will affect your MPG numbers. The higher the MPG numbers are, the more notice you'll take of the changes.  Happy Motoring  :) 

[ptjones]

Catsailor thanks for your response.  I guess you are right.  Me and my beloved C-Max are cooked for the winter LOL.  We are now in for our 3 to 4 months of heavy rain and mild temperatures. Still love the car, but get perplexed with all of the many things that tank the mileage.

If you go to my gallery and read the info on my Grill Covers or search for Grill Covers threads back in Jan.-Feb. in Fuel Mileage Forum it explains why MPG's go down about 2mpgs for each 10degress F drop in outside temp. Grill Covers have shown to increase up to 4mpg's during Winter lower temps. 

Paul

[hybridbear]

The defrost setting can also keep the ICE from shutting off when it normally would while idling to create heat too if the outside air is cool and your inside temp is warmer.

[RaPieR]

I have to say I am shocked at our bad my mileage is the last few days.  Temperatures have dropped from around 18 C to about 11 C with heavy rain.  It feels very mild out and yes I am wearing a rain slicker, but a sweater is all that is required to stay warm.  With the Fall weather hitting, our mileage has gone from 5.5 L (close to 43 mpg) to the best I could get today was 8.6 L (that is 27 mpg).  This is even worse than last winter when we could be in the 6.8 to 7.4 range.  Granted we aren't booked for our power train upgrade until Oct.16th, but we only have roughly 7000 k on the car (4200 miles).  I had the defrost blowing on high and the temp. set at 21 C to keep the windows defrosted to drive in the torrential rain.  So it is not like I had AC or heat cranked up.  Bizarre.  I will need more than a one time $895 cheque to keep me happy if this keeps up. One other comment is that we have always had crummy in town mileage and much better highway mileage.  I count on my highway trips to bring my mileage down to the 5.5 L range as typically in town driving can range 18 L for the first short 10 k run and gradually get down to 4.8 L when the car is fully warmed up.  I have to say the worst thing about driving the C-Max is the crazy making all over the map mileage that happens on our usual short in town trips of 10 to 20 kilometers.  I want to tape over the screen as it makes me so peeved.   And yes I drive the same as I always do--no rabbit starts and nice brake scores of 99%, and much of the trip the car was in EV so how is this bad mileage even possible?  We are really curious to see how our upgrades pan out on Oct.16th. Probably most post will be the first of the many winter mileage ones that are to come LOL. 

Try adjusting your defroster settings, I just drove from Toronto to Detroit last night and the temperature was in the 50s range and rainy conditions.  I used cruise control at 65-68MPH and managed 44.3MPG on the dashboard which turned out to be 43MPG when I filled up this morning.  You don't need the defroster on high for the mild temperatures now, I was using 73F on the lowest fan setting to keep the windows de-fogged.

 

Also, for any short trips where the engine can't warm up it's pretty hard to get good mileage when the weather turns colder.  I had several short trips in Toronto that were less than 5 miles and I only averaged 26-27MPG for those short trips but on the return trip when the engine was warmed up it climbed to 44-57MPG.

[Testdriver]

Driving through heavy rain can hit your MPG pretty hard (standing water and the rain itself adds drag), plus everything else that others have mentioned and you can expect pretty crappy MPG.

[C-MaxSea]

Garage it Laurel!  (if possible, of course) Actually a tiny bit serious here.  I'm guessing that a garage adds 3,4,5 ....mpg over the Fall/Winter months for folks who drive sparingly and shorter distances.  Little warm-up for the ICE, no de-icing, a touch of the seat warmer now & then ...............  huge on 2 to 20 mile trips!  (Oh, and only drive it when it is nice out :)  :) :)  just kidding)  Love your EVe Nick 

 

PS  2 mile trip in ICE - MPG in 20s

       3 mile trip, 2 ICE/1 EV - MPGs in 30s

       4 mile trip, 2 ICE/2 EV - MPGs in 40s

In other words, it is all in the proportion of EV you are able to use.  Very short trips in ICE (immed. uphill climb or cold weather ICE warm-up) will always be very weak.  If you can achieve 40 - 50% EV, MPG life is good.

Edited September 30, 2013 by C-MaxSea

[ptjones]

Rain is a killer to MPG's and I have seen up to 10 mpg drop because of it a number of times.   It has rained a lot in Atlanta this year. LOL  Paul

[Red Twin]

Had a first Fall Weather Temp of 49 degrees this morning.  Fired up the Elect. Seats and drove out of the Hood on Batts to the Parkway, then turned on the Defrosters for about 4 Minutes to clear the final bits of condisation, by then I was on the 95 South Speedway and I secured the ventilation.  I still did my 64 Mile Commute at a very acceptable 43.3 MPG. 

 

I still need to take my Max in for the Update, so I should be seeing even better numbers soon.

[ScubaDadMiami]

I hope that the 13B07 recalibration ends out helping everyone that lives where it gets cold. 

 

Living where it's warm, I expect to score my best fuel economy over the course of the winter.  That's when the average temperature in daytime is just about 79F.  Over the summer, it is always over 90F.  So, while everyone else is getting their best numbers, that is probably when I score the worst in fuel economy.

[drdiesel1]

I hope that the 13B07 recalibration ends out helping everyone that lives where it gets cold. 

 

Living where it's warm, I expect to score my best fuel economy over the course of the winter.  That's when the average temperature in daytime is just about 79F.  Over the summer, it is always over 90F.  So, while everyone else is getting their best numbers, that is probably when I score the worst in fuel economy.

The calibration update allows EV at a higher speed.  I'm not sure it will affect temperature related MPG's

[RaPieR]

The calibration update allows EV at a higher speed.  I'm not sure it will affect temperature related MPG's

 

The update also changed warm up time and how the grill shutter functions to reduce warm-up time so hopefully it will improve winter mileage.  Granted last year I was completely ignorant on how to maximize the strengths of a hybrid but I only managed 34-38MPG during the winter time.  I'm hoping to see an improvement this winter.

 

 

• The cars will automatically stay in electric-only mode to 85 MPH, up from 62 MPH currently
• Active grille shutters will now close in cold weather or when the A/C is running to warm or cool the interior quicker, this will allow electric mode to kick in sooner.
• Fan speed will be reduced. Less electric load means better fuel economy.
• The cars will now reach operating temperature in half the time, allowing the stop-start feature to work sooner. People in colder climates will appreciate this.

[DaveofDurham]

Thank you RaPieR. I was going to post a similar reply.

 

We had 52 deg yesterday morning and 55 deg today. I used the seat heater for a few minutes. It is hard to remember how engine warm up was at these lower but still moderate temps back in the spring. I did notice that after about 2 miles of driving at 35-40 mph that the battery level had gone from very low to almost full and EV mode was active, so I am hopeful that the update will help when the temps get lower.

[C-MaxSea]

I'd swear it's harder to shake the ICE after the update than before, probably just me.  I'd be really shocked if the update improves winter driving more than 5%, and I think it will be very difficult to identify.  Sure hope I'm wrong!

 

I hope that the 13B07 recalibration ends out helping everyone that lives where it gets cold. 

 

Living where it's warm, I expect to score my best fuel economy over the course of the winter.  That's when the average temperature in daytime is just about 79F.  Over the summer, it is always over 90F.  So, while everyone else is getting their best numbers, that is probably when I score the worst in fuel economy.

Now SDM, that is almost cheating.  Remember we are all going to be watching over your shoulder now for sterling results this winter.  :)   Nick

Edited October 1, 2013 by C-MaxSea

[RaPieR]

I'd swear it's harder to shake the ICE after the update than before, probably just me.  I'd be really shocked if the update improves winter driving more than 5%, and I think it will be very difficult to identify.  Sure hope I'm wrong!

 

Now SDM, that is almost cheating.  Remember we are all going to be watching over your shoulder now for sterling results this winter.  :)   Nick

Prior to the update, when I drove to work in the morning if I had ICE on and had to stop within a mile of starting at my apartment it would hold ICE the entire time I'm waiting at the light until it warmed now.

 

Now post update, if I coast to that light that is about a mile off from my apartment, it'll drop into EV more often instead of sitting at the with ICE trying to warm up the engine.

 

For both scenarios this is with the AC/HVAC off, if the HVAC was on then ICE wouldn't shut off.

[ScubaDadMiami]

Now SDM, that is almost cheating.  Remember we are all going to be watching over your shoulder now for sterling results this winter.  :)

I don't anticipate that much of a difference.  Being an air conditioner-aholic, it is a rare event for me to turn off the AC.  So, while the AC will not have to work so hard, which I expect to help, it is not like I will be running only vented air from the outside.

 

I'd be thrilled to hit 50+ mpg for city driving, which seems like a realistic goal.

[drdiesel1]

I don't anticipate that much of a difference.  Being an air conditioner-aholic, it is a rare event for me to turn off the AC.  So, while the AC will not have to work so hard, which I expect to help, it is not like I will be running only vented air from the outside.

 

I'd be thrilled to hit 50+ mpg for city driving, which seems like a realistic goal.

Just set the A/C to a higher temp and lower fan speed to help reduce it's impact.  You might also use the recirculation mode too.

It helps reduce A/C load by using the cabin air that's already been cooled down "VS" outside air.

[SnowStorm]

Thanks everyone as I learned something from all of you i.e. running defrost on high it is the same as using air conditioning. I didn't know that!  Oh well  This is sort of a pain isn't it?  I had to be moderate with my AC all summer and now with the monsoons I have to be moderate with my defrost fan.  drdiesel1 I am not sure about my tire pressure.  Hubby checks it routinely and the pressure would be according to Hoyle as hubby is a retired pilot and goes by the book. He was used to adhering religiously to his flight operation manual and we aren't going to to change him LOL.

Several more suggestions:

1. Set MyView screen to show the Climate/Accessories graph.  Now you can monitor A/C power on the climate graph.  I don't think the fan matters much - its the A/C compressor that can burn the kilowatts.
2. Avoid recirculation setting in wet conditions so moisture doesn't build up inside the car.
3. When using the normal defroster hit the A/C OFF button and allow just some heat to clear the glass.  If you want some heat anyway, it doesn't make sense to run the A/C too.  Warm air will often clear the glass just fine.  It always worked in the "old days"!
4. Try setting the vents the way you want for comfort and then using the Max Defrost button in short bursts as needed.  I have found it very effective if you can stand turning it on and off occasionally.  It may use A/C but it turns the heat and fan way up and gets the job done quickly.  Let it clear the glass, maybe run a few seconds more, then turn it back off - things go back to normal.  I think it is one of the best climate features on the car.

So, monitor the climate graph as you experiment and remember that fogged glass results from a combination of (1) moisture in the car and (2) glass that is too cold.  Defrost with A/C running can become a vicious circle - glass fogs because it is too cold - defrost (with A/C) clears it but makes it even colder - glass now fogs all the quicker :twister: while your mileage goes to pot. :spend: