A new Personal Best for Jelly!

[Adair]

If you've been here a while, you know that I drive the same route to and from work every day. 17 miles of rolling back roads, a couple of stop lights and stop signs, speeds from 30-50 mph. It's a peaceful, usually uneventful route in my little Zen car. 

 

My previous best on this route was last August when I got 61.3 MPGs. Today was even better.....63.1!! This was driving the speed limit and with AC. I love my C-MAX!

 

 

Now, let's see if I remember how to upload a picture!

 

63 by JellyBean439, on Flickr

[DaveofDurham]

Nice work Adair.  Roll Jelly Bean Roll!

[mtb9153]

Awesome wish I could duplicate it.  Right now I'm struggling to just stay at 40.0 dropping from 43.5

[fbov]

This is curious...

 

My commute:

15.3 miles, typical EV 11.3 mles, ~55 mpg

 

Your commute

17.0 miles, typically (?) EV 11.5 miles, 63.1 mpg.

 

You are driving more miles on ICE and using less fuel than I am on a similar type of route!

 

Of course, you're doing the speed limit, I'm staying at-or-above the speed limit:

- use ICE when I can't maintian speed limit in EV,

- target 5-over entering EV and let it decay to speed limit as SOC falls

- allow 10-over down hills, especially those followed by a rise (valleys) where I let it decay to 5-over on the uphill.

- only change is I no longer use as much ICE as I can while charging; now using 1.5-1.8 bar to accelerate, 1-1.5 bar to cruise when a higher SOC is beneficial (e.g. long EV run around the bend.)

 

All this only because it's the rules I instituted last September when baselining performance, and I have to play be consistent rules to evaluate the fuel comsumptioni impact of things like PCM update, aero mods and the like. I average 30 mph - 30 minutes to go 15 miles.

 

Well done!

Frank, who's seen 60's on this route, but only when cheating (warm engine)

[C-MaxSea]

Adair, The Force    EVe 

   Was With You !            (11.5/17 = roughly 68 %)

 

& you too Frank - she accounted for 71.2 % of your propulsion on your last tank of 707 miles.

(due to, of course, your judicious use of the ICE, & maxing out the C-Max's beautiful alternative charging systems)

 

Having fun,

Nick WALL-E

 

(( Now Foto & Scuba have somehow managed 77 & 78 % over full tanks - amazing feats I for one will never reach ! ))

Edited June 27, 2014 by C-MaxSea

[fbov]

There's a nugget of truth in here, I suspect. My initial approach was to run the ICE as hard as I could when it's on, hoping to increase %EV.

 

Recently, I've backed-off the ICE power a bit, and I'm getting both better efficiency (using more fuel per ICE-on mile), and better mileage due to higher %EV. When Adair is using ICE, she's not running high load, getting lower %EV, but still using fuel at a slower rate per mile.

 

Perhaps the trick is more ICE at lower load... I hit a 63MPG recently (not entered in my database yet) and thought perhaps I'd done more low-load ICE time. The thought was that the battery's charging just as well at low load as at high load, that ICE time was important to SOC, not intensity.

 

This is very different from Jus's advice to run ICE at 2 bars when you use it, but use it only when needed. Perhaps I misunderstood, as he's certainly gotten the results!!

 

HAve fun,

Frank, who can't change driving style now that he's started playing with aero things again...

Edited June 25, 2014 by fbov

[HPRifleman]

Adair,

 

Your braking score of 96% seems low. Is this what you typically get on your commute?

[Adair]

Adair,

 

Your braking score of 96% seems low. Is this what you typically get on your commute?

Hi HP,

 

To be perfectly honest, the winter was so grim, plus I had other things on my mind, that I didn't really pay attention to the brake score % I looked at the MPGs, sighed, wished for summer,  and let it go at that. This is the first pix I've taken of the end screen in probably 10 months.

[fbov]

... I looked at the MPGs, sighed, wished for summer...

+1 sums up Winter up nicely!

 

I'm not looking forward to having no control over the pulse, and losing my glide again! Conversely, we're still waiting for Summer weather (big lake's at 53F); it's been a beautiful if late Spring!

 

Have fun,

Frank

[Laurel]

That Jelly Bean!  What a stellar little car. 

[C-MaxSea]

The Ice Princess is not too shabby either.  :)  Hope she is well thawed out. ;)  Our moss has a nice summer crunch to it already.  Time to do some cruising.   :flyaway:

[Laurel]

The Ice Princess is not too shabby either.  :)  Hope she is well thawed out. ;)  Our moss has a nice summer crunch to it already.  Time to do some cruising.   :flyaway:

That is very true!  Hubby did a test drive in a Acura MDX.  We whacked our heads getting into it and holy Hannah was the visibility ever poor compared to TIP.  The Acura was scratched from his list. 

[SnowStorm]

Of course, you're doing the speed limit, I'm staying at-or-above the speed limit:

- use ICE when I can't maintian speed limit in EV,

- target 5-over entering EV and let it decay to speed limit as SOC falls

- allow 10-over down hills, especially those followed by a rise (valleys) where I let it decay to 5-over on the uphill.

- only change is I no longer use as much ICE as I can while charging; now using 1.5-1.8 bar to accelerate, 1-1.5 bar to cruise when a higher SOC is beneficial (e.g. long EV run around the bend.)

 

All this only because it's the rules I instituted last September when baselining performance, and I have to play be consistent rules to evaluate the fuel comsumptioni impact of things like PCM update, aero mods and the like. I average 30 mph - 30 minutes to go 15 miles.

Frank, why go over speed by +5 or +10 (consistency aside)?  Any time you go faster it takes more energy.  It doesn't matter if you're in EV or going down hill, you don't get the extra speed for free.  Have you ever tried your commute in EcoCruise at the speed limit?  I doubt P&G in a hybrid like the C-Max does anyone much good (if any) - assuming you maintain the same average speed.  (Our car doesn't have a regular daily commute like many here so I can't do daily comparisons.)

 

Also, and perhaps it goes without saying, but battery SOC differences between beginning and end of these shorter runs can make a huge impact on MPG.

[fbov]

Time to work. Courtesy to other drivers.

 

The speed vs. mileage tradeoff is a red herring in my mind. If you really want to reduce fuel use, you ride a bike. Not always practical, but illustrative of the tradeoff; zero MPH is infinite MPG. Switching to a hybrid has so greatly reduced my fuel expense that cost isn't a big factor either, at least now that the weather's warmer. For me, consistency is a top priority, as I gain value in life from learning. Knowledge is the one thing you can take with you... and this car is teaching me practical aerodynamics.

 

EcoCruise is also a red herring; the EV threshold is too low for it to engage on its own in any sort of productive way. I use it to maintain minimum speed, and then only on highways, as the speed limits are changing too often on my rural commute. And where do I set it - minimum speed at the posted speed limit or maximum speed?

 

If you don't P&G your hybrid, you're missing the one thing that works really well in my experience. The car enables it, but it's not free; it requires constant attention - just the thing to keep my mind occupied on the way to work. What I've described has my mileage up 12.5% over the baselining period last year. 1 free gallon for every 8 used. I've now switched commutes to see what I can get at highway speeds, where some of the aero mods ought to have greater benefit... 49.7MPG this AM is very good, but one point is worthless. I'll report in August.

 

Finally, 15 miles and 30 minutes is not a "short" trip... SOC has far less effect than traffic, weather and elevation change. The wife and I did a 150 miles road trip Saturday (see my post in "what's in your C-Max) and I got high 30's on the way down using 2-lane routes through the countryside. On the way back I took the freeway and got low 60's going 70 mph most of the way. The reason is obvious from this chart of the route elevation...

 

Don't dismiss the value of 1/4 SOC taking you a mile or two... if you start faster than you end.

 

HAve fun,

Frank

[SnowStorm]

I guess 40+ years of addiction to CC is hard too shake.  And the actual route/traffic/speed profile must also have an impact on how much gain can come from P&G.  Can you summarize your baseline driving profile - before the +12.5 percent?  I mostly drive three different "regions".

1. Interstate, 65 mph, rolling hills, EcoCC.  Car goes into EV on many (most?) of the downhills.
2. Two lane roads (plus a bit of Interstate), 55 mph, slight to moderate rolling hills, EcoCC (standard CC in heavier traffic).  EV use with CC varies with hill size.  I've tried using P&G some but it didn't seem to help.  (But I can't do daily comparisons.)
3. Two lane roads, 55 mph, dead flat, EcoCC.  Car will run "high ICE" indefinitely if road stays dead flat.  I can't see how pushing it in and out of EV could help.  Tried it some and, again, it didn't seem to help.  Plus, changing speed on that road is pretty much a no-no.

Or maybe I'm just too addicted.

 

On the aero side, are you working on an all-out boat tail?  That would turn some heads!

[fbov]

Addiction to CC?? Perhaps cruise control? I never use it when commuting; it keeps ICE on most all the time.

 

I tracked mileage just about every time I got in the car at first, but settled on tracking two routes, a mostly rural route through the suburbs (35-45 mph limits) and an expressway route, 55-65 mph limits save for ingress and egress surface roads. I took a month to learn the car (August, '13), then baselined both routes for the month of September, getting the PCM upgrade in early October and switching to snows before Thanksgiving. So the 12.5% includes the PCM upgrade, vortex generators, grill blocks, and a slight change in acceleration criteria from "2-bar or as much as will still charge the battery" to "1.5-2 bars max" unless traffic/road conditions warrant more (e.g. entering expressways)

 

Gee, I never posted the rural route... the two low spots are crossing the creek that's in my back yard, well below house level. You'd never pickout the high spot without mapping it (I did).

 

Expressway, the profile is very different, with a low spot going over the mouth of the same creek, at Lake Ontario level, that feels nowhere near as sharp or deep as shown, but still 60' above lake level. I'm now testing this route as I expect AC will have less effect at speed... and I can usually get by without in the mornings, so there's basis for comarison.

 

On the aero side, having added gills (as my kids call the vortex generators) to the rear quarters around the tail lights, with no obvious improvement, I moved forward, most recently adding an air dam and side skirts. That said, I have developed a semi-boat tail concept, based on a folded-up hitch platform, but I'm leery of extremely low Cd due to the accompanying reduction in cross-wind stability. Hucho is required reading if you're serious about aero mods.

 

As I said, just starting to reassess highway technique, with some very good results combining high ICE in the high-speed section with normal P&G on hills and today, a bit of drafting from a UPS truck that followed my normal P&G pattern for several miles, netting me a 52.1 mpg this morning, after a 49.6 yesterday. Too soon for conclusions, though... but this is a lot more fun than Winter!!!

 

HAve fun,

Frank