If you don't have a SG, how do you know that it is good to keep the SOC low? Your SOC might well be at normal.

I suspect you have a 2009+ FWD? I find that my 2008 AWD FEH does best on moderate traffic freeway conditions - it regularly returns over 34 MPG in these conditions. It sounds like this is your situation.

BTW, I don't find the SG to be stressful, only informative.

 

I am assuming the SOC is low only because of my driving style. On a long stretch of road, I will accelerate to target speed, then run on EV as long as I can, until the ICE comes on due to low SOC. Then I pulse and glide to charge the battery until the SOC is high enough to allow EV mode again, then continue the process. This will net me 48+mpg at 38-42mph.

Yes, 2009 FWD. Actually have two of them, and they are a bit different in character. One seems to have a better battery than the other. It goes into EV mode sooner, and I can stay there longer. I can get about 2mpg better in that one (which is my wife's car) than mine.

At 55mph on the freeway I get around 44mpg by the FEH mileage gauge, which is around 41-42mpg in reality.

RayP

 

[QUOTE=RayP;212923]

Yes, 2009 FWD. Actually have two of them, and they are a bit different in character. One seems to have a better battery than the other. It goes into EV mode sooner, and I can st

 

Ray, I don't get near that. I am at about 33.2 mpg at 55mph on the freeway (San Jose -> Monterey). That is using CC, and using the buttons to slow a bit on the hills to keep the rpms below 2500. I normally cruise along at 1800 rpm or so. What other techniques apply to 55mph travel? I haven't found a way to bump to EV when the speed is above 45 or so.

-Dave

 

OK, what I am about to say may sound like superstitious nonsense, but it is all based on observation...

The FEH seems to "learn" from your driving style on a continuous basis. The higher you push your FE, the higher you CAN push it. And, there seems to be a threshold to the phenomenon. As long as I drive using the fairly simplistic techniques I have published before, my mileage remains high. But mess up once, and it drops for a while until I can retrain the car back to the higher mileage. Perhaps there is some "performance" mode vs "economy" mode that gets triggered when you drive too hard, and it stays in that mode for a while, I don't know. And you may all think I am crazy as well, and that's fine, since luckily you can verify for yourself. After your next fill-up, drive so that you NEVER exceed 2000 RPM and don't go over 55mph. Follow the rules I published earlier, and I bet you by the first 100 miles you will have pushed your FE up to 38-40mpg in mixed driving.

RayP

 

I can't go into EV under any conditions I have found above 40mph. How do you get into EV at 45? I thought this was pretty much a fixed qty due to the RPM limitations on MG2.

RayP

 

Dave...my '09 runs around 1400-1500 rpm at 55 mph. 1800 sounds very high and that is probably the reason for the lower mpg.

I also realized today that I don't really do EV mode pulse and glide, but what I like to think of as "pulse and cruise". I'll stay in CC EV mode on flat ground at around 38 mph, then when the SOC drops and the ICE turns on, I'll rev up to 2000 rpm until I get to around 42 mph, then coast til I drop below 40. If I don't drop to EV mode, then I rev again at 2000 to 42, and repeat until it drops to EV mode, then continue coasting until the CC kicks in at 38 mph again. This is of course irrelevant to the 55 mph mileage discussion, but I was just adding to another post I made earlier.

And one final point...just filled up again. Gauge mileage was 42.7, and actual was 40.8 in mixed driving. My 2nd tank over 40 (!!)

RayP