So I went golfing this morning in south Vegas up in the mountians. Elevation difference is probably about 1000 feet from my house to the course and I ran the 11 miles to the course in 30ish mpg... I knew I would have a much higher MPG coming home but I didn't expect this high.

Instead of going back home I had to run into work so I drove the 30 miles (20ish on Interstate to work). Coming back down the hill at about 6 miles into the trip I was at MAX on the MPG indicator. I got on the Interstate and set the cruise at 55. I hit a little traffic for about a 1.5 mile strech which allowed me to run without the ICE on... When I got off the Interstate and had about 3.5 miles left I was at 50.3 mpg... I took it easy into work on a 45 miles per hour street before getting on the AFB and running the last .75 miles into work in EM.

End result a 29.7 mile trip and FE of 52.3 mpg... Unbeliveable... Car has 2550 miles on it, so still breaking it in... I can't think it'd get better than that though.

 

Did you fill up and reset the mpg before going? It would explain the avg mpg to and from being around 50.

 

I did not fill up. I reset my NAV MPG monitor and my trip odometer before the trip. I write down and analize each trip I take in the car (and track on an excel spreadsheet to learn how to drive better)...

 

Great Job trekwars, I'm sure it will not stop here. The '08 is better than prior models in my opinion and you, your HV battery and break-in at ~16,000 miles have many better days ahead if you want and try for them. Keep up the good work!

GaryG

 

Good job for such a new car ( and presumably, FEH driver! ).

I had ONE tank over 50 MPG but that involved mountains and thin air.

I'm trying for my first 50+ tank on the flat lands right now.
After having my MTE climb to the mid-600's I hope the next will be 700+.

I've had to take some "extreme" measures, like actually dis-connecting the A/C compressor. In July, I found I could drive with the HV Tav at 110'F without a loss in MPG performance. The max amps of battery output decline above 95'F but I never need max amps anyhow when "hypermiling" so this was a non-issue.

You get about the same battery performance at 110'F internal temperature, as you do at about 45 degrees. So not a big deal. And with the A/C disconnected, there was not the engine drag. I had no lights or visible warnings doing this. I actually ( on an impulse buy in the supermarket ) got 14 pounds of dry ice and spread it ON TOP of the battery, and under the carpet, and it didn't do a thing. The battery Tav didn't change at all after 1 hour. But, the battery went up to about 110'F on a 95'F day and didn't go past that... it kind of leveled off there without A/C.

I don't recommend doing this, but my A/C lost the freon, and I didn't have time to fix it, and I didn't want the A/C compressor running needlessly. The good news is... the HV battery does pretty good without it in most cases. Less than "optimal" but not bad.
I of course had to do key-off at stoplights, the car won't shut down on it's own with a hot battery. That's the biggest negative right there. ( The car thinks the A/C is running, but there is no feedback to tell the car I had it disconnected. ) -John

 

Can I assume the new FEH has electric A/C ?

 

No, the '09 has the same belt driven A/C as prior FEH/MMH's.

GaryG

 

Well for all my efforts, I still came up a tad short.
After burning up half a tank, I still had 370 MTE so things were looking pretty good...



I took her down to about 100 MTE and then filled her up.
Voila! My personal best, but 24 miles short of my goal...



Maybe next time? I will admit... this trying to shoot for 700 MTE is getting a little tedious, tiresome... and a bit stressful... it was fun for the first 3 years.....

Oh yeah.... I'm using E10, which is all I can get in Colorado. Does this count as a 700 tank if it were pure gas???

-John

 

P.S. to the last post:

676 MTE = 49.3 MPG based on 13.7 gallons which is what the computer uses.

It will take 51 MPG to break 700 MTE. Wish me luck.

 

It has been an interesting and educational experience reading your threads in this site. Good luck in breaking the "700" barrier. I can't even think of how and where one can drive (without endangering themselves) on public roads to obtain this type of mileage.