Hi,



I am planning a trip to Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway this fall, and I was wondering what I could expect on all of the hills and mountains.



Anyone have experience with driving their FEH or MMH in the mountains?



I am also planning a trip to Grandfather Mountain and I am wondering how much the ICE will roar going up (also, how fast the ICE will be spun on the way down as M1 (M1?? M2??) uses up the excess charge).



Should be a great trip, and I am hoping the trees start turning color when I leaf (really bad pun inteneded).



Rick

 

I drive the hills/mountains of western PA on a regular basis.

My FEH 4WD handled the uphill segments, some fairly severe, with no problems. The ICE will roar as the CVT will drive it at 4k rpm or better on the uphill drive. The batteries will fill up easily on the down hills and spin the engine too.

In the winter, with a luggage bubble on the top of the truck, I got about 31 mpg, from NJ to Green county PA, much of the trip on the PA TPKE. With the bubble off, in the spring, I got 34.5 mpg. In the summer, with the A/C on I got about 32.8.

Have a great, safe trip.

 

I was wondering the same thing. I'm making a trip from S Cal to N Cal in about three weeks and wondered about MMH climbing 5-6% grade for 5 miles to 4000ft over the grapevine Sounds like no problems from MMH/FEH drivers, but expect normal but high reving engine.

If I make the trip before you, I'll describe it here:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...19.html?page=1

Have fun climbing

 

Drove the rolling hills from DC to Winchester and then from Winchester to Culpeper - skirting SkyLineDrive - in the begining of August. My 06 FEH was very enjoyable, even with a Mt Bike on the roof rack. I tried to remember to brake as early as possible and that just a slight touch of the brake pedal engages the regenerative brake motor/gen - using that trick helped keep my mph up. I got used to the 4k rpm from ICE as the FEH needed to crest a steep hill and practiced when to back off the pedal to get back down to 2k rpm.

Enjoy!

 

What are the speed limits on Skyline?

I drive rural roads in the Rocky Mountains ( 5,000 ft to 12,000 ft ) and always get excellent results. Some of my best tanks ( 45 MPG ), and 55 MPG trips are from mountain driving. Going an average speed of 45 MPH uphill will give me about 26 MPG. Then, I keep it under 40 MPH downhill to stay in EV mode for miles on end.

If you get 26 MPG uphill, and 120 MPG downhill, you can get excellent round-trips!
-John