Enginer PHEV Test Pilots: Mpg reports and important data

[plugmein2]

Originally Posted by krousdb

But before setting the mpg meter for the "official test", do you warm you the car or does the "official test" start with a cold engine?

Initially, I start the car, the engine comes on for about one minute and then shuts off. I then wait 5-10 min for the Enginer kit to charge the SOC up to at least 75%. Once that is done, I press the reset button and leave the house.

JOANNA

[boxer93]

Originally Posted by plugmein2

I'm not sure how much of an impact a cold start test would have made. I will do a cold start test tomorrow and give the results if you think that will make a difference, frankly I dont think it will with in city EV mode.

JOANNA

I know with the Hymotion Pack starting with a cold ICE and getting it to operating temperature, for me, burns .02-.03 gallons of gasoline more than starting with a EBH warmed ICE. My scanguage MPG will vary from 130-200+MPG (warm) to 90-130MPG (cold). I know you can't do it with the MFD, I'd be curious how much fuel is burned during your test.
Thanks
Chris

[drees]

Originally Posted by boxer93

I know with the Hymotion Pack starting with a cold ICE and getting it to operating temperature, for me, burns .02-.03 gallons of gasoline more than starting with a EBH warmed ICE.

FWIW, I had a long post which made a few assumptions where I calculated how much fuel warmup burns in a theoretical situation (but didn't post it) and came up with 0.03 gallons to warm up as well. So your 0.02-0.03 looks good to me!

[plugmein2]

Originally Posted by boxer93

I know with the Hymotion Pack starting with a cold ICE and getting it to operating temperature, for me, burns .02-.03 gallons of gasoline more than starting with a EBH warmed ICE. My scanguage MPG will vary from 130-200+MPG (warm) to 90-130MPG (cold). I know you can't do it with the MFD, I'd be curious how much fuel is burned during your test.
Thanks
Chris

Thank you for that info. (.02-.03 gallons) Yes, there is no way of knowing how much fuel is used for the warm up with the Enginer Kit. I know the Hymotion has a computer to tell you these things, whereas, the Enginer doesn't, hence the price. My ultimate goal was to get to 99.9 on the meter for the duration of the trip. I was able to do that. Maybe I should purchase a scanguage?

JOANNA

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by plugmein2

Initially, I start the car, the engine comes on for about one minute and then shuts off. I then wait 5-10 min for the Enginer kit to charge the SOC up to at least 75%. Once that is done, I press the reset button and leave the house.

JOANNA

Joanna,
If that is your procedure than your test data is not valid. You can't exclude the fuel that was used to warm up the engine. People are looking for real world mileage data. Please report your data with cold start. Also, please provide more context. For example, had you taken that trip without the PHEV kit, what would you have gotten?

[plugmein2]

8/18/09

Test drive #3 Highway:

Went 20 miles with Enginer 2kw kit engaged, set cruise control and reset button at 64mph on fairly flat Highway. Avg mpg on display 70.3. My previous highway before the kit was between 48-50 mpg. That is an improvement of 70%!

After the test, I still had more battery power and could have gone farther but decided to stop at 20 miles. I am very happy with the results so far.

My next test will be highway at 60mph using the exact same route.

JOANNA

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by plugmein2

8/18/09

Test drive #3 Highway:

Went 20 miles with Enginer 2kw kit engaged, set cruise control and reset button at 64mph on fairly flat Highway. Avg mpg on display 70.3. My previous highway before the kit was between 48-50 mpg. That is an improvement of 70%!

After the test, I still had more battery power and could have gone farther but decided to stop at 20 miles. I am very happy with the results so far.

My next test will be highway at 60mph using the exact same route.

JOANNA

Joanna,
My math may be wrong but 70/49 = 143% which is a 43% improvement, not 70%. Did you actually go 20 miles without the kit turned on to use for comparison or did you go from memory? There are many variables that can effect the results. Temperature, wind speed and direction come into play. Also A/C use.

70.3 is definately an improvement for 64 MPH on the highway but I am concerned about the 48-50 MPG comparison. When I drive 64MPH on a flat highway on a calm day (no wind) I average 54-56 MPG. For me, 70/55 would be only a 27% improvement. Good, but not the 40-100% that was advertized. Can you tell me what the temperature was outside and what you have the A/C set to?

[plugmein2]

The 48-50 mpg was by memory. I just had bought my Prius about a month ago. Before my Enginer kit, I was under the impression the Prius would get 50-60 mpg. After driving it a while, this was not the case for me. I was a little disappointed that I was hovering around the 50 mpg mark instead of the 60. Yes, I divided the 50 mpg by the 70 to get a %. I've never been good at %'s. Thank's for the correction.

JOANNA

[plugmein2]

Test #4 - Highway 55mph

Drove the same route as before. Set cruise at 55mph. Drove 20 miles. Average mpg was 78.2 mpg. This is an 8mpg increase over 64mph. The slower you go the more mileage you get.

JOANNA

[krousdb]

Originally Posted by plugmein2

Test #4 - Highway 55mph

Drove the same route as before. Set cruise at 55mph. Drove 20 miles. Average mpg was 78.2 mpg. This is an 8mpg increase over 64mph. The slower you go the more mileage you get.

JOANNA

When I drive 55, I usually get about 65 MPG. So 78 MPG would be a 20% improvement for me. Do you have the 2kwh or 4kwh kit? Did you run out at 20 miles or did you have some juice left? In addition to the mileage numbers, people want to know how long it lasts. Also, when fuly charged, what is your cell voltage?

Other questions that come to mind are..
What was the temperature outside?
Did you have a head wind, tail wind or cross wind?
What was the wind speed?
Did you have A/C on? At what temp setting?

The answers to all of these questions can make a big difference to your results. For example, if you told me that you had a 10 mph headwind, it was 100 degrees out and you had your AC set to 72, then I would say WOW! 78 MPG would be a 42% improvement, not just a 20% improvement. Yes, wind and AC use can make a huge difference.