Why Does YOUR Commute Suck?

Our commute in terms of elevation is very similar...more uphill on the way home than on the way to work. I try to break even on the way home but expect to pick up more mpg on the way to work. Hopefully over the course of a tank I'm picking up more mpg than I'm losing on the way home (not to mention the errands during the course of the tank that might cost me some mpg too).

Sometimes I leave earlier to get to work to avoid traffic to take advantage of less traffic on the road so I can determine my speed rather than the person behind me. If I leave 30 minutes early for work I can often see only a few cars on the road and get as much as 10 mpg better on my commute to work than if I left at my regular time.

There are several times on my way to work when I see 1 car behind me and no others for a good distance that I pull over to the side of the road while maintaining speed to let the driver behind me pass so I have some time to dictate my FE.

On the way home it's usually at 5pm so I can take advantage of slower traffic and use a mix of EV mode while still keeping my SOC high enough on the hills to remain efficient during the entire commute without wasting energy to recharge the battery when the go pedal is needed.

I had a monster commute to work today and traffic was perfect. Over my 11 mile commute to work I got 74 mpg (confirmed with SGII and mfd). I then had a 5 mile drive after that (left the car running to maintain engine temp) and pulled a 108 mpg run on that route). I'm sitting at 69.1 mpg right now after 130 miles on my mfd and hoping to replicate this tomorrow!

 

The highway is my only problem. There is no way around it unless I take back roads that go over large hills. I only have to travel at highway speeds for about 2.5 miles. If it was not for that I could go full electric my whole 22 mile commute to work and back home.

 

I gave up commuting decades ago. It's just too depressing. My absolute worst these days is a ten-minute walk. Maybe fifteen when it snows. The best (I don't work in the same office everyday) is about ten feet to the other end of the hallway.

 

Mine sucks because of a 13 mile long hill climb gaining approx. 1,000ft. Because of the topography I cannot coast/glide down it very well so averaging approx. 30-33mpg going up the hill simply cannot be overcome by gliding downhill so my average always drops. On my flat road commute to my 2nd job I can easily get 52-53mpg at freeways speeds (65-75mph) but the primary job commute is always 47mpg.

 

The key to good mileage on a commute is to keep it short. Mine is about 15 feet.

Tom

 

MINE sucks. At the time when I can P&G, i get 5mph traffic to deal with. On the way home, it's good speed but it's on a slight uphill climb. errrrrrrrrrrr

TONY - THE SHEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP IS BACK.

DR FUSCO - looking at your screen, may i ask do you drive like that on instinct now or do you really pay attention to your driving style? for me, i still have to turn on the consumption screen to remind myself how to safe fuel. can't do this on feel alone just yet.

 

I drive 58 miles each way, most of it on California state highway 91. Anyone who's from California, you don't need any more explanation as to why my commute sucks. For the rest of you, imagine everything you've ever heard about L.A. traffic, then imagine there was one, and only one, road that took you from Orange County to points east. Stuff all that traffic on that one road.

 

Three reasons why my commute sucks

First, I have been experimenting....mostly too work:

I find the first 1/2 mile -- hills and engine warm up -- I get only about 20 MPG. So, I use 1/40th of a gallon in the first 1/2 mile. The remaining 10 miles to work, I average 70 MPG. The first 1/2 mile drops me to 62.

In addition, I have this great hill to glide down, except about 1/3 the time, the light in the middle is red, and I lose that wonderful momentum.

Finally, near my house are stop signs at the bottom of hills (3!). I do not mind them at the top....but at the bottom?


On the way home, my commute sucks because of traffic. DC traffic is bad...not LA bad, but it is bad. And I get 52 MPG on the way home. Home is 200ft higher than office. I think the difference is the traffic prevents the possible long glides

 

Stop Lights. Two issues.

1. Lights that are triggered by cross traffic.
2. Lights that are closely obscured by hills, bends, dips in the road, or trees.

My route to work is 8 miles. There are 15 lights along the way. Of those fifteen, 5 are triggered by (hidden) cross traffic; they change unpredictably. Cannot time them. There are also 6 obscured lights; they are out of sight until I'm on top of them. There's no timing them either.

Most infuriating are two lights in particular. One allows cars to exit from a special needs school, the other allows cars to exit from a shopping center. Both change immediately (with short yellow) upon approach of a car from the side street.

So my mileage is largely dependent on the light sequencing for any given day. Very frustrating.

I do have several good downhill segments which can offset the frequent stops, but if the lights are wrong, I'm lucky to break even.

 

The ONLY reason my commute really sucks, is after all that driving, I end up at WORK!!!!

The trip home sucks less, because I know there is a cold beer waiting for me at HOME!!!

 

I hear you. I don't care how many hills or traffic lights you have. Long commutes suck the worst. Theres no competition.

I drive 45 miles each way but with almost no traffic. Spending that much time in the car sucks though and putting that many miles on my beloved car also sucks.

However means ill get to upgrade to a newer prii sooner!

 

Only issue I have is climbing up the Verrazano Bridge, but then I make it back on the downhill side. . If I try to avoid traffic coming home there is a very steep hill on Staten Island on Hillside Avenue. The grade is at least 6%. That really eats into my mileage.

 

Sorry for this side question: If traffic allows wouldn't the lower acceleration RPM the better MPG? Say, 1200 ~ 1400 RPM? At least the instantaneous MPG bar graph seems to always go down with higher RMP when accelerating. Thanks!

 

My commute is twelve miles each way on busy city streets. There are over 30 lights during that twelve miles. On the way home, I often have to stop at almost all of them. There is so much traffic, that it is almost impossible to glide up to lights. Really puts a dent in my MPG.