EV up & down, seasonal effect

I was going to start a thread about this a few days ago after noticing the display of mpg by month--it's nearly a 50 mpg difference for us, from about 80 in "winter" to 130 in "summer". (Seattle, so I put the seasons in quotes). It is nice to see the EV miles go up too, but I realized a long time ago how meaningless that figure can be. I can drive a looong way at 30-40mph on flat ground in EV, and then lose 2.5 miles in a half-mile 350 ft climb.
I doubt that many people would put much stock in their gas-only car if it stated "300 miles to empty tank" and they then drove over a mountain pass at highway speeds. I also assume they would also consider it foolish to trust such a display only to end up hiking with a gas can. EVs and their ilk are going to take some getting used to by the great unwashed.

 

My complaint -- keep the EV range complaints limited to one thread. Don't need 500 EV range threads.


iPad ? HD

 

John, yesterday I drove the back roads home and decided to use up all of my EV range at the beginning of the trip and it was nearly all downhill with a lot of regen. I think I drove well over 20 miles in EV Mode. I finished off the rest of the trip in HV Mode. Total trip was about 60 miles.

The next day I was surprised to see my EV Range estimate was 11.4 miles. It was 10.9 miles the day before. I wonder if stretching out my EV miles the day before contributed to the increase in estimated range.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there since we are still in the data collecting stages.

 

I believe that is the way it works. Its an estimate based on your recent experience. I don't know how many days back it goes to make the calculation, but I expect it is a very small number like 1 or 2, maybe 3. If I use HV to go up my hill on the way home from a short trip, the EV "prediction" goes up the next day. If I use EV to go up the hill the EV "prediction" goes down the next day.

 

I tend to drive the the same route (with significant hills) everyday. EV range increased from 8.6 to 9.6. However, when I change my route in have gotten a max of 13.3 miles EV only.

 

To me this is really the point, as stressed by many people over many threads... It's the MPG stupid!

I live in the High Plains of the central US with very cold winters, and my experience/data is similar to John's in terms of seasonal range variation. Sure I'd love to have more EV range, and I get some 'EV range envy' sometimes when I think about other models, battery/range add-on kits, etc.

But I'm not sure I'd make a different choice even today. I can't afford multiple vehicles (other than an old work truck) and the pure-EV range limit/anxiety of something like a Leaf is a no-go based on my driving/region of the US (until more charging options expand into most parts of our country). The Volt would be a possibility, but at the time I bought (early 2012)...no way was I going to gamble on GM's dismal reliability record compared to that of Toyota/Prius. And the non-EV mpg of the Volt is hardly stellar...something important for me since probably 2/3 of my driving is non-EV.

I commute into town (including some mpg-depleting gravel roads) on about a 24-mile route. I typically average an mpg in 80s one-way and in the 120s the other. Much of my driving ends up in the 100mpg range. So in other words I'm getting to drive a vehicle in the performance ballpark of the Automotive X-Prize...

I was beside myself with those numbers in the beginning...but now...like all too many of us...I've become accustomed to the "new normal" and keep wanting "more"....familiarity breeds contempt... It takes me sharing these numbers with others and seeing their shocked reactions to remind me of what I have. These are crazy mpgs compared just about everything in our vehicle fleet today, mpgs accessible by someone without a Tesla-level budget (I'm a community college instructor). And mpgs I can 'drive' in part from my modest solar/wind system just by 'plugging in'...!

So if you're feeling a little "PiP buyer's remorse"...look beyond the pure-EV range issue now and then and focus on your mpg....share those numbers with your family, friends and co-workers and watch their reactions to remind yourself what you have...then watch their reactions when you start grumbling about your "pure EV range"and "seasonal differences" etc. etc.

 

This has been my observation as well. My EV range guess is always higher in the morning charge at home than in the afternoon charge at work. I attribute this to 11 miles EV in the morning used up at highway speeds and 15 to 20 EV miles used up in afternoon in bumper to bumper traffic.

 

my range is almost completely linear because most of my driving is all ev commute. only 45%hv and it doesn't seem to effect it much.

 

Hi! John,
Thanks for the up-date, nice to see and compare. My numbers are far better than last years so far.
Last year the best I ever did was 17.4 actual EV.
Kind of the same thing here. last ten day's my estimated EV range has gone from 12.6 to today 14.6 .
Actual EV has been 17.0, 16.9, 16.9, 14.9, 15.5, 16.4, 18.6, 19.6, 17.5, 17.4 Sure likes warm weather!
This tank I'm at 640 miles 540 MPG. Driving ratio for this tank 88% EV and 12% hV.

 

In CT and I'm at 10.3 EV. I'm hoping it starts to go up, but tempted to reconnect the battery. ;-)

 

John is this entune/phone display only for the advanced or does the base have access to this too?

 

Yep. I don't have anything like that on my base model.


iPad ? HD

 

Was this a blend of EV/HV or just HV?

And actually the Sun and road conditions makes a bigger difference for me. I like it warm, so I kept the cabin at 76F the entire late Fall/Winter/early Spring and of course used the heated seats a lot. Although I couldn't charge at work, by parking facing south in the Winter I took advantage of the free heat. Ah, but the warmer weather, I am able to utilize the EV much more and making a rather dramatic swing from a low of 62 MPG back up to 116 MPG this last fill up.


iPad ? HD

 

It is on the Advanced only. The Advanced has a built-in cell phone for Toyota Safety Connect (like GM's OnStar), and that phone is used for the telematics (charge state, car location, "ECO dashboard", remote A/C). These smartphone applications talk to a server over their Internet connection, and that server places a data call to the phone in the car. They are intended to be used when you are nowhere near the car. This functionality is unrelated to the USB or Bluetooth connection used for the other applications, like Pandora or media player, where the smartphone is talking directly to the car as well as using possibly using its Internet connection.

 

Is this just gas mileage or do you include some gas equivalent of the electricity used?