highest (worst) real world Wh/mi?

[francishsu]

Just got my FFE on lease a couple of days ago. My commute is about 24 miles each way (14 miles at 70 mph and the rest between 30 and 55 mph) and yesterday I had great disparity in energy usage going to work vs. returning, due to changing weather conditions and dealing with them.

On the trip to work, temp was in the upper 50s and I only used the radio. MyFord Mobile reported usage of 262 Wh/mi.

While at work, it was basically pouring heavy rain throughout the day and on my drive home. Temp down to the 40s. I used the radio, seat heater at 1, wipers, and I had to turn on the climate control a couple of times briefly for defrost. I thought I had done as best I could on that drive home, but the usage ended up being 421 Wh/mi. I'm sure the water on the roads required more energy to move the car.

If I consumed 421 Wh/mi both ways, I'm not sure I could have made it home without finding a charging station. Now I know in the future that under those conditions, I should take an alternate route home where I would drive 55mph max.

But I am curious what is the highest real world usage rate for a trip people have logged, where you are driving as you normally would (i.e. not experimenting). Come next winter, I will need to be able to drive in snowy conditions with temps below freezing.

 

[WattsUp]

Have you observed the energy usage driving both directions under "more equal" conditions (same weather, no accessories)? I ask because 262 would be very low number indeed for driving 70 mph on a flat terrain... I suspect that your your trip to work is slightly downhill.

Therefore, your trip home is slightly uphill, which could account for the majority of the difference in energy usage you observed. The other factors your mention (water on road, using more accessories, etc.) undoubtedly contributed somewhat as well, but going uphill would bite the most.

Of the accessories, heating the cabin has the biggest effect... although the heated seats do not. Refreshingly (pun intended) cooling the cabin takes very little energy (turning on A/C usually only costs only -1 or -2 for me). But, running the wipers, and certainly the radio, use negligible energy.

The left-hand display can be configured to show you energy usage for "Climate" and "Other". For me, "Other" barely registers most of the time, but "Climate" often shoots up, depending on the requested cabin temperature. Explore the left-hand displays, especially "My View", if you want to closely monitor/understand energy usage.

 

[francishsu]

Have you observed the energy usage driving both directions under "more equal" conditions (same weather, no accessories)? I ask because 262 would be very low number indeed for driving 70 mph on a flat terrain... I suspect that your your trip to work is slightly downhill.

Good point.. and it would bode well for the future if a large part of the disparity was due to that reason, since that would mean I would have consumed less than 421 Wh/mi under the bad weather/road conditions.

Thanks for the other information as well. I didn't know you could get a breakdown of the climate control usage. I still don't quite understand how/why the budget +/- drops so suddenly as soon as I turn it on when it doesn't know how long I am going to be running it. Even though I turned it off as soon as the defroster helped with the windows, it didn't seem to adjust back up.

 

[dmen]

Driving like you did on the way home- cold and wet, when I need warm defrost, I get around 350-400 Wh/mile. Otherwise if it's not actively raining/snowing, using climate on LO temp, lowest or second fan setting, and defrost vents opened is the best way to keep windshield and front door windows from fogging without eating your range. If I preheat the car to 85 with go-time, the car is still pretty comfortable for about 20 minutes, and tolerable for 30, despite that little cold air flow.

 

[francishsu]

Ok, well I had another commute to work. Difficult to get the same conditions to and from work because of the temperature changes currently. However, this time there was no rain either way. I went a slightly different route to reduce the 70mph highway miles from 14 to 12.

Home to work, temp in the upper 40s, seat heater at 1, no climate control.. usage was 280Wh/m

Work to home, temp at around 70, no seat heater or climate control.. occasionally opened the windows to cool down.. usage was 274Wh/m. There was also heavier traffic but I never went below 65 on the highway.

So even though there is an elevation difference between home and work (and I think it's not that great of one), it doesn't seem to be that much of a factor. Outside temperature and I'm guessing road conditions (dry vs wet road) seem to be more of a factor.

 

[AshleyRossi]

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[JimB_FFE]

I've got almost 11k miles and my lifetime average is 270 Wh/Mi.

Using the Trip Odometer to observe the short term consumption, but if I go very long without resetting, it always averages out to 270.

I never use climate and only occasionally use the seat heaters.
Average speed is 70 on the freeway.
75% freeway driving.

The big factors are cold temperatures, speed, and use of climate control (heat and a/c).

As soon the temperature approaches freezing, range will suffer by as much as 20%

If you drive on the freeway above 70 MPH, range will take another 10% hit.

The heater uses 5 kW when it's running until the interior temperature is reached. That will knock off 7 - 10 miles.

So while 55 miles is in the low range, it can fall that low if you have the perfect storm of cold, speed, and heater use. Fortunately, all of those won't likely be in play throughout the entire discharge cycle and your actual range will end up in the low 60s.

Now some tips to improve range:
Garage the car (if you can) and keep it plugged in overnight.

Set up "go times" using MyFordMobile to preheat the car interior right before heading off to work in the morning.

Use the seat heaters and keep heater use to a minimum.

To defog the windows, turn the a/c off, set the temperature to LO, and direct the air flow to your feet...yes I said feet. I don't know why it works, but it does.

Keep the speed below 70 MPH if at all possible. I know the car wants to go fast, but speeds above 70 will really eat up your range.

Also check your tire pressure. You'll likely find them at 32 PSI. Pump them up to 38 PSI and that will help a little bit.