Year-round Wh/mi efficiency data

[hybridbear]

I'm curious about what kind of year-round efficiency numbers you are seeing? I'm especially interested in those who live in cold weather climates like we do in MN. What kind of Wh/mi do you see year-round? How much does consumption increase in winter? is the EPA estimate of 256 Wh/mi (according to the car's display) achievable as a year-round average?

Thanks!

 

[dmen]

I think I was right around 250 after a full year driving FFE in Chicago. As of now, my car's been through one mild winter, one mild summer and of course this crazy cold winter that doesn't seem quite ready to say goodbye, and it's showing 268 lifetime efficiency.

For specifics on winter efficiency, you might want to search the forum. There are at least a few winter threads. They mostly deal with range, but range and efficiency are closely related of course.

My thoughts- Without use of cabin heating, very cold weather driving is about 5-10% less efficient. With cabin heat running, it's 30-50% less efficient. Of course driving style and road / traffic conditions affect this. And keep in mind any snow/ice makes cabin heat necessary to keep windshield visibility acceptable. You can cycle heat on-off but cold air defrost won't cut it.

 

[jmueller065]

My lifetime average is showing 267 wH/mile but this value was reset last Thanksgiving week when the dealer performed all the recall flashes.

Which means I'm averaging 267 wH/mile for fall, our past nasty winter, and part of this spring.

 

[hybridbear]

I think I was right around 250 after a full year driving FFE in Chicago. As of now, my car's been through one mild winter, one mild summer and of course this crazy cold winter that doesn't seem quite ready to say goodbye, and it's showing 268 lifetime efficiency.

For specifics on winter efficiency, you might want to search the forum. There are at least a few winter threads. They mostly deal with range, but range and efficiency are closely related of course.

My thoughts- Without use of cabin heating, very cold weather driving is about 5-10% less efficient. With cabin heat running, it's 30-50% less efficient. Of course driving style and road / traffic conditions affect this. And keep in mind any snow/ice makes cabin heat necessary to keep windshield visibility acceptable. You can cycle heat on-off but cold air defrost won't cut it.

That's pretty incredible. Do you park in a warm garage at home? I expect that our efficiency shouldn't been too horrible in winter because we park in a heated garage at our apartment so the ambient temp underground in winter is usually about 55F. This should allow for plentiful preheating before heading out into the cold.

I have read the winter threads about range. Our primary focus in getting a Focus Electric is reducing costs and reducing pollution. We already have two hybrids so our costs are pretty low, but we want to reduce them further. I've calculated that we could save about $45/month by getting rid of the Prius and getting a Focus Electric. That cost estimate is based on hitting the EPA rating for Focus Electric efficiency including the charging losses (320 Wh/mi) so I'm trying to validate that number. I don't think that hitting EPA year-round is an unrealistic expectation since we average about 46.5 MPG year-round in our Fusion Hybrid (47/47/47) and 48 MPG year-round in our Prius (51/48/50). A lot of our trips are short (over 90% are less than 7 miles) and that hurts efficiency in the hybrid. In an electric car without an ICE warm-up cycle those short trips will not have that penalty. My parents have a C-Max Energi which is perfect for them since they do a lot of short trips and they easily see 150+ MPGe on their short trips of 3 miles or less. In a hybrid they would face a stiff warm-up penalty on those trips.