[Mobilcams]

So here are some recent observations I have noted on my car. When the engine is cold and the car is first started with moderate temps outside, if you are gentle - it seems to use the battery over the engine to drive the traction motor.. It will drain the battery down to two bars, after which the engine will start to rev as you are accelerating. After the battery has been drained and the motor is being driven by the engine, the battery will then start to charge. I think that it does this to keep strain off the engine when it is first started up. I also noticed that during this period, as you brake instead of regenerating into the battery, it uses the engine to do the braking as I have heard the engine accelerate when I stopped from a moderate speed. I have been getting VERY good MPG and it seems like it's gotten better overtime (I just hit 50,000 miles yesterday).

 

[pasei]

So here are some recent observations I have noted on my car. When the engine is cold and the car is first started with moderate temps outside, if you are gentle - it seems to use the battery over the engine to drive the traction motor.. It will drain the battery down to two bars, after which the engine will start to rev as you are accelerating. After the battery has been drained and the motor is being driven by the engine, the battery will then start to charge. I think that it does this to keep strain off the engine when it is first started up. I also noticed that during this period, as you brake instead of regenerating into the battery, it uses the engine to do the braking as I have heard the engine accelerate when I stopped from a moderate speed. I have been getting VERY good MPG and it seems like it's gotten better overtime (I just hit 50,000 miles yesterday).

So I've analyzed the engine a lot with my OBDII reader. Basically during the warm up, it revs at 1500rpm constant until the engine reaches 130F (Eco or Normal mode), which translates into a ~20A charge to the battery (depends on temp). If you accelerate, it will tap into the battery because it's typically much greater than 20A when you accelerate. If you idle or brake, it will charge the battery. Based on how much you accelerate and idle, the battery will either charge or drain (but as you said, it usually goes down under normal use). Now when the battery goes under 25% (2 bars), or if you accelerate too hard, this is when the ICE will rev above 1500rpm.

 

[mcm626]

I've tried warming up the car before driving and it doesn't seem to affect MPG very much. What I do find effective is making sure there's a decent charge in the battery before getting to your destination so that there's enough of a charge to begin your next trip. I did that yesterday and this morning I managed to get 63 mpg. When I started out the battery was one bar off full and the trip computer was reading 199 mpg. The rest is history.

Use those regeneration paddles as much as possible, especially when nearing your destination to charge the battery. Don't use the paddles when someone is behind you. Using the paddles is like braking with no brake lights so please be mindful of that. I left the battery with a 50% charge when I got home so I'll see what happens tomorrow morning with my MPG and I'll report back the results.

 

[mcm626]

There is definitely a correlation between temperature and battery performance. During colder weather the battery is being warmed up alongside the interior of the car so it takes longer for EV mode to automatically engage while driving. I'm just going to use the remote start to precondition the interior before I leave for work. There really isn't much of a difference in MPG when I warm up the car vs not doing so.

 

[mcm626]

There is definitely a correlation between temperature and battery performance. During colder weather the battery is being warmed up alongside the interior of the car so it takes longer for EV mode to automatically engage while driving. I'm just going to use the remote start to precondition the interior before I leave for work. There really isn't much of a difference in MPG when I warm up the car vs not doing so.

Update:

I stopped warming up the car and simply begin each trip in Sport Mode, climate control off, with Max Regen with EV Mode on. Speed limit in my neighborhood is 30 so it's easy to maintain a high charge in the battery until I reach the first Traffic Light, then I go into normal mode and switch EV off.