Did some unusual driving this weekend, and Volt # 5083 turned in some unexpected numbers.
(A) Getting Prius-ish mileage (nearly 48 mpg) from the gas motor.
Last Saturday my wife and I took a drive from northern MD through the PA hills to Gettysburg and the battlefield memorials. Surprisingly free of tourists. Went into mountain mode on leaving home so I had 13 mi of battery saved up to run around Gettysburg w/o polluting. Getting 45-50 mil of battery range while driving on back roads is not unusual these days now that the weather has warmed up, but driving 80.2 mi on the internal combustion engine and using 1.68 gals of gas (47.7 mpg) was a pleasant surprise)
TRIP DATA SUMMARY
> Drive Distance: 131.6 mi
> Vehicle Weight: heavy (full tank of gas + 2 adults + 3 medium size dogs in the hatch)
> Weather: 70-75 Deg F
> Roads:
- Most of the trip was 35-50 mph two lane roads (driving at the speed limit to +5 over)
- Approx 18-20 mi around Gettysburg, slow/stop & go.
- Final 16 mi on Interstate I-83 @ 65-70 mph (mostly downhill).
> Drive Mode:
- Gettysburg portion - manual driving + Low range
- Rest of the miles - cruise control + normal Drive range
(B) Testing the limits of my patience - driving slow and getting 53.5 mi of battery range and 55.0 mpg on the ICE
Yesterday (Sunday) my wife and I again took a drive, this time in to southern PA to get some homemade ice cream. Went into mountain mode on leaving home and hit the interstate right off, went into normal mode to use the saved 13 mi of battery as soon as I got off the Interstate. While I don't do hypermiling, I did intentionally drive at the speed limit or -5 mph under for the entire trip except for 65 mpg on I-83. Getting 53 mi on battery and 55 mpg on the gas was not at all the limit of what the Volt can do in terms of high mpg, but it sorely tested my patience so I’ll stick with driving faster and settling for 45-50 mi range on the battery and 40-45 mpg on the Ecotec. I have to admit though that taking a 73 mile drive and going 19.8 miles on the ICE while only using 0.36 gal of gas (+ $1 in stored electricity) is quite nice. See end of drives screen shots at the link.
TRIP DATA SUMMARY
> Drive Distance: 73.3 mi
> Vehicle Weight: heavy (full tank of gas + 2 adults + 3 medium size dogs in the hatch)
> Weather: 70-75 Deg F
> Roads:
- Most of the trip was 35-50 mph two lane roads (driving at the speed limit to +5 over)
- Initial 13 mi on Interstate I-83 @ 65 mph (mostly uphill).
> Drive Mode:
- Back roads – mostly cruise control + normal Drive range, perhaps 10% manual driving + Low range
- Interstate: cruise control + normal Drive range
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7117/6...70875e49_b.jpg