Quote:
Originally Posted by wax87
Do you think a thermal wrap on the exhaust system would help speed up the warming and then the E-motor might kick in earlier, especially on colder days?
|
My average mileage for last summer: 50.1 MPG
My average mileage for last winter: 38.5 MPG
The MPG decreases almost exactly 2 MPG per 10 deg F drop in average temperature. A large portion of that decrease is due to the engine running longer on a cold start. On a warm start, it will normally run for about 1/4 mile. On a cold start in below 0 deg F weather, it will run for as long as 4 miles. On a short (for me) trip of five miles from a cold start, I can get over 50 MPG in the summer, and less than 30 MPG in the winter.
Wrapping the exhaust will not speed up the warm up, nor will it slow down the cool down on shut down. The cold weather MPG of this truck would benefit from two, possibly three, things:
1) A block heater.
and
2) Reprogramming the grille shutters to close completely. When I got the truck, the grille shutters stayed closed until the engine warmed up, then opened as needed. Some time after that, they never close completely.
and
3) (Maybe) If the engine running is controlled by high voltage battery temperature, another heater for that battery.
The truck has an underbody pan, where 17 screws need to be removed and replaced in order to change the oil. I added two holes, one for the filter and the other for the drain plug. I did not want the oil change place to "forget" to reinstall the underbody pan.
The
normal,
eco, and
slippery driving modes appear to only affect the amount of regeneration when fully lifting the gas pedal. I tested all three modes, and decided to leave it in
normal mode. The best gas mileage uses coasting (zero regeneration) as much as possible. I can do that by either carefully controlling the gas pedal, or by shifting into neutral if I want to rest my right leg.
My butt dyno indicates that best efficiency is between 10% and about 30% to 40% power. When the power requirement is less than 10%, I try to pulse at 10% power, and glide at 0% power. Our steepest hills only need 30% power to maintain speed going up, and 30% power is enough for almost all situations. I have only gone over that a few times - a short uphill on ramp, and when passing.
While I have yet to start building an aero topper, I think I figured out how to seal it to keep rain out. The box integrated with the cab creates water drainage challenges.