70mpg @ -13F
 

Yesterday morning I got up at 5AM to plug in my Insight. I have a 1000w electric heater for the cabin, 12v charger and 400w block heater all tied to one plug in the front.

At 8AM I got on the road toward my father's, with the outside temperature at -10F. The Insight started using its backup 12v starter. The clutch and transmission felt like they were full of jelly.

http://i.imgur.com/r42ZY1U.png


The roads were not great.

http://i.imgur.com/Ja0xhaE.jpg


However, after around 3 miles the coolant was fully up to temperature and I was able to stay in lean burn as much as I wanted. Although I can easily tell based on how the car feels and what the FCD says, a 0v reading from the secondary O2 sensor confirms lean burn.

http://i.imgur.com/4CzyLJR.png


My simple WAI plus full grille block allowed for intake temperatures around 80 degrees above outside air temperature.

After 27 miles and around 50 minutes of driving, I arrived at my father's place a bit higher up in the mountains, with 62.7mpg on the FCD. Temperatures at his house were a bit lower:

http://i.imgur.com/a7qpGh6.png


From there, I took him to his medical appointment. Despite the forecast to warm up a bit, temperatures never went above 0F for the entire day and, although coolant temperature leveled off after the first 5 minutes, it clearly took a lot longer to get the other fluids up to temperature. As the car continued to warm up, the FCD gradually crept up to a hair over 70mpg average before I had him back home. I imagine that, even at these temperatures, on an extended trip over level ground I could probably get up to nearly 80mpg.

Thermal management FTW!

http://i.imgur.com/4CzyLJR.png

What app do you use to monitor temps like in picture?

I have a cheap ELM327 bluetooth dongle which plugs into the OBD II port, which I pair with my smartphone. That app is Torque for Android.

Nice. Super nice.

In nice weather my HCH has five bars showing on the coolant temp before I get to the interstate. This morning, at 24 degrees, I was on the interstate another two miles before I got that last bar.

Time for grille blocks.

Had a "warm" spell come through briefly yesterday and I had to unblock part of my grille when it got above 20F as I was getting up near 212F. It's back down below zero today though.

I drove about 200 miles home last night in the Prius. The trip started at 0F, and by the time we were home it was -9F. The Prius fared well, but it sure took a hit in the MPG department. I filled up before we left and managed a record low of 37.x mpg on the way home. About 1/4 of the trip is at 55 mph, and the rest at 70 mph. I didn't even get fully up to temperature until hitting the 70 mph zone as the heater use kept the engine at about 175F.

Dang... I can't even get my Insight out of my driveway! lol. Snowtires are necessary for that beast :(

Glad to see about the Torque app, since I just ordered a bluetooth obd2 module!

And congrats! I was getting below 70MPG on my short drives to work, even with it being in the garage with 2 hours of preheating AND it wasn't even below 20*F out!

I'd probably use a timer, myself. Or an X10 controller or similar.

Here in Oklahoma, people have given my wife a hard time about the electrical plug sticking out of the grill-- "Is this an electric car? It's pretty loud for electric, LOL" and all that... But having clear windows before leaving the driveway and nearly full heat 2 blocks down the road is amazing, and the fuel economy ('01 Corolla) is a lot better with the heat than without it. But your mileage? That's just absolutely AMAZING.

Maybe I should also add a small electric heater to the interior. Did you run a cord through a grommet in the firewall, or just stick a cord out the window or something like that?

I have a smart power strip which I used as a timer until I moved most recently, but my internet service is so unreliable that there hasn't been a single morning that it's still connected when I got up, and it's not quite smart enough to resync itself.

For the heater, I picked up a 3-setting cheapo from Walmart and ran a power cord through the firewall, to provide an outlet in the hatch area without needing to run a second cord to the car. I use it for my grid charger too, sometimes.