Gas Saver Turned EV Lead-Foot?
 

I'll be honest, I haven't been on the forum much in the last few years because I kinda gave up trying to improve efficiency of ICEs. I still drove for improved economy, but there is only so much peachy-ness that can be imposed upon a potato, ya know?

So now here I am with a 'Range Extended' EV (or hamstrung PHEV if you prefer :rolleyes:). But being capable of 60-75 miles of pure electric driving, I am finding that economy just isn't my focus anymore. It might just be a phase as I just got the car last month, but electricity is so much less expensive when charged at home that I don't hold back much with it. Of course, watching one's range estimate drop 5-10% just because you don't want to freeze while driving plays with one's sensibilities.

Anybody else losing / lost their focus with an EV purchase? If not, what have you done to improve economy? Short of icicles on my fingers and toes in traffic, it doesn't feel like there is much to be gained there short of aero improvements.

I was hyper aware of efficiency when I bought my plug-in hybrid because it just barely made my commute in EV only during spring-fall, and failed to make it no matter what in the winter.

That said, if I wasn't concerned about making my destination, I'd pay much less attention to my habits in EV mode. On the other hand, efficiency is pretty well ingrained in my habits now. That said, acceleration has never had much to do with efficiency, and going fast around corners is efficient, so fun driving is still not necessarily anti-efficiency.

I agree though that with how cheap electricity is, and considering an EV can recoup much of the braking energy, there's a lot less incentive to give efficiency a lot of effort.

I just have to laugh when other i3 drivers are getting over 4 mi/kWh out of their cars when I rarely get more than 3.5. Today, with the heat on, it was a mere 3.3! :p

Yeah, that's still 3 cents per mile vs 2.5. A heck of a lot better than 6 cents per mile in a Prius, or 10 cents per mile in a 30 MPG car.