Hello from Holland
 

Nice to be here and read up on the most thrilling and enthusiastic reports on EV driving.

I am a recently converted EV driver, after some years of V8s and other. My Opel Ampera (=European Volt) is my drive to work and back. When I bought it, it had a lifetime fuel consumption of 4 L to 100 KM. This means the previous driver drove it mainly on gasoline and enjoyed the lower road tax charges whilst doing it.

For me, I drove it uniquely electric (i.e. no more than 50 km drives). So my own "lifetime consumption" is now 1 L to 1000 KM, because the ICE ran during the dealer service and only once for a "fuel maintenance", the total being 0,5 L gasoline during the period I owned it. I hope to seriously affect the life time of 4L to 1000 soon, but, even then, it will require full electric driving for ca 30.000 KMs (18000 miles) to bring the life time consumption down to 2L per 100 KM. Let's see!

Hello fvdveen, welcome to EM:)

Wow, getting a hybrid only to not use the ICE shows how determined you are:thumbup: Are you able to monitor your electrical use (kWh per 100km)? Since you are not using gas, then that is what you want to reduce.

Measuring KWh per 100 KM is easy: I have a load meter on the charging plug, which even tells me the costs in Euro, based on local electricity costs.

Funny enough, after driving the Ampera in LOW mode (instant regeneration on loosening the throttle), I changed my accelerator operation style. Applying this style in our Range Rover, dramatically increases the fuel economy. So learning to drive EV with optimal regen alters the style also for the better for other cars!

welcome to the greatest eco site out there.
the family was visiting Big Bend in Texas and met a family from Holland there. great people and really enjoyed learning about their country.

Interesting that you went for a hybrid instead of an all-electric. What was the reasoning behind your choice?