Efficiency boasting ;)

[Roy2001]

Thought a thread to share trips we're proud of could be fun. I've got 2500 miles so far and ranging anywhere from 2-2.5 miles/kwh. Today drove up and over a regional mountain range, and thought it was pretty cool to see an estimated nearly 30 miles of regen over a ~100 mile trip. Love to think about that energy having previously been wasted, now recaptured.

Since you have 29 miles from regen, try coasting to even further improve your mpk, miles per kWh.

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[RainorshinePNW]

Since you have 29 miles from regen, try coasting to even further improve your mpk, miles per kWh.

I always drive with OPD off, so I do coast as much as possible. That particular trip was up and over the coast mountain range, which peaks at about 1500 ft elevation, starting from about 100 ft. So my total miles per kWh suffered some from climbing.

But now I'm curious if the reported miles per kWh *includes* regen, for a net amount?

 

[LightningShow]

There has been a heat wave here in Vancouver for the past 2 weeks. This morning was the first time since I got my truck that I haven't had to run the AC.

I thought that might be the case. We had been in one as well. I checked my energy usage for my longer term trip meter, which has most of the miles since i got the truck, and it was at 76% driving energy but the more recent one which only covered half of the heat wave was at like 82%, i think. I’ve seen over 90% on some trips where the temp was more mild and I didn’t use HVAC.

 

[LightningShow]

I took a longer trip today, mostly highway traveling 70-80mph. I saw 94% driving energy consumption with no HVAC. The drive was about 150 miles with 90%+ on the highway at >70mph (i had cruise set between 77 and 80). Overall efficiency for the trip was 2.2mpk.

 

[RidetheLightning]

I always drive with OPD off, so I do coast as much as possible. That particular trip was up and over the coast mountain range, which peaks at about 1500 ft elevation, starting from about 100 ft. So my total miles per kWh suffered some from climbing.

But now I'm curious if the reported miles per kWh *includes* regen, for a net amount?

I'm not sure about how it works in the truck (mine is being built now) but just driving with OPD off doesn't necessarily mean you're coasting. I just looked up a video online to refresh my memory on how the power delivery/regen gauge looks like driving/regen, but you want to stay out of the green unless you're actually trying to brake or slow yourself down on a long downhill. I'll leave the permanent magnet motors out of it for now because they don't let you truly "coast" as there's always some drag but the momentum of the truck should make that pretty inconsequential.

If you take your foot off the pedal even without 1PD, the truck should (don't have my truck yet so can't check) go into mild regen. Since regen braking is only 60-70% efficient, if you're not actually trying to stop, you would want to feather the accelerator to actually "coast" and stay out of the green regen. That's a little annoying to manage while driving, but that's how you would truly hypermile it. The hills are where it gets more fun. Climb at whatever speed you want - I don't know if there's a point in the power delivery curve that's more efficient or less efficient while driving compared to an ICE vehicle, so the only variable there is wind resistance while climbing, otherwise you're going to have to use whatever energy gets you up to the top of the hill. On the way down, regen as much as you can to to stay at the speed limit - even going a little slower wouldn't hurt because gravity is filling your battery and you can get less wind resistance going slower. Near the bottom of the hill, though, start picking up speed by using the accelerator to get out of the green and "coast" to let gravity get you back up to the speed limit or even 5 over.

I can't wait to do that same drive, I'm in the Portland area and I'll try to post my efficiency when I can!

 

[Theo1000]

Or flip the truck to neutral. That's what I have been doing. Like a modified stick shift. Definitely helps with efficiency. Kinda used to it as my Volts behave this way.

 

[F150ROD]

I ended with 2.8 kWh going to work yesterday, too bad I didn’t take a picture. One pedal driving makes it easier to achieve that but I am still wondering when the brake lights come on when using regen, I usually pull into the far right lane in order to not piss anyone off while using regen. I still want to try using it without one pedal driving to see what I get.

 

[SteelTerp87]

Exactly what I'm doing. Just rolled over first 1000km. (621 miles)

Efficiency looks so much better in Canada if you aren't paying attention haha

 

[RainorshinePNW]

I'm not sure about how it works in the truck (mine is being built now) but just driving with OPD off doesn't necessarily mean you're coasting. I just looked up a video online to refresh my memory on how the power delivery/regen gauge looks like driving/regen, but you want to stay out of the green unless you're actually trying to brake or slow yourself down on a long downhill. I'll leave the permanent magnet motors out of it for now because they don't let you truly "coast" as there's always some drag but the momentum of the truck should make that pretty inconsequential.

If you take your foot off the pedal even without 1PD, the truck should (don't have my truck yet so can't check) go into mild regen. Since regen braking is only 60-70% efficient, if you're not actually trying to stop, you would want to feather the accelerator to actually "coast" and stay out of the green regen. That's a little annoying to manage while driving, but that's how you would truly hypermile it....

Like @Theo1000 said, slipping it into Neutral while going downhill would be the easiest/simplest way to truly coast, because yeah, "coasting" even with OPD off does slow you down with the mild regen.

 

[RidetheLightning]

Or flip the truck to neutral. That's what I have been doing. Like a modified stick shift.

It’s illegal in most states to be in Neutral while driving (I don’t know how they treat stick shifts between gears) so I’d recommend not doing that, especially if curious insurance adjusters are reading forums. It’s a good thing if you’re suddenly incapacitated that the truck will gradually slow down too. (Or faster with 1PD)

 

[RidetheLightning]

Like @Theo1000 said, slipping it into Neutral while going downhill would be the easiest/simplest way to truly coast, because yeah, "coasting" even with OPD off does slow you down with the mild regen.

See my comment above about the legality/safety of being in N but unless you’re picking up speed at the bottom of the hill I’d rather go slower in the middle of the hill and get some “free” regen then gain speed at the bottom. No sense losing free regen to wind resistance in the middle of the hill unless you’re trying to get there faster.

 

[Fryballin]

One thing I have found when driving in one pedal mode is that if I want to “coast” down an incline with cruise control on, (normally the truck will regen to maintain proper speed) you can simply apply pressure to the accelerator until the regen bar Is gone, but the blue “power” bar on the left is not showing any power being used.

 

[LightningJoe]

For what it’s worth, this was a drive I took this morning. Mostly highway going between 70-75 with some hills along the way. SR XLT.

 

[LightningShow]

For those not reading the trip logs i posted about my trip from MA to MD/DC today. I’ve been noticing the trip meter consistently underestimates actual efficiency (miles/%SoC loss) by 0.1-0.2mpk. My calculated efficiency for the 444 miles route was 2.17mpk. Average travel speed was 61.2mph, including slowdowns/traffic and driving off highway. A substantial portion of the trip was done at 78-80mph (cruise setting). The first leg (155mi) was essentially 100% at 78mph and efficiency was 1.9mpk. Conditions were excellent and very minimal HVAC was required.

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