Quote:
Originally Posted by harperium
This 35 mpg was on the highway? Crazy.
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Yes. Round trip from Houston to Seattle and back, with big city driving in Seattle, Portland and Denver plus lots of medium-size cities such as Durango and Santa Fe.
I currently have the F15 40e for my wife's daily commute of 25 miles R/T and a 330e for local trips to stores and restaurants. I took the 330e to Greenville for the BMW one-day school and it returned 45 MPG over the 2000 mi R/T, with mostly Interstate 70 MPH. I made the trip back in one long day and the average speed was 80.1 MPH (330e is a good stealth car).
My wife does her commute (to Bridge center) with mode selector in e-power, only, on the city streets and shifts to gasoline power for the 5 miles, each way, when she is on I-69. She does the changeover at about 60 MPH and is NEVER accelleration-limited in ePower on city streets. On the contrary, she is usually the fastes off the line (she is an agressive driver). The 330e is almost always in e-power, only, and once again; I'm usually the first off the line and up the road, when the other cars catch up as I hold the 35 MPH speed limit and they go to 50 MPH. Except for the 2000 mile trip, I fill the tank twice a year because of trips to/from the airport. The good thing about having electric for around town is I never feel guilty about accelerating the wear on the ICE because of running an engine on a short trip and never getting the engine up to temp. My wife's 40e doesn't have this problem because the 5 miles of Interstate does get the engine up to temp.
I DO NOT think I have the optimum mix of vehicles. In my 330e, I lug around an ICE that I don't need. It replaced an i3 that I sold because of it's coal cart-like ride on inner Houston's potholed streets. It's 60 mile range was more than adequate for my use because I have an at-home 7.5 KW charger. But, from a purely financial consideration, neither the i3 or 330e make sense because of their cost. It would cost me less to have bought a pure ICE of comparable size but much lower cost (such as a VW Golf) and paid for the gas for the (exclusive of the 2000 mi trip) 2000 miles I put on it in a year. I want my wife in a high ground clearance vehicle because her daily route takes her through several intersections that flood with 12" of water in the heavy rainstorms and poor street drainage that Houston gets a half-dozen times a year. The X5 has a 20" fording capability. With the $4K Federal tax credit and $2500 TX Grant, the cost for the 40e was about the same as for a pure ICE mid-size SUV and the fuel savings are gravy.
So, for me, the ideal mix is a PHEV SUV with at least 30 mi electric range and an all-electric car costing about $30K after tax credits. With that mix, I'll use about two tanks of gas a year (exclusive of long trips), will have a long-trip vehicle that gets very good fuel economy when I'm on those trips, and a short trip car for groceries/restaurants. We live in one of the downtown areas of Houston. Both of my current car's leases toll in mid/late 2020 and that's the mix I will be shopping for. Come 2023, I might consider an all-electric for long trips; but only if the charging rates and infrastructure are there.