100 mpg breached in an FEH during a slow speed traffic jam!

xcel · Jun 21, 2006

Hi All:

___Just saw in the following post from the YaHoo - Hybrid_Ford_Escape forum that Gpsman1 had an interesting traffic jam encounter yesterday which allowed a > 100 mpg portion of a lengthy segment yesterday. Here is the commentary he posted …

Gpsman1 said:

Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:55 pm (PST)

Sunday, Father's Day, I got stuck in a monster traffic jam in the Denver Area.

Traffic was at a crawl... but temps were pleasant enough (80's) that A/C off was okay with all 4 windows down.

After 0.8 hours and 10.3 miles on the aftermarket "ScanGauge" I had 100 MPG! since leaving the restaurant! (the ScanGauge automatically resets the current trip for you, but also saves the old and cumulative data)

Sure.... my average speed for an hour was 11 MPH! (also on ScanGauge) But as all the cars and trucks around me were burning fuel at a stand-still... mine was not! My FEH would run the ICE for about 20 seconds, every 4 minutes.... and I would leave a lot of space (7-8 car-lengths) so I was able to move 20-25 MPH during those 20 seconds to "catch-up" and getting 40+ MPGI for those 20 seconds.... then 9999 MPG (on ScanGauge) for the next 4 minutes!

Basically, for 50 minutes... 9999 + 40 + 9999 + 40 + 9999 averaged out to 100 MPG. (EV is infinite, but considered 9999 for calculations)

I was thinking this would be such a Godsend during a hurricane evacuation or other emergency were traffic snarls.

A few minutes before I maxed out at 100 MPG even (you loose the decimal point after 99.9) a Honda Insight crawled up beside me... also with windows down... also in stealth. Since I was 3 feet from the passenger in the Insight I said "Don't you just love saving gas?" She said jokingly that her MPG display was reading negative....putting gas back in.... acknowledging the slow, but ideal conditions.

I said "Yeah... I'm getting over 80 MPG right now!" She said "I'm at 125 MPG." Does the Insight read that high? Or did she have a SG too?

"Yeah... but I weigh over 2 tons!" (with passengers)

Anyhow ... I built up a such a great 'buffer' in that traffic jam, that at the end of my 87.1 mile route home... at speeds as high as 78 MPH (downhill sections only!) my net was still 51.1 MPG over those 87 miles.... the last 55 at highway speeds.

Just hope you find that story both amusing and inspirational. This vehicle never ceases to surprise me.

Take Care, and happy motoring!
-John
Click to expand...

___Sounds like LGA w/ N to D, DWB, a little P&G and plenty of low speed EV to handle the traffic? Hopefully John will give us more details later on today.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

philmcneal · Jun 20, 2006

grumble hybrid envy

congrats!

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100 mpg breached in an FEH during a slow speed traffic jam!

xcel PZEV, there's nothing like it :) Staff Member

philmcneal Has it been 10 years? Wow

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100 mpg breached in an FEH during a slow speed traffic jam!

xcel PZEV, there's nothing like it :) Staff Member

philmcneal Has it been 10 years? Wow

Share This Page

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