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1000 miles PHEV

3K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  yticolev 
#1 ·
I'm 1000 miles into my PHEV. I've used a quarter tank of gas, and some of that was just because I had to set up an account at work for charging before I could go with an electric commute most days. Until today was a bit more driving than usual, my average MPG was over 300, according to the car itself.
None of that is particularly careful driving or keeping the climate off (though I do use the driver-only, I probably counterbalance that with the cooled seat). Until I take a long trip, I may not need to gas up more than quarterly.
 
#2 ·
That's the beauty of the PHEV. With most typical driving, little to no fuel is used. But for long trips, you have the range and rapid refueling of an ICE. I'm on my 3rd tank of gas, still on the full mark after over 400 miles. The dash display says 390 MPG, and continues to slowly rise. Fortunately it's summer, so I seldom need the engine to fire for cabin heat. But winter will naturally require it on a daily basis. Still, the overall MPG should be 100 or better. Time will tell.
 
#4 ·
I filled my last tank after about 1350 miles, but I still had a half tank. Had fuel points that had to be used before the end of the month. :)
 
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#5 ·
I'm at 1750 miles and have a little more than a quarter tank remaining. I'll probably fill up this weekend. It would be fun to stretch it to 2000 miles but the reality is if I have to fill up in downtown DC where the car spends most of it's time I'll end up paying about $.50 a gallon more than where I am now in rural southern Maryland. That would kind of defeat the purpose.
 
#6 ·
An extra 50 cents a gallon would be $5 on a ten gallon fill up. Over 1,700 miles, that is an extra three thousandths of a cent per mile. Five bucks is of course five bucks, but it is irrelevant to the cost of buying and operating your car. Of course, talking about mpg is also irrelevant for a PHEV other than an obscure connection to the old days, or a long trip on gas only.
 
#7 ·
Sure, no doubt. I could say the same thing about removing the passenger side mirror or the roof rails from your car to improve aerodynamics. We're all talking about marginal improvements and increases in efficiency. I think we all realize that in terms of actual dollars and cents it probably doesn't make sense to buy a $30,000 car in order to "save money on gas". If I want to maximize my financial efficiency I should buy a 5 year old Honda, Toyota or VW TDI that gets 30-40mpg and costs $15,000. You can go a LONG way on $15,000 worth of fuel. [Napkin math: At $2.50/gal and 30mpg you can go 180,000 miles for your $15,000]

That's why my other car is a 2001 VW Golf TDI. It cost me $6000 and gets 50mpg which means I can go 400,000 miles on the $24,000 I'd save vs a PHEV Niro at $3.00/gal for diesel. That's almost to the Moon and back just for a topical reference. Even including the additional maintenance on a nearly 20 year old car :eek: it would take decades for the Kia to make purely financial sense. So why did I buy an EX Premium PHEV Niro? Because I wanted it. it fit my needs and had the features I wanted. It's comfortable and looks pretty good. The fact that I can go 1700 miles between fillups is just a fun bonus that makes me smile :).

If I was purely trying to reduce my out of pocket costs I would have bought another used TDI. I wanted a new car with all the cool new tech that also got excellent gas mileage. Isn't that why we're all here in the first place? :D
 
#8 ·
Actually, my aero mods are worth over three percent efficiency improvement - lifetime of the car. $5 bucks is a one time expense. A meal at McDonalds, not nothing, but no change of in efficiency. You will have many fewer fill ups than me so efficiency gains are somewhat less meaningful on your model. Just pointing out you don't have to sweat small gas price differences.

As an example in my own life, my hybrid gets a max of 58 mpg in the summer, my motorcycle 78 mpg in the summer. Car holds 12.7 gallons, and I do time fill ups to save a couple bucks out of pocket (just as you are doing). Motorcycle holds 3.6 gallons, most I can save is about 50 cents. So I don't sweat getting the least expensive gas for the bike.

As most of your miles are electric, your price savings on gas (other than trips) may be the most minor expense you have on your car. I understand the OCD nature of this and where you are coming from, but the whole reason I bought the hybrid is that gas price increases are future proofed - this car gets double the mpg of my last car, so gas is now effectively half priced. Your car reduces the effective price of gas by over 90%! You are spending more on electric costs than gas.

If it was me, I'd consider $5 well spent if you get to another OCD goal like 2,000 miles per tank.
 
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