Hypermiling

6th June 2010 - Hypermiling, try to get the best range from our Mitsubishi i MiEV. The i MiEV has a stated range of 80 miles, but can this be achieved? This range was achieved in Japanese testing conditions.

Today we are taking a trip to Tamworth castle and decided to see if we can achieve the 80 mile range by using hypermiling techniques. Hypermiling is using techniques to maximise the efficiency of the vehicle.

We avoid all motorways and choose a route which is best suited for slower speeds. The distance to Tamworth castle is 27 miles, so although we will not use all the range we can get a good idea by checking the remaining power and also the remaining miles on the mileometer.

There is not much traffic on the roads today so we are able to travel at the best speed to suit hypermiling. There are several things which can be done to use as little battery power as possible, which are:

• Eco Mode - where power is needed gently use the accelerator in Eco mode.
• Regenerative braking - When we need to slow the car down use the Boost mode for the regenerative braking. This replaces some power into the batteries.
• Eco driving - making sure that we are looking ahead on the road so we can adjust the speed according to the traffic around, slowing down early where needed and not accelerating hard.

When we left home the mileometer was showing 96 miles remaining. On arrival at Tamworth Castle the readout was showing 62 miles remaining. Although we had only travelled 27 miles the dial was showing that we had used 34 miles. We always find that the mileometer is only a guide and will reduce rapidly when first used.

On our arrival home the mileometer was showing 31 miles remaining, but we had completed 53.2 miles in total. This should mean that if we had continued driving using the same techniques we should be able to achieve the 80 mile stated range.

The fuel gauge also backed this up as it was showing just over a quarter left.

Return from Hypermiling to electric car blog page.