Difference in EV mileage between Base and Advanced?

I pulled the tires (tyres) yesterday to lube the caliper pins. Found all pins were fine and lube was fine. As a matter of fact the rotors, pads and everything else still looks brand new with 48k miles and 3 years on them. However, the passenger rear brake was putting a little excess pressure on the rotor. I adjusted the piston so that the T lined up properly (did both sides) and the wheel turns easier now. Went out yesterday and today on the same route I took before and both times got 14.3 and 14.4 EV miles which is almost 2 miles better then when I first got the car. So I think it turns out that the brake "problem" and the tires look to be most of the difference between the 2 plug-ins. Too bad the Defenders are almost brand new. It's going to be a while before my 2012 gets new tires.

 

Traded in the Defenders for a set of Energy Saver A/S tires today. Ran the car along the same road that I've been doing my testing and got 16 EV miles this time. I'm looking forward to seeing how these tires do in all hybrid mode!

 

They had 9/32 tread on them. I got $40 per tire and a $64 credit plus 2 mail in rebates for $100 total so final cost was down to $205. I think I should save at least that amount over the life of these tires compared to keeping the defenders.

 

For those of you who have followed this thread here is an update.

Under normal driving conditions I'm still getting between 1 and 2 EV miles difference between the 2013 base and the 2012 advanced. That's after getting the new tires for the advanced.

My wife wanted a different color PIP so since we're planning on keeping the car for at least 8 years I was fine with that. We just bought a 2012 base that has the original tires on it. I took it for the same test drive as I have the other 2 PIPs and it did just as well as the other base. So it seems to me, unless there is something wrong with my advanced, that the base PIP does slightly better then the advanced in stretching the EV miles.

 

That was the question that prompted this thread! The advanced is a little heavier and has more electronics but could that be enough to make the difference? I did find my rear brakes on the advanced needed adjusting and that helped some even though the rubbing was very slight so maybe even what seem to be minor differences could add up.

The difference is probably more like 1 EV mile but that's because I changed the tires on the advanced. When I buy the same tires for the base model in 10-15k miles I'm sure the difference will be back up to 2.5 - 3 EV miles difference. Those tire REALLY helped!

 

I said, I don't know if there's something wrong with my advanced. I'm just stating my observations based on the 3 plug-ins that I've got at the moment. I have tried to keep the "testing" conditions the same so my observations are a little more accurate then, "it seems".

I thought the difference might be something to do with the base being a 2013 and the advanced being a 2012 but that was thrown out the window when I got the 2012 base and it's the same as the 2013 base. Mileage hasn't had an affect. The 2013 base has 85k, the 2012 base has 29k and they get the same EV mileage. I doubt it being used has much to do with it.

Batteries tested about the same between the 2013 base and the 2012 advanced. The only differences I can think of are tires, weight and electronics.

 

I read somewhere that it was 56lbs difference.