The EPA "city" test is 11 miles long with 24 stops (starting from a cold engine). So about one stop every 0.45 mile. How many of your vehicle miles are equal to this type of driving? For me it's less than 1%. I barely ever drive in the city or experience a situation w/ one stop every 0.4 miles.
For me, probably 90%. My daily commute is approx 8/9 miles into Dublin City and same on the way home. A huge proportion f my other driving is also in the city
Living in San Francisco I don't need a car per-se but my city driving is usually around 3-10 miles per trip with stop signs, traffic lights and general traffic every 0.1 - 0.4 miles. I'm definitely not hitting that 50+ mpg city rating in 75% of my driving, but I definitely surpass 50mpg on those longer city trips and on highway drives too.
We have so many signal lights and none are in sync so I hit a light about every 3 blocks for a while then every half mile after that. Town is only 10 miles long and 4 miles wide. But I do get good milage in town. About 51 or 52. But most of my miles are on interstate. 37 miles each way.
Because my city miles now tend to be outside of common commute hours, when congestion is thin and stoplight timing is favorable, my typical distance between stops is very roughly a mile. When I must travel during peak commute times, similar to my own last decade of commuting, congestion creates much less favorable light timing, requiring more frequent stops. And some lights are crowded enough to commonly demand waits of 3 or 4 cycles per light. For cars without idle-stop, these conditions are much worse than the EPA city cycle.
About 30% of my miles by volume, but closer to 50% of my time I would estimate are EPA city comparable or worse. On my 1.9 mile drive to work I have as many as 9 stops.
80%. My average MPH never gets much higher than 20 MPH. I have lots of hills as well on my 12 mile two-way commute. So far in the warm weather I'm seeing about 46-48 mpg (60 mpg to work and 41 mpg from work) and now in the cold weather about 38-42 mpg.
I kept track yesterday while running a batch of errands. Four hours total, seven stops (i.e. errand locations, not stoplights), 24.7 miles, 45 mpg. Max speed 40 mph, according to ScanGauge. 0% highway. The car was 'ON' 1.8 hours. 0.55 gallon of gasoline burned, the same that the other car would have burned just idling during that 'on' time without moving an inch. A couple left turns that required waiting three stoplight cycles (one longer because the cycle was interrupted to give priority to an emergency vehicle coming from another direction), plenty of lights requiring two cycles, and plenty of congestion enhanced by construction lane closures and bad weather. EPA City cycle average speed: 21 mph. My average speed yesterday: 13 mph, much harsher (to a non-hybrid, non-EV) than EPA. EPA City longest stop with idling: about 40 seconds. My longest stoplight 'stop' yesterday: about 300 seconds, much harsher (to a non-hybrid, non-EV) than EPA. My stoplight stops exceeding EPA's 40 seconds: too many to count. For me, EPA Hiway Only is useless.
Honestly if I had your commutes I'd buy a Leaf or Tesla electric car. The first is only $19,000 used and perfect for city driving. I got 130 miles in a testdrive (almost 200 MPGe). The tesla I'm guessing will be 35-40,000 used. I'm planning to get a used leaf for me... I mean my mom. 15 miles is all she drives.
Troy -- please see my post in the 25/35% hybrid thread to see why, as a city driver, I don't think EVs work for many city drivers: 35% (or 25%) of hybrid owners don't buy 2nd hybrid | Page 4 | PriusChat I'd imagine many of these other city folks would agree. As someone who obviously doesn't live in a city, my argument may be impossible for you to understand. I'd say 70% of my miles are city miles, 3-10 mile range, average mph around 20, stop signs or lights every few blocks. I like to go long for the other 30% of my miles though and drive much longer and father than EV range out of the city.
Thats 90% of my driving alright. I also beat EPA as city driving is a perfect application of P&G. Good idea, check the ones in Arizona, huge discount! For Arizona LEAF Owners, Selling Is No Longer an Option | PluginCars.com