Need 5200 Mile Road Trip Advice

noonm · Aug 17, 2019

Trollbait said: ↑

The coefficient of drag is just one part of measuring an object's aerodynamics. The other is the frontal area, which includes the gaps under the car, and between it and the roof rack.

Even if a roof box manages to not increase a car's drag coefficient, the increased frontal area means more total air drag that the car has to work against. So fuel economy will always drop with a roof rack, and the impact gets worse at higher speeds.
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Like swimming with a backpack on. No matter how aerodynamic, its going to slow you down.

Trollbait · Aug 17, 2019

noonm said: ↑

Like swimming with a backpack on. No matter how aerodynamic, its going to slow you down.
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That's why scuba divers use fins.

BillKoz · Aug 17, 2019

vvillovv said: ↑

The trick with HV mode on long trips is remembering to switch it on every time you startup.
The one time I remembered to switch on HV every time I got 70 mpg on a 900 mile trip and
had 90% of the initial charge still available at the end of the trip.
Others here might say that is not the way their Primes behave on long trips,
so you have to remember that the car adjusts to the drivers driving style somewhat.
And then there are things most of us don't really know for sure about how the car calculates everything.

The other two times I made the same 900 mile trip, i'd forget to switch into HV mode
after stopping for gas or food and I ran the estimated EV range way down. After that the EV range
never recovered fully for me during the rest of the trip and I ended the trips in the mid 50's mpg both times

I don't use charge mode too often, but I did run some tests and at hwy speeds 60 - 80 I've gotten 45 mpg.
At 35 mph I've gotten 55 mpg.

There are times when I've needed to charge and didn't have time to wait, even the 2 hours for Level 2 to finish.
So I switched to charge mode and got 80% charged, finishing off plugged into level 1 at home
and had a full charge when I needed it.

If you can figure out a way to streamline the roof you might not loose as much mileage as you would
with the wind blowing all around and through those racks and box.

Hope you have a great trip and get mileage you're happy with.
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I did some testing today using only the HV mode (W/full charge) and the battery stayed full the whole time. Thanks again.

BillKoz · Sep 2, 2019

Just got back from my round-trip Utah to New Jersey (5400 miles). I averaged 45.1 mpg. I'm totally happy with the whole trip. I've had two back surgeries and I never felt uncomfortable, considering I drove 12hr days. I was really impressed with how smooth and how good the car handled at sustained high speeds (80+). The “ Full Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control” is awesome! It works great in slow-moving traffic and locking on to the vehicle in front of you from a select distance. The Advanced JBL was really nice and the nav worked flawlessly even when cell phones lost signals.

fuzzy1 · Sep 2, 2019

BillKoz said: ↑

... I averaged 45.1 mpg. ...
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Thanks for reporting back to us!

Need 5200 Mile Road Trip Advice

noonm Senior Member

Trollbait It's a D&D thing

BillKoz Junior Member

BillKoz Junior Member

fuzzy1 Senior Member

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Need 5200 Mile Road Trip Advice

noonm Senior Member

Trollbait It's a D&D thing

BillKoz Junior Member

BillKoz Junior Member

fuzzy1 Senior Member