I am having a problem with all the tests claiming that the PHEV will get a combined mpg figure of 25 with the battery depleted and 56 MPGe. First of all, why would you ever have a completely depleted battery short of a long highway trip with no braking? This does have regenerative braking, correct? My understanding is it will alway have 10% charge, even if it uses the gas engine to maintain that, so that you always have the full 323 hp when needed. So, with the battery always available like a normal hybrid, but not fully charged (and basically driving like an EV), what should the average combined mpg be? No way, should it be 25 mpg. If the Highlander with a 2.5 gas engine gets 35+ I would expect the CX90 to be closer to that figure. In normal mode, it should cycle between gas and EV mode like any hybrid since it is a normal hybrid, just with a much larger battery. Am I missing something? Maybe I don't fully understand what MPGe is? What I believe it is is an equivalent measure of how far a vehicle can travel on one gallon of gasoline. Which doesn't mean too much. Basically, with full charge, you get about 25 miles from battery plus 25 more miles with a gallon of gas so thats about 50. If MPGe really means the comparable mpg for a full tank than I would be happy with 56 but I don't think it does. Longer tests of the CX60 PHEV are usually claimng 35-45 mpg combined with daily charging. That makes sense compared to a Highlander since the CX90 doesn't have the soul crushing CVT and considerably more power. Am I missing something?
PHEV real world gas mileage
MazdaMan
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I used an EV savings calculator to get a comparison MHEV at 25mpg combined vs PHEV on electric with my local rates-
$4.25 per regular gallon x 25 mpg vs 2 mi/kWh at $0.44 per kWh (equiv of 19 mpg) = Pure EV use give -6 miles. Lucky you live where you are.
$4.25 per regular gallon x 25 mpg vs 2 mi/kWh at $0.44 per kWh (equiv of 19 mpg) = Pure EV use give -6 miles. Lucky you live where you are.
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I have had my PHEV for about 2 weeks now and am loving it. I have had few trips over 30 miles so I have been running mostly EV only with the gas coming on mostly to accelerate. I am showing 74 mpg and have gone about 200 miles on less than an eight of a tank of gas. I am a little surpised my kWh is only 2.4. Thats pretty bad but I do live in a hilly area. I never thought I would do this but I actually like putting it in EV mode so the gas engine is much less likely to come on. If I would complain about anything it would be that the suspension is a little stiffer than expected. I did buy this SUV because I couldn't stand how mini-van like squishy feeling all the other 3 rows I drove felt. I prefer a little stiffness over that but I could probably give up a little handling for a slightly softer ride. I would bet the 19s would be perfect. I like the wheels too much to replace them but would probably go to 20s to soften the ride a little if I ever do replace them. Overall, I am VERY happy with this SUV.
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I was just about to post that same question. My fan runs almost constantly when charging. Obviously, heat is the enemy of battery life but it is in a fairly average temperature (70s) garage. Seems like it would have a reasonable effect on charging time. I am even considering putting a box fan in front of the car to see if the vehicle fan still comes on.
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I am hoping that with my mostly less than 20 miles per day of use I can coast and much as possible and make the most out of my PHEV. So maybe minimal use of gas with any luck.
This is inspired with an addition to my roof PV system and addition of Tesla Power Walls for storage. Trying to make and store kW to use to charge my Mazda. Wish me luck. I will report my real mpg once I get it in about a month.
This is inspired with an addition to my roof PV system and addition of Tesla Power Walls for storage. Trying to make and store kW to use to charge my Mazda. Wish me luck. I will report my real mpg once I get it in about a month.
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I am fairly shocked that the PHEV drives pretty good in electric only. It will easily keep up with average city driving. If you drive less than 20 miles per day and charge to 100% every day you will essentially never use your gas if you drive with a light to moderate foot. I have driven 538 miles so far and am averaging 86.3 mpg. I have had a few trips with almost no charge but, when charged, I only use the gas when accelerating onto the highway six times per week and then drive about 4 miles on the highway on all EV (at about 80 mph). Pretty amazing.
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Pretty similar experience here. We have 510 miles on ours and have used less than an 1/8th of a tank of gas. Mainly just stay in EV mode for our daily 15-25 mile trips. Our mpg according to the car is 80 mpg, which is the max, I'm sure I could figure the math out on how much higher than that it really is, but all I know is good is good!
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I think it is something you have to request in the settings but when I turn off my PHEV and hit the control knob for CONTINUE it displays total actual mpg (no 80 cap) since last fill and mpg for last trip. That is where you can see actual mpg though I think that is capped at 99.9 because, if I literally ride in all EV mode, it displays 99.9. It's irritating that the max mpg on the guage cluster is set at 80 mpg when it will very easily exceed that and I haven't found a setting to adjust that. Another surprise is the total EV range has gone up every few charges from 24 to 29 now. Looks like 29 is going to be the cap. I don't regret the PHEV choice over the turbo 6 at all.
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just did a trip from LA to Las Vegas, used first ~28 miles for pure EV then put in charge mode and charge up 80% in about 80 min drive. seems that when it is going uphill, the charging mode isnt doing anything but drained the battery faster than charging even in standard mode. it charges fast during the downhill though.
Also it stopped charging for about 30min, not sure if it is the heat (~115F outside) or the battery over heating, the heads up display started vanishing from the top is when i noticing it is no longer charging when in charge mode. After I stopped at barstow for a quick break, the heads up display started to work and charging mode started to work.
I did not have chance to use any of the free charging station at Vegas, it is too hot outside.
bottom line, the trip MPG ended up 30.3mpg, better than my previous CX9 with 23.8mpg.
interesting though, driving about 85mph seems to have better mpg than driving 75mph based on the odometer info.
Also it stopped charging for about 30min, not sure if it is the heat (~115F outside) or the battery over heating, the heads up display started vanishing from the top is when i noticing it is no longer charging when in charge mode. After I stopped at barstow for a quick break, the heads up display started to work and charging mode started to work.
I did not have chance to use any of the free charging station at Vegas, it is too hot outside.
bottom line, the trip MPG ended up 30.3mpg, better than my previous CX9 with 23.8mpg.
interesting though, driving about 85mph seems to have better mpg than driving 75mph based on the odometer info.
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Hi @leonyang.tech welcome to the forum and congrats on your new CX90! It's certainly possible the heat played a factor with the charging because that's pretty extreme heat. Overall how did your CX90 feel on that LA to Vegas trip?
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The ride was great, wished the phev has 2nd row ventilated seats... Also the tires came with 42psi, glad I checked before I went on the trip, I had to release the psi to 36 for the front and 39 for the rear per sticker, and the ride is much more comfortable compared to 42psi.
No issue passing cars even when driving uphills, good power.
No issue passing cars even when driving uphills, good power.
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Hello, I'm looking into purchasing a CX-90 Phev although I am unclear as to what kind of MPG to expect for a highway commute that is roughly 35 miles to and back, so 70 miles total. I keep seeing MPG numbers from people that are starting their commute in EV mode (all electric) and continuing on gas after the battery is depleted, but I am not seeing many MPG estimates from people with long drives in normal mode only (gas+electric). Does any know what kind of MPG to expect for about a 70 mile long highway commute in normal mode (gas+electric)? Thanks in advance!
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Hello, based on my weekly travel with about 80 miles trip experience, it takes about 1/8 of the tank with fully charged battery on standard mode, sometime a little over 1/8 from the odometer.
Traffic here everywhere in LA highway even in weekend, so takes that into consideration.
The thing is that it doesn't really show you gas only mpg unless you don't use battery at all from your trip.
That 1/8 tank of the odometer is about 2 gallons.
The battery doesn't last long if you drive up hills or make many stop and go where you have to do a lot of acceleration so the battery really can go between 10 miles (my shortest) to my highest 28 miles.
You could really think that the battery would just save you 1 gallon of gas per day in your scenario.
And you have to charge about 15kw daily (based on chargepoint history). If you don't have solar and if your kw per $$ is high, then you could find that you are paying more for your commute with cx90 phev than just gas unless you get free charge somewhere. Just fyi.
Hope this helps.
Traffic here everywhere in LA highway even in weekend, so takes that into consideration.
The thing is that it doesn't really show you gas only mpg unless you don't use battery at all from your trip.
That 1/8 tank of the odometer is about 2 gallons.
The battery doesn't last long if you drive up hills or make many stop and go where you have to do a lot of acceleration so the battery really can go between 10 miles (my shortest) to my highest 28 miles.
You could really think that the battery would just save you 1 gallon of gas per day in your scenario.
And you have to charge about 15kw daily (based on chargepoint history). If you don't have solar and if your kw per $$ is high, then you could find that you are paying more for your commute with cx90 phev than just gas unless you get free charge somewhere. Just fyi.
Hope this helps.
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That actually helps a lot. I appreciate your input. My commute consists of roughly 30% stop and go traffic currently and I'm paying about $0.14/kwh.
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Last weekend I did a 120 mile round trip each day. The route was 60/40 freeway/city in light to moderate traffic. The freeway part was driven at 75 mph & each day began with the battery at 100%. I drove in Normal Mode and averaged 40.6 mpg, according to the dashboard.
BTW, when the dash shows no more battery miles remaining, the boost indicator still comes on during fast acceleration. Does this mean the battery hasn’t completely discharged?
BTW, when the dash shows no more battery miles remaining, the boost indicator still comes on during fast acceleration. Does this mean the battery hasn’t completely discharged?
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I have the same question about my PHEV. when the gauge shows ev battery depleted can the electric motor still assist the engine when needed?
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I believe it does retain certain amount of battery for boost, whenever I used up all the battery, it charges for around 14.5~15kw to full. since the battery per Mazda is 17.8kw, it may be reserving 15~20% battery for boost and stop at traffic light for idle regardless.
I think it bases its range on your recent driving conditions. I have an easy non-highway 40-45 mph 12 mile back roads commute. My predicted mileage kept going up, 24, 25, 26... up to 30, since I was getting about 30 miles in EV mode on my short easy drives. Then I did a couple of days of highway driving, going 75 mph+ and getting 25 or 26 miles each day. After that, the next prediction after the next charge went down to 28!
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I ran my PHEV down to 1 mile range (it never goes to 0) and then floored it 5 times in a row and the Boost always came on. On that same trip (with no EV range and flooring it 5+ times) I got 23 mpg. I think that is the lower limit of gas mileage with the PHEV. I know the turbo 6 claims 25 combined but I am hearing that almost no one is getting that with mixed driving. A turbo is a great way to get more power out of a gas engine but if you are using the turbo often you will get less than what the EPA claims. I have had many cars with turbos and that has always been the case for me. That being said, the PHEV should absolutely get better gas mileage than the turbo 6 even without the first 25-30 miles being essentially free (with solar). My guess is, with a 70 mile commute, you will average at least 35 mpg because I think you will use about 2 gallons of gas. 70/2=35. Maybe worse in really cold or hot temps. It might not sound stellar but the CX90 is a big, heavy SUV and pretty damn fast when you want it to be. I don't know how anyone would pick a Highlander over this.
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