C350e Consumption

[mike18hc]

My C350e's consumption seems good compared to my previous C220's as I haven't been to a garage for many months. It's been charged each day it's been used and the display tells me I'm doing 49mpg.
The fuel gauge which, when I filled up had 12 marks lit up, has just gone down to 4. That could mean it's used 2/3 of the 50 litre tank , about 33 litres or 7 1/4 Imp gallons. At 49 mpg that would mean about 355 petrol miles, but the display shows the overall mileage as 400 with the battery as having been off for 200 miles.
Logically that could mean 200 petrol miles used 7 1/4 gallons or about 27 mpg.
How on earth should these figures be interpreted...apart from with a pinch of salt?

 

[raspy]

My C350e's consumption seems good compared to my previous C220's as I haven't been to a garage for many months. It's been charged each day it's been used and the display tells me I'm doing 49mpg.
The fuel gauge which, when I filled up had 12 marks lit up, has just gone down to 4. That could mean it's used 2/3 of the 50 litre tank , about 33 litres or 7 1/4 Imp gallons. At 49 mpg that would mean about 355 petrol miles, but the display shows the overall mileage as 400 with the battery as having been off for 200 miles.
Logically that could mean 200 petrol miles used 7 1/4 gallons or about 27 mpg.
How on earth should these figures be interpreted...apart from with a pinch of salt?

@mike18hc You can't know for sure exactly how much petrol has been used unless you were to fill the tank back up again.

 

[mike18hc]

Although that's very logical, it hadn't struck me to do that!
Off to Tesco's this afternoon!

 

[mike18hc]

Although that's very logical, it hadn't struck me to do that!
Off to Tesco's this afternoon!

After doing that a couple of times I've found the car's doing around 20 mpg.
I suppose the engine never gets hot in my 10 miles-each-way trips a day so that'll use more petrol.
If I have to overtake I'll probably be using the engine too so that'll increase consumption even more.
It's good the new increased electricity prices have been more than matched by petrol prices so running on electricity's still a little cheaper!

 

[norfolk-boy]

I just bought a c350e estate yesterday and I hope I get more than that!

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

So, for elimination of doubt….

Looking at the numbers you’ve got in front of you, for electricity AND petrol consumption, what do you reckon the equivalent cost has been ?

Fag packet numbers are good, using assumed cost of home charging and an average cost of fuel. No need to be absolutely precise about bills.

Others have said that it’s the equivalent of 40 mpg from a diesel. But what do you think?

And, to be clear, a PHEV has many other advantages: from silent running to local pollution-free motoring, via eliminated range anxiety.

From what you’ve learned, do you think you’ll change your driving style? To maybe use the ICE for mainly higher speed driving or cold winter starts, leaving the EV only for urban stuff? Or continue to just use the C350e as an EV, with the ICE just for that faster stuff and range extending life?

A casual reader could assume all kinds of responses. What’s your take?

 

[fabes]

Does the 350e have the same over ride EV mode they the BMW 330e has?

My commute to work is 5 miles.
In the 330e I would be able to force it to stay in EV (unless I do over 68mph upto 25 miles or so), charge at work and not use the ICE at all, but have the 2L turbo petrol there for the longer journey.
When the time comes, that looks the tech for me.

Do MB offer that?

 

[RTR1879]

Does the 350e have the same over ride EV mode they the BMW 330e has?

My commute to work is 5 miles.
In the 330e I would be able to force it to stay in EV (unless I do over 68mph upto 25 miles or so), charge at work and not use the ICE at all, but have the 2L turbo petrol there for the longer journey.
When the time comes, that looks the tech for me.

Do MB offer that?

Yes, you can select the mode. I had a C350e for 2 years and really enjoyed the challenge of when to use the ICE or when to use the EV to maximise mpg. In standard hybrid mode the car decides.

 

[fabes]

Cheers

What sort of range do MB declare it can do from a full charge (to then assume 2/3 of that will be real world range) EV only, for my commute?

 

[Diesel Benz]

Cheers

What sort of range do MB declare it can do from a full charge (to then assume 2/3 of that will be real world range) EV only, for my commute?

I believe MB gives a 30 km range. Wife had an E350e and when it was new, I managed to reach a bit more. Driving slowly at summer time. Winter kills range as the car does not even have a heat pump. Battery capacity seemed to fade over time too quite a lot. Not the best charging habits though, on charger immediately after every trip. Range is too limited to leave battery at 80% SOC or less and at that time the car did not have any setting for max SOC. Managed hardly one third at winter when the car reached four years.

 

[fabes]

Hmmmm.....

Thanks again

 

[mike18hc]

My C350e starts up with 13 electric miles, never more. It actually manages about 8 miles battery driving to hospital, generally in free-moving traffic. Then, gentle driving, my usual mode, gives me battery running for about half the trip back home, so 12 miles in total.
My electricity cost is 25p/kw and petrol's now about £7.50 a gallon or £1.65/litre.
It usually takes about 2 1/2 hours to charge from the mains. If the charging rate is a fixed 3.7kw/h that's 9.25 kw or £2.30 for my 12 miles so they costed around 20p/mile.
I haven't measured the charging rate so it could drop as the battery charges, but that's the way I calculated to get an idea of cost.
At the point when the petrol gauge is just down to 6 lights I take that as 25 litres used and that ties up with the filling volume.
Overall miles driven less battery-used miles gives me the engine-used miles.
The result is around 20 mpg or 37p/mile so electric driving's still cheaper than petrol the way I use the car at the moment.
However a long trip could hit much harder than did my 1995 C220 which gave up to 37 mpg, or 20p/mile at today's prices.
It's a great car nonetheless but it's not as eco as I'd hoped.