dream | act | succeed

In the last two episodes of this series, we have been talking about my hybrid leasing car from Audi. We talked about the advantages and disadvantages, the problems and fails as well as the awesome moments driving this car. But today, we let the numbers speak.

After 2.825 km so far, it is time to talk about the actual fuel consumption. Is that even the right word for a hybrid car? I need to get used to this e-mobility nonsense. That the fuel consumption of a car is heavily influenced by the way of driving should be clear to everyone. But with such a complex hybrid system, there is way more than just that to consider. Therefore, I can not just give you the numbers right away, claiming that this car’s fuel consumption is good or bad after all. Instead, we need to talk about my special and unique use case.

I have the car for precisely four month now. Four month, in which the car has seen everything from minus 17 degrees Celsius in the morning up to 25 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. That the ambient temperature is a huge factor to consider, might not be clear to everyone. In order for the lithium battery to work, the battery temperature needs to stay within a certain temperature range. A process which can consume a lot of energy by itself and is definitely a factor during the cold winter days. With me driving to work 20 km’s early in the morning, around 6 am to be precise, and back the same route in the afternoon, the car was primarily driving fully electric. It makes just sense, looking at the prices for fuel these days. With a theoretical range of 67 km’s according to the WLTP cycle, the 40 km distance shouldn’t be a problem. The only issue, actually it is a problem. On a sunny day, let’s say 20 degrees Celsius, the car can drive up to 60 km’s, which is actually pretty good. But once it is cold, you can not even do the 40 km’s. Sure, I wasn’t familiar with the right driving strategy at the beginning and needed to learn that over time, but still, with using all the comforts the car offers, 40 km’s is a distance you will never actually make during winter fully electric.

The route to work and back leads through a town with traffic lights, over an unrestricted section with no speed limit and a 100 km/h limited road. The car drives 140 km/h fully electric, but actually, it’s not a good idea to do that. It consumes just too much energy! And so, most of the time I am cruising. 105 km/h outside of town and 50 km/h in town. The traffic early on in the morning is basically not existent and just the afternoon is the usual fight for the faster lanes to get through the traffic jam. I accelerate fast, nearly all the time with 100% power but then hold the speed with the cruise control. The recuperation is set to the lowest possible setup and the car is forced to roll whenever it can. Breaks, I just need them right after the start, when the battery is still full and the recuperation limited. After a couple of km’s, the recuperation is doing the job just fine. Looking ahead and thinking about what I am doing, I drive the car up to perfection efficiency wise.

Saying all of that, my individual fuel consumption is this: 16,4 kWh/ 100 km and 1,7 l/100 km of fuel. I was driving 2.825 km’s in 4 month. The driving time is 58,26 h and the average speed 48 km/h. Comparing this with the actual figures from Audi, honestly, I can not complain. Audi says: 1,5-1,4 l/100 km and 13,8 – 13,0 kWh/100 km. Sure, I couldn’t reach the actual figures from Audi, but on a sunny day, those figures are actually reproducible for my use case scenario.

When taking the car on the Autobahn, for sure, the car can not do those numbers, but with my new job requiring me to drive to work on a longer distance on the Autobahn, we will see how those numbers will change. For now, I am satisfied with the fuel consumption of the car.

See you next time!