My lifetime (US) MPG is over 54 = ~4.3 l/100 km
I'm one of those people who have the 400 BHP vehicle that drive it mostly in pure electric mode and try to get the best fuel economy (e.g., buy as little as possible).
The later versions of software increased the ICE charging - which IMO was a good thing. BUT: if you figure out what it cost per kw/h for the charging off the mains versus what it costs for the ICE to replenish the battery ...
I focus most on regen capabilities: breaking and occasionally shifting the drive selector from D to B when going down hills, coming to stops, slowing down for curves, etc.
I do occasionally use the charge feature with the logic being:
- never use pure battery on Interstate / motorway / high speed limited access highways
- limit use of pure battery on roads where speed is 50 MPH / 80 kph or higher
- use charge to replenish the battery for when you'll be driving where it is most efficient: local roads
- only use charge when the load on the ICE is light
So for example - a trip may consist of driving on local roads to get to a highway which you will travel on for an hour or two. When you get off the highway you have another half-hour of local road driving. I start off in pure and use just battery to get to the highway ... maybe the battery has 25% left (which is not enough to do pure electric at the other end of the highway). I then engage hold and drive on the highway. I'll switch to charge mode where there are long stretches of level grade or downhill grade and always turn off charge (back to hold) whenever there is uphill grade or higher load on the vehicle. I will only charge the battery enough to provide enough energy to cover the last part of the journey (and a little safety margin). Exceptions: maybe I will charge it full if the end journey exceeds the battery range or I am going to a location where I am unable to charge.
Another scenario: a long day's drive (on holiday in Newfoundland) on roads where sometimes you are going 100 km/h and sometimes 30-50 km/h. In this situation I've used the charge feature in the open stretch high speed part of the journey to ensure I have enough battery power to travel on pure electric on the slower parts of the roads (through towns, etc.). The VOC graphs for this kind of driving is pretty impressive.
