i Loves gridlock!

[jray3]

MR BEAN and I don't have to battle urban congestion very often, but today's journey up-n-down the whole length of the Tacoma-Seattle region reminded me how well the i-MiEV excels in this role. 69 miles of rush-hour morning mess, with defogging, wipers and lights all they way, but was barely into bar#2 at the end. Charge up on L2 during a conference, and back home through the worst of it, down to two bars again!
Either the battery is getting better with age, or 'ol leadfootJay has become a hypermiler.
In fairness, Seattle gridlock is more like a 35-50 mph cruise than the 80 mph-to-zero stop-n-go I used to experience in Atlanta! :roll:

 

[olagon]

One unexpected plus with electric cars is driving in traffic is not as bad. ICE cars really suck at MPG on crawls. Opposite with EVs. Honolulu has by many measures the worst traffic in the country so it's a big plus here in my state.

 

[JoeS]

... 69 miles of rush-hour morning mess...

From the graphs shown on this link, as long as the traffic is moving above ~12mph (no heat or aircon), above ~20mph (using aircon), and above ~35mph (using heater) we be ok, as below those speeds our range drops significantly. Stop-and-go allows a lot of single-pedal speed modulation using our B mode, and if we didn't have creep then the go-pedal could bring the car to a complete stop (e.g., i3 and Tesla). Personally, I try to avoid traffic congestion like the plague it is - but if for whatever reason we get stuck in it , then the i-MiEV is the vehicle of choice. Can't wait for self-driving cars to take over in that scenario!

 

[Vike]

. . . as long as the traffic is moving above ~12mph (no heat or aircon), above ~20mph (using aircon), and above ~35mph (using heater) we be ok, as below those speeds our range drops significantly

I was thinking about this while reading the earlier posts. The i-MiEV is awesome in stop-and-go traffic if the weather's accommodating, but crawling along (and averaging 35 mph on a freeway is definitely NOT gridlock!) on a cold winter's morning commute may well leave you unhappily choosing between a comfortable cabin and a comfortable margin of charge to get home.