First: I HATE lake effect snow.
Nevertheless, we got our first snow of the season overnight, and it was more than the forecasters here in Cleveland predicted. Everyone here is shocked about how much snow we got. Some areas are expected to have over a foot by the time we're done.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..........
In any case, this presented an opportunity to test the Sport Hybrid's abilities on my snowy, icy commute this morning.
I can describe what happened, but pictures and videos tell the story better.
What I came out to this morning:
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
And to share with you all the experience of driving the Sport Hybrid in these conditions:
(using Google Glass with XE22.0)
Things to observe in the above video:
a) That squeaking noise is my wet shoe on the pedals. The car is SO quiet that you can hear that stuff. You can't hear the engine in this video. I could hear it, in the background, but that's it. This is a supremely quiet car.
b) The gas engine warms up before it allows pure electric travel. So in the trip from my garage to the end of the video, the engine is still warming up.
c) HUD happiness. I still love it ten days later. Very useful!
d) Mileage went down significantly because when you turn on the car when it's this cold, the gas engine turns on in order to charge the front battery and to run the accessories/heat. Will be investing in an engine heater for these conditions to reduce the time the engine requires to warm up.
Video #2: On the highway, in a turn...
Things to note in this video:
a) I have the power distribution monitor on both the HUD and the navi screen. Coolness ensues as you see how the system allocates power
b) Gas engine is fully warmed at this point, so the electric motors are allowed at times to help the car coast or accelerate under light throttle. On the video, you can see the tachometer drop suddenly to zero as the gas engine turns off. By the way, you can't hear this happening, again because the car is so quiet.
c) What is NOT quiet is that damn lane departure warning. That works really, really well, even in these conditions. I think sometimes it mistakes a line of ice for a lane marker, though. :shrug:
Power distribution monitor:
![Click the image to open in full size.]()
Couple of things to note from this pic:
a) Gas engine is on, charging front battery/motor and running the HVAC.
b) Acuralink is activated. Those thin lines indicating traffic flow are sometimes hard to see. They really need to be thicker, or maybe dots like on the RL's navi. Seems like that would be a software fix.
More to come eventually.....
Nevertheless, we got our first snow of the season overnight, and it was more than the forecasters here in Cleveland predicted. Everyone here is shocked about how much snow we got. Some areas are expected to have over a foot by the time we're done.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..........
In any case, this presented an opportunity to test the Sport Hybrid's abilities on my snowy, icy commute this morning.
I can describe what happened, but pictures and videos tell the story better.
What I came out to this morning:
And to share with you all the experience of driving the Sport Hybrid in these conditions:
(using Google Glass with XE22.0)
Things to observe in the above video:
a) That squeaking noise is my wet shoe on the pedals. The car is SO quiet that you can hear that stuff. You can't hear the engine in this video. I could hear it, in the background, but that's it. This is a supremely quiet car.
b) The gas engine warms up before it allows pure electric travel. So in the trip from my garage to the end of the video, the engine is still warming up.
c) HUD happiness. I still love it ten days later. Very useful!
d) Mileage went down significantly because when you turn on the car when it's this cold, the gas engine turns on in order to charge the front battery and to run the accessories/heat. Will be investing in an engine heater for these conditions to reduce the time the engine requires to warm up.
Video #2: On the highway, in a turn...
Things to note in this video:
a) I have the power distribution monitor on both the HUD and the navi screen. Coolness ensues as you see how the system allocates power
b) Gas engine is fully warmed at this point, so the electric motors are allowed at times to help the car coast or accelerate under light throttle. On the video, you can see the tachometer drop suddenly to zero as the gas engine turns off. By the way, you can't hear this happening, again because the car is so quiet.
c) What is NOT quiet is that damn lane departure warning. That works really, really well, even in these conditions. I think sometimes it mistakes a line of ice for a lane marker, though. :shrug:
Power distribution monitor:
Couple of things to note from this pic:
a) Gas engine is on, charging front battery/motor and running the HVAC.
b) Acuralink is activated. Those thin lines indicating traffic flow are sometimes hard to see. They really need to be thicker, or maybe dots like on the RL's navi. Seems like that would be a software fix.
More to come eventually.....