Why No Human Will Ever Hit The Ridiculous Claimed MPG Of A Hybrid

According to Audi’s marketing bumph, the A3 e-tron is capable of up to 188mpg and 176.6mpg combined. That’s a bold claim, made capable by the fact that this is a hybrid; a 1.4-litre petrol engine works with an electric motor to provide the best of both worlds, power and frugality.

That incredible economy figure is one echoed by other hybrids in the market; the BMW i8 claims 134mpg, but as Top Gear pointed out, owners are seeing more like 40mpg in the ‘real world’.

While on the launch of the e-tron last year, I managed about 33mpg over the course of the day, however to be fair, Audi had laid on some fantastic roads so I felt more compelled to find out how effectively the two power plants worked together to provide 201bhp (TL;DR - I wanted to see how fast it was).

Here at CT, we usually focus on driver enjoyment and appealing to enthusiasts, but this whole MPG thing was starting to bug me. It’s not just the Audi and the BMW, either. The fact that it’s impossible to achieve a manufacturer’s claimed figures has been a running joke for years, and with the new drive cycle for plug-in hybrids seemingly skewing results in the hybrids’ favour, the disparity between real world economy figures and those quoted in brochures appear to be getting bigger.

So I decided to see whether I could actually achieve even close to the kind of figures quoted. I had the car for a week, and conducted three ‘typical’ journeys. Full disclosure: I live in a first floor flat, meaning I can’t recharge the battery overnight as my parking spot is too far from my windows. If you can chuck the car in a garage overnight and hook it up to the mains, you’ll get better figures than me, especially if you can get to work and back within the 31-mile range of the battery. Still, I was hoping for somewhere in the region of 60mpg. Let’s see how I got on…

Short run to the shop

The first trip was a simple one. It sounds cliche, but I’d run out of milk, and as a true Brit I couldn’t face the prospect of an evening without milky tea. I could’ve walked, but that would have involved actually walking, so I jumped in the A3, pushed the start button, and selected EV mode. This would ensure the engine wouldn’t kick in at all.

The screen in the instrument binnacle has an option to see where power is coming from, and whether power is being diverted to the battery through regeneration. The 2.3-mile round trip was conducted on electric power alone, meaning I was technically on infinite mpg…so far so good.

Date night

My local cinema runs a ‘Bargain Tuesday’ night, which means cheap tickets; naturally, I offered to take my girlfriend out for the night, then acted surprised when the tickets were half price. My house to the cinema and back, via my girlfriend’s place, is a 13.6-mile round trip.

We spent most of the journey in rush hour traffic, but fortunately that’s where the e-tron excels. Firstly, the interior is of typical Audi fare. High quality materials, easy-to-use menus and an air of sophistication.

Furthermore, we spent about an hour in stop/start traffic, with only about five minutes of petrol engine use. On the way back, the midnight roads were empty, and we cruised along in EV mode for most of the drive. It contributed to a trip average of 63mpg. Considering how little time we spent with the engine on that’s a bit lower than expected, but it was below freezing outside, so we had the heating and heated seats on, which won’t have helped. Not bad, e-tron, not bad at all.

We did, however, encounter the first issue with EV ownership: broken charging points. After looking online for the closest charger to the cinema (a five minute walk, jolly good), we rocked up to the NCP car park ready to replenish the half-empty battery. Nope. The charging point was out of order, and it’s not an isolated case.

Source London has just taken over the contract to service London’s electric charging points, and has identified more than 300 locations that need repairing or replacing. For someone like me, who can’t charge at home, non-operational charging points are a massive pain in the backside.

The long distance run

The night before our long run, I did my weekly shop and plugged the A3 into the Chargemaster charging point at the supermarket. Of the four charging points available, three spaces were taken up by petrol cars (the photos above were taken as I was leaving, and the cheeky people had gone!). Whatever your opinion on electric cars, it’s only fair to leave the spaces free - if I was in a pure EV without enough range to get home I’d be stuck.

I was shopping for about half an hour, and gained about 1.5kWh, or about a fifth of battery capacity. Not too bad, but this does need to improve. Even the longest family shop would only get you about half your range back.

The next morning, after braving the snow storm that had taken hold over night, I drove the barely-charged A3 towards the motorway, using up the last of the battery. This is where the hybrid system is at its least effective. The petrol engine isn’t very economical in town, so having the electric motor to take the weight off under acceleration is very useful. Once you’re cruising at motorway speeds, you can still use the electric motor, but it depletes very quickly. Instead it’s best to let the 1.4-litre TFSI take control.

Over the course of a 250-mile round trip, mostly spent cruising on motorways, I managed about 30mpg. Not so great. I could’ve hung around 60mph and returned better economy, but this is a real-world test, so hovering between 70-80mph is far more realistic.

Selecting ‘Hybrid Charge’ on the dashboard’s pop-up screen activates regeneration when you take your foot off the throttle (normally you’ll only recharge when you brake). It recharges the battery impressively quickly at motorway speeds, which leaves you with some nice EV time as you get closer to your destination…not that it helped my figures a great deal.

In my seven days with the car I managed an average of 35.1mpg. While I wasn’t expecting to achieve triple figure economy, that’s well below what I’d anticipated. Even in the four days prior to the longer journey, in which I’d just been cruising around town, I’d only managed about 38mpg, and I wasn’t being lead-footed, either.

Conclusion

The Audi A3 e-tron is a great car in many ways. It’s quiet, comfortable, and can be quick when you need it. The problem is it’s only economical if your situation is ‘correct’. If you drive less than 30 miles a day and have a garage or driveway so you can easily plug your car into the mains overnight, this car is perfect. It’s all the economy of a pure EV, without the range anxiety.

It’s also still an Audi, so you have a high quality interior and no badge snobbery to worry about. It even has a cool name; telling your mates you bought an ‘e-tron’ is much cooler than simply saying ‘hybrid’. The problem comes if you can’t charge it at home and you conduct a lot of long distance journeys; if that’s the case this car won’t work for you.

So to go back to the original question: can you actually achieve a hybrid’s claimed economy figures? Theoretically, yes, but under a very specific set of circumstances. In general use, it’s hard to see owners achieving anywhere near that figure in the long term.

I’m still excited about what the future of hybrids has in store, as I’m sure performance and economy can be achieved. We’re nearly there, but not quite. Think long and hard about whether you can actually reap the benefits before you get too excited about economy figures…