Will Rubicon 4XE have the range I need for highway commute?

[Helikenny]

Hi all,
I’m trading in my JK and picking up my new Rubicon 4XE this week and will regularly be commuting 450 Kms back and forth to my work location, every 2 weeks. I’ve been absorbing as much as possible about the operation of this new concept Jeep. City while at worksite is a no brainer for ev or hybrid ops.
But the hi-way trek with 2 long mountain passes is my challenge.......
Is the Rubicon 4XE going to have the range I need? And what mode best for the commute?
Thanks in advance

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[dcmdon]

There's no "range I need". Its a gas car with electric assistance. When you need more gas, fill the tank. Its that simple.

Charge the battery when you can and its convenient for better fuel economy, but other than that, don't worry. That's why PHEVs are superior to all electric vehicles. At least until you can find a charger at every gas station and can charge in 10 minutes.

 

[Echo4papa]

No mountain passes involved, but I got about 370 miles per tank driving from Florida to Maryland.

I'd suggest hybrid mode for best efficiency though some people are claiming that e-save/manual shifting to avoid the depletion of the main battery initially gets better mpg. I'm not convinced though, and no one has done any real testing on this so, try them both out? Also, I noticed my actual highway mpg when calculated manually based on gas used/purchased and miles driven was a little worse than what the trip readout showed (22.x vs 24.x) so log your miles and fuel and see what you get?

You should be able to get some decent recharging time if you've got some lengthy downhill portions of your drive as well.

 

[360linux]

If it helps, this has been my highway experience with my 4xe Rubicon.

At the start of July I returned to the office and started commuting 20 almost all highway miles each way in moderate to heavy traffic. I’m able to charge at the office so full battery in each direction.

In those highway conditions the 4xe Rubicon is delivering with 3-4 miles to spare each direction In Hybrid mode. This is what I bought it for and very happy with the results.

 

[Helikenny]

Very good, thanks all for the replies.
I bought the 4xe because I wasn’t ready to venture off into the 100% EV world quite yet and really wanted to keep our Jeep life at the same time. This was the obvious answer. 80% of our driving will be under 25miles in town so the Rubi should shine in that environment. The rest will be the 275 mile commute trips to my worksite bimonthly, and the occasional recreational trip.

 

[michail]

While smaller mountains, I spent the past two weeks driving around the Appalachian mountains. I picked up a surprising number of electric miles and extra e-range on the downhill portions.

Coming down the Smokey Mountains on Newfound Gap road, I picked up an additional 5 miles of range along with no ICE on the downhill portions.

I really came to love the max regen setting while driving mountain roads. One pedal driving helps hit those curves (up or down) without using any brake pads.

 

[Helikenny]

Thanks all for your inputs. It’s been a week now with my new Rubicon and I love it. Rides like a Cadillac compared to my 2 dr JK. But I do miss the simplicity of driving the JK. Nothing to fiddle with except the radio . This 4Xe so far has exceeded my expectations. It commutes easily to/from my work site fully electric with % left over for errands. Very seldom does it go into gas mode. ( I run max regen continually)
Question......those of you that drive further than the stored charge, are you just leavin it in Hybrid and letting it do it’s thing?
Is it OK to be driving around with >1. ??????

BFG KO2 35’s go on today to complete my desired “look”

 

[Echo4papa]

Yes, just run it in Hybrid mode and it's ok to drive around with <1% charge.

For reference, I drove from FL to Maryland that way and had full support of the hybrid system the entire time.

 

[REDSEAL199]

Thanks all for your inputs. It’s been a week now with my new Rubicon and I love it. Rides like a Cadillac compared to my 2 dr JK. But I do miss the simplicity of driving the JK. Nothing to fiddle with except the radio . This 4Xe so far has exceeded my expectations. It commutes easily to/from my work site fully electric with % left over for errands. Very seldom does it go into gas mode. ( I run max regen continually)
Question......those of you that drive further than the stored charge, are you just leavin it in Hybrid and letting it do it’s thing?
Is it OK to be driving around with >1. ??????

BFG KO2 35’s go on today to complete my desired “look”

We run ours in hybrid mode all the time. My wife drives it daily with a 73 round trip daily for work. she gets the best mileage that way and has over 5K miles on it.

 

[wranglerbro]

I'd suggest hybrid mode for best efficiency though some people are claiming that e-save/manual shifting to avoid the depletion of the main battery initially gets better mpg. I'm not convinced though, and no one has done any real testing on this so, try them both out?

This. I did a few long runs to test that theory and found it to be a wash. The amount of gas used/miles driven was the same in both scenarios. Now I just let the hybrid mode do it's thing.

 

[IdahoJOAT]

We run ours in hybrid mode all the time. My wife drives it daily with a 73 round trip daily for work. she gets the best mileage that way and has over 5K miles on it.

What kind of mpg are you seeing?

 

[REDSEAL199]

What kind of mpg are you seeing?

Before we did the lift and tires she was getting 27-30mpg not breaking out electric vs gas etc. Now she only gets 20mpg if she's lucky.

 

[IdahoJOAT]

Before we did the lift and tires she was getting 27-30mpg not breaking out electric vs gas etc. Now she only gets 20mpg if she's lucky.

That's awesome.

 

[john adams]

Range should plunge on EV in the cold. Most EV cars drop 30-40% on EV range in the cold.

 

[Helikenny]

Vehicle Report……..
Im getting 23-25mpg now, hiway and in mountain passes on the 2L turbo. The Jeep has 6500 kms on it now.
2” Lift with 35” BFG k02’s
My in city running around using 100% electric, from 100% battery to <1, goes for 41 kms. Then charges in 2 hrs at home on level 2 charger.
The Jeep is performing exactly what I expected it to do, with better mileage than my previous 3.6L Pentastar
I’m more than pleased……

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