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Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 9:08 pm
by ChesneyHawkes
Hi Guys

I'm using fuelly.com to track my PCX 150's fuel consumption. The way I do it may not be entirely accurate as I divide distance by average fuel consumption to get my result of how much fuel has been used.

Because I'm in Thailand, a full differs as I have no control over the filling process myself i.e. it's dependent on the station attendant who'd filling up the bike. You can see km/l on fully.com under the PCX 150 listing with my username.

I found I've been managing mid-40s for the most part with quite a few 400km trips. Recently I've switched to slowly accelerating for my work commutes. Now I'm seeing 50km+ results.

Do you think I can trust the average fuel consumption gauge on my bike?

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:54 am
by tomtic
Hmmm. Your mpg figures are interesting. Nobody else has replied so i'm guessing they might be confused by the numbers you quote in your post. I originally assumed that you meant km per litre, but when i checked your fuelly data you have mpg. And mighty high mpg as well!!!!
I have a pcx125 and get 120 to 130 (imperial) miles per gallon which is generally considered pretty good for the pcx125. As a pcx150 rider i am surprised you are getting similar mileage, and especially doubt the 150mpg quoted. I may be wrong but something looks wrong with your figures. I think most 150 riders are getting mpg of around 80 to 90, which equates to about 30 km per litre.
I would have a look at either your odometer or (dare i say it :) ) your calculations?
Sorry i can't be more help, but hopefully someone with a better idea will be along soon!
Tom.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:26 pm
by kramnala58
Your mileage sounds almost too good. I can't recall, do you have a 2014/15 model? I have never got close to 400 kms out of a tank. I drive exclusively in downtown Bangkok, and I drive fairly hard, but 400 kms sounds like a lot unless you have the new model which has a larger tank.

Are you not able to look at the pump to see how much fuel was pumped? That's what I do. Or are you buying your fuel from some back lot guy who sells it by the bottle, of which there is one person who does so just off of my Soi.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:47 am
by ChesneyHawkes
tomtic wrote:Hmmm. Your mpg figures are interesting. Nobody else has replied so i'm guessing they might be confused by the numbers you quote in your post. I originally assumed that you meant km per litre, but when i checked your fuelly data you have mpg. And mighty high mpg as well!!!!
I have a pcx125 and get 120 to 130 (imperial) miles per gallon which is generally considered pretty good for the pcx125. As a pcx150 rider i am surprised you are getting similar mileage, and especially doubt the 150mpg quoted. I may be wrong but something looks wrong with your figures. I think most 150 riders are getting mpg of around 80 to 90, which equates to about 30 km per litre.
I would have a look at either your odometer or (dare i say it :) ) your calculations?
Sorry i can't be more help, but hopefully someone with a better idea will be along soon!
Tom.
I think it calculates depending on what you set in the settings. So you can get km or miles, litres or gallons.

I'm using the average fuel consumption gauge that is on the new model PCXs, so one of my questions is about whether it's accurate or not.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:03 am
by kramnala58
ChesneyHawkes wrote:... I divide distance by average fuel consumption to get my result of how much fuel has been used."
That might be your problem. I think you are going to have to find out how much fuel is actually put in.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:06 am
by ChesneyHawkes
kramnala58 wrote:Your mileage sounds almost too good. I can't recall, do you have a 2014/15 model? I have never got close to 400 kms out of a tank. I drive exclusively in downtown Bangkok, and I drive fairly hard, but 400 kms sounds like a lot unless you have the new model which has a larger tank.

Are you not able to look at the pump to see how much fuel was pumped? That's what I do. Or are you buying your fuel from some back lot guy who sells it by the bottle, of which there is one person who does so just off of my Soi.
8 litre tank so that's how I can get high mileage in 2015 model. I've been getting 42-45 but tried to be super economical recently, hence the 50+ level. I could see what the pump says but it's not accurate. As you know in Thailand the attendants fill up the tank for you and I've had a variety of definitions for a full tank. Sometimes they stop at a rounding up point, sometimes right to the brim.

I use the average fuel consumption gauge to get my readings, no idea if they're accurate.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:12 am
by gn2
The gauge should be accurate enough.
The one on my Forza is accurate to about 3%
To correctly calculate fuel consumption, fill the tank to the brim, zero the trip meter, ride till the tank is nearly empty then fill the tank back to the brim.
You now have a figure for distance travelled and fuel used.
Calculating the average is a simple matter of dividing the distance by the fuel used.
e.g. 160 miles travelled, fuel added 2 gallons, average fuel consumption 160/2=80mpg

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:24 am
by Beachboy
2015 fuel computer says I'm getting 51 kml. Just typed into google "51 kpl to mpg" and got 119.95. I drive low speed around the village with stop idle.

I don't know if the gauge is accurate.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:36 am
by ChesneyHawkes
gn2 wrote:The gauge should be accurate enough.
The one on my Forza is accurate to about 3%
To correctly calculate fuel consumption, fill the tank to the brim, zero the trip meter, ride till the tank is nearly empty then fill the tank back to the brim.
You now have a figure for distance travelled and fuel used.
Calculating the average is a simple matter of dividing the distance by the fuel used.
e.g. 160 miles travelled, fuel added 2 gallons, average fuel consumption 160/2=80mpg
As I stated, I am not the one filling the bike, it's the attendant. If I had control of the filling process I would be able to do what you suggested. The best I can do is divide distance by average fuel consumption to get my fuel used. From this I can input everything into Fuelly.com. I'm taking all the data from my bike, it's not like I'm pulling numbers out of the air.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:44 am
by ChesneyHawkes
tomtic wrote:Hmmm. Your mpg figures are interesting. Nobody else has replied so i'm guessing they might be confused by the numbers you quote in your post. I originally assumed that you meant km per litre, but when i checked your fuelly data you have mpg. And mighty high mpg as well!!!!
I have a pcx125 and get 120 to 130 (imperial) miles per gallon which is generally considered pretty good for the pcx125. As a pcx150 rider i am surprised you are getting similar mileage, and especially doubt the 150mpg quoted. I may be wrong but something looks wrong with your figures. I think most 150 riders are getting mpg of around 80 to 90, which equates to about 30 km per litre.
I would have a look at either your odometer or (dare i say it :) ) your calculations?
Sorry i can't be more help, but hopefully someone with a better idea will be along soon!
Tom.

Just reading back you post, the latest model (2015) seems to use different tyres and have managed to reduce friction and save fuel. that could be total bs.

For me when I hammer the throttle from a reset it shows the average to be 32km/l
If I'm ridiculously conservative I can get 52km/l
And something in between gets me around 43-45km/l

I've tried to comment in Fuelly for certain fuel-ups as I use my bike differently at times. It could be 30km commute, or a 3km round-trip to the beach or a 350km trip to Bangkok and back on a flat dual carriageway.

Everyone has a different way of riding, I'm just wondering if the average consumption gauge can be trusted. I've seen the other readings people have gotten on Fuelly, but not many are 2015 models and I have no idea how they are riding their bikes.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:45 am
by ChesneyHawkes
Beachboy wrote:2015 fuel computer says I'm getting 51 kml. Just typed into google "51 kpl to mpg" and got 119.95. I drive low speed around the village with stop idle.

I don't know if the gauge is accurate.

That's really all I want to know too.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:50 am
by ChesneyHawkes
kramnala58 wrote:
ChesneyHawkes wrote:... I divide distance by average fuel consumption to get my result of how much fuel has been used."
That might be your problem. I think you are going to have to find out how much fuel is actually put in.
I think that's easier said than done. The fuel gauge is hardly accurate on the bike, I would say an approximation at best.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:19 am
by Alibally
Use fuelly like everyone else

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 8:18 am
by bruno_09
Due to the whole attendant-thing, you aren't able to fill it to the exact same height everytime, that I understand. I assume you do get the volume of gas that is put into it, though. If so, just use that, and after a few fill-ups you'll start getting a good average. It'll probably vary a lot more per fill-up, but the average should be more reliable on the long run than the consumption number taken from your dashboard...

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:20 am
by WhiteNoise
Hi ChesneyHawkes. You quickly mentioned above that the 2015 tires are different from previous PCX models (IRC's). Could you please share with us What Brand tires they are and their Sizes?
Thanks :)

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:18 am
by gn2
The dashboard computer n the Forza is accurate.
No reason why the PCX one will be any different.
Re the attendant, just tell hem to fill it full.
Its not rocket science.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:46 pm
by ChesneyHawkes
gn2 wrote:The dashboard computer n the Forza is accurate.
No reason why the PCX one will be any different.
Re the attendant, just tell hem to fill it full.
Its not rocket science.

I've always said full, but full can vary by up to half a litre sometimes.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:55 pm
by ChesneyHawkes
bruno_09 wrote:Due to the whole attendant-thing, you aren't able to fill it to the exact same height everytime, that I understand. I assume you do get the volume of gas that is put into it, though. If so, just use that, and after a few fill-ups you'll start getting a good average. It'll probably vary a lot more per fill-up, but the average should be more reliable on the long run than the consumption number taken from your dashboard...
I've tried to do that, but I kind of have to fill up regardless of what my gauge says because I'm located far from any gas stations. I'm just hoping my average gauge is accurate.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:01 pm
by ChesneyHawkes
WhiteNoise wrote:Hi ChesneyHawkes. You quickly mentioned above that the 2015 tires are different from previous PCX models (IRC's). Could you please share with us What Brand tires they are and their Sizes?
Thanks :)

Milage improved slightly for 2015 with the switch to lower rolling resistance tires, even less drag and reduced electrical load from the switch to LED lighting.

http://www.motorscooterguide.net/Honda/PCX/PCX.html

I think they are still IRC's, I'll double check later. Was thinking of getting the Michelin CG ones when it comes time to change.

Re: Average fuel consumption

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:23 pm
by WhiteNoise
Okay thanks :) I'll be waiting/watching this thread. It would be great if they were City Grip tires. I'm guessing Not :|