What About Longer Drives in the Cayenne E-Hybrid?

Next, we tried driving about 90 km mainly on the highway in Hybrid Auto mode. Naturally, you can’t drive on electricity alone, so both electricity and gasoline are used. The driving was done normally without special attention to fuel economy.

The fuel economy was 13.2 km/L, and the electric efficiency was 5.4 km/kWh. That’s about the same as a typical domestic sedan.

Next, for an even longer trip, my husband once drove about 560 km from Kansai to Chiba, mainly on fast highways like the Shin-Tomei Expressway.

The fuel economy on that trip was about 10.8 km/L. It’s not outstanding, but for a full-size SUV weighing over 2.4 tons, it’s quite good. On trips this long, the battery charge is maintained around 10–20%, and when it drops near 10%, the engine actively generates electricity.

By the way, my husband’s thoughts on the Cayenne E-Hybrid’s fuel economy and who it’s best for:

The Cayenne E-Hybrid’s fuel economy really depends on whether you have a home charging setup and whether you mainly drive short or long distances. For example, if you have home charging and mostly drive short distances, like us, you’ll hardly ever need to put gas in. Gasoline is mainly used for long trips or spirited driving on winding roads. In this kind of use, the real fuel economy is much better than the official figures.
On the other hand, if you don’t have home charging, the engine will start frequently, and since the hybrid is heavier than a regular Cayenne, fuel economy will be worse—around 4 to 6 km/L in city driving.
If you have home charging and mainly drive short distances, I strongly recommend the hybrid model over the gasoline one. But if you mainly drive long distances or don’t have charging at home, the gasoline model is probably a better choice.

Right now, we mostly drive around town, but once things settle down next year, I want to try a long-distance drive in the Cayenne myself.