The cost of remote start in MPG and dollars?

[SwampNut]

During the hot part of the year, I remote start nearly every single time I'm going to drive. I've always been curious about what that costs, and for the first time, I have a vehicle with a reliable MPG indicator in the dash. I judged this because it always correlates closely with an actual calculated MPG, whether I've towed, gone off road, or just driven around light. Previous vehicles were not only off by a lot, but also varied a lot in their error depending on what I did with them.

2020 Gladiator Launch Edition, 3.6L, 8-speed auto, Rubicon, 1" leveling kit, some lights and winch, otherwise stock. I do have the factory tonneau cover.

My daily mixed driving fuel economy is quite steady. I have to drive 4 miles just to get into town, at about 48 MPH. From there I might do in-town errands at 50-ish, with normal suburban main road traffic and lights. I might take the highway on occasion (72) to various other places. I can't find a huge variation based on my heavy-highway days versus city days. I mostly get about 18.5 indicated, and just over 18 calculated.

Remote starting drops it to 16.5 indicated and just over 16 calculated. So about a 2 MPG loss. My remote starts tend to be lengthy, 5+ minutes. Shorter ones obviously have less impact. When I did a few days testing at less around 2-3 minutes of run time, the loss was around 1 MPG.

According to my fuel logs, I've paid an average of $2.17 for gas, which was mostly in AZ, some in CA. So the dollar cost for remote starting is around 20 cents per gallon, or just under two cents per mile. In a 10k mile year (pre-COVID norm), that's a 70 gallon penalty if I did it all the time, but I'd guess it's half the year, so 35 gallons extra. Amounting to $76. Well worth it.

I've been screamed at twice for the environmental impact that remote start causes, I don't care, don't bother.

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[db305]

During the hot part of the year, I remote start nearly every single time I'm going to drive. I've always been curious about what that costs, and for the first time, I have a vehicle with a reliable MPG indicator in the dash. I judged this because it always correlates closely with an actual calculated MPG, whether I've towed, gone off road, or just driven around light. Previous vehicles were not only off by a lot, but also varied a lot in their error depending on what I did with them.

2020 Gladiator Launch Edition, 3.6L, 8-speed auto, Rubicon, 1" leveling kit, some lights and winch, otherwise stock. I do have the factory tonneau cover.

My daily mixed driving fuel economy is quite steady. I have to drive 4 miles just to get into town, at about 48 MPH. From there I might do in-town errands at 50-ish, with normal suburban main road traffic and lights. I might take the highway on occasion (72) to various other places. I can't find a huge variation based on my heavy-highway days versus city days. I mostly get about 18.5 indicated, and just over 18 calculated.

Remote starting drops it to 16.5 indicated and just over 16 calculated. So about a 2 MPG loss. My remote starts tend to be lengthy, 5+ minutes. Shorter ones obviously have less impact. When I did a few days testing at less around 2-3 minutes of run time, the loss was around 1 MPG.

According to my fuel logs, I've paid an average of $2.17 for gas, which was mostly in AZ, some in CA. So the dollar cost for remote starting is around 20 cents per gallon, or just under two cents per mile. In a 10k mile year (pre-COVID norm), that's a 70 gallon penalty if I did it all the time, but I'd guess it's half the year, so 35 gallons extra. Amounting to $76. Well worth it.

I've been screamed at twice for the environmental impact that remote start causes, I don't care, don't bother.

i mean it's a brick with a truck bed attached. unless ess kicks in as soon as the pedal is off of the gas and you're constantly driving downhill, you're never going to have an efficient vehicle. kind of funny that you're catching flack for getting your vehicle ready to drive in the grand scheme of things.

 

[brianinca]

Heck I walk off and leave the truck locked and running when I run into a store doing errands. It's a trick my sweetie taught me, after 29 yrs in PHX she moved further West to where it's only 110 on a hot day!

 

[SwampNut]

Same here, if it's going to be, say five minutes or less. I count that the same as remote start time. In my JK I had to literally remote start it while it was still running, in order to be able to remove the key and lock up. I love the fob that stays on a belt clip, so I just get out, lock it while running, and nobody can drive it.

 

[Mr._Bill]

I remote start all the time. It takes a lot to cool it down here. I let it run at least ten minutes. Some days it's 20+ depending on how long I spend in the kitchen. It doesn't need to run as long on the few cold days we get, but it's nice to have it warm when I get in the cab. The current MPG showing on the dash was 15.6 when I filled it up Saturday.

 

[j.o.y.ride]

I've been screamed at twice for the environmental impact that remote start causes, I don't care, don't bother.

LOL. Cars are really not the issue anyways. It's heavy industry, cargo ships, forest fires, and just people in general. Cars ain't gonna solve anything until those other major factors are addressed.

I took this pic last night. It's just 1 fire complex. A teaspoon of that is worth your remote start for the year.

 

[Indavis01]

I use remote start all the time. It works ok, but the AC really doesn't like the humidity here, sometimes it barely blows cold unless you're moving. My complaint is more about the AC, on my JKU it worked so much better even having a bigger volume of air to cool. I agree, the remote start has knocked off about 1.5 to 2mpg for me as well.

 

[DirkG]

LOL, if your tree-hugging antagonists want to look in the mirror, ask them if they own cats, use reusable bags every time they shop, or purchase anything online.

Kitty litter is horrible for the environment (unless they use recycled newspaper or coconut) and online shopping has shown to be detrimental to the environment because instead of Karen going to Hobby Lobby in her white Prius, the UPS truck sporting the diesel / V8 / inline-6 scoots right up to her driveway.

Bottom line, we're all at fault. (double-clicking key fob to remote start my Jeep)

 

[j.o.y.ride]

The only way Amazon is higher impact is if you are constantly ordering rush 2 hour delivery for things like milk and eggs and still also going to the grocery store. Otherwise your normal online purchase that shows up in a few days where a driver can deliver to 100+ homes on one route that is planned in advance because they know the package is coming on such and such date allowing them to make tiny incremental jogs between houses, is going to be better.

I watch the UPS driver come though my neighborhood and he must deliver to 20 houses in my small section. One stop can result in 2-3 houses being dropped at. And then he drives 100 feet to the next few units. Those residents aren't making 100' drives to the store but UPS is making 100' deliveries.

 

[Higher_Ground]

Death by a thousand cuts as they say. Volcanoes spew more poison than a typical city... but that was going to happen no matter what we do. We don't have anti-volcano technology.

Plenty of news has been made this year about improved air quality in cities thanks to reduced traffic. Having visited a country where the majority of traffic consists of motor bikes... I'm thankful for the regulations we have in place. Let's just say they made mask wearing in public popular long before COVID. I got a respiratory infection within 2 weeks from the smog.

I care about the environment, but not to the point that I worry about the remote start wasting gas, and I definitely disable the Auto Start/Stop as soon as I turn it on.

I'm just not comfortable leaving a running vehicle unattended. I'm not sure how far away the fob has to be to prevent it from driving (I assume 5-6 ft ?) but I don't want someone even attempting to steal it.

 

[jimbom]

The only way Amazon is higher impact is if you are constantly ordering rush 2 hour delivery for things like milk and eggs and still also going to the grocery store. Otherwise your normal online purchase that shows up in a few days where a driver can deliver to 100+ homes on one route that is planned in advance because they know the package is coming on such and such date allowing them to make tiny incremental jogs between houses, is going to be better.

I watch the UPS driver come though my neighborhood and he must deliver to 20 houses in my small section. One stop can result in 2-3 houses being dropped at. And then he drives 100 feet to the next few units. Those residents aren't making 100' drives to the store but UPS is making 100' deliveries.

I used to be conscience about this and wait until I had multiple things in my cart before checking out. They would still divide it up into several deliveries. I don't see how they make money doing that.

 

[SwampNut]

I use remote start all the time. It works ok, but the AC really doesn't like the humidity here, sometimes it barely blows cold unless you're moving. My complaint is more about the AC, on my JKU it worked so much better even having a bigger volume of air to cool. I agree, the remote start has knocked off about 1.5 to 2mpg for me as well.

The Gladiator cools better than my previous JKUs, so maybe it's got a problem? I assume it cools better because the radiator fan blows so much more air.

I'm just not comfortable leaving a running vehicle unattended. I'm not sure how far away the fob has to be to prevent it from driving (I assume 5-6 ft ?) but I don't want someone even attempting to steal it.

You can go an infinite distance and it stays running. It can't be driven or shifted if the fob is not INSIDE the truck. Literally, it has to cross the door line. I keep the fob on a belt loop with a carabiner. I cannot reach into the truck and start it or shift it, the display says "key not in vehicle." There's no way it's getting stolen. You can also lock the door, and the key has to be a few feet away to unlock it. I've had remote start vehicles since the day they were available, in the 90s, and have never worried about it at all.

I used to be conscience about this and wait until I had multiple things in my cart before checking out. They would still divide it up into several deliveries. I don't see how they make money doing that.

Because there are multiple warehouses and the products are in different places. You can also place multiple orders and they will auto-combine them if they are all due the same day and come from the same warehouse.

 

[SwampNut]

He was driving an already running vehicle, that's different. So maybe I should have said "you can walk away an infinite distance." Both our BMW and Gladiator behave the same way; you can walk off and leave it running. You can't just drive away. And if you put it in park, get out and lock it, and walk away it can no longer be unlocked or put into gear. This would be the normal thing to do at a store or other errand. There would be no reason that someone should drive it without the key. At the car wash, I walked over to the stand to talk to the ticket writer, and a guy tried to move the Jeep which was running. No go.

 

[jimbom]

It can't be driven or shifted if the fob is not INSIDE the truck.

Don't know about the auto, but once it's started you can shift and drive an MT as far as you want without the key in the Jeep at all.

edit-didn't see your post above while typing this.

edit edit- Now I'm wondering if I lock the door and somebody, say, busts the window and unlocks it manually, will it kill the engine? I assume the alarm will go off. I'll try it later (although I'll just leave the window open )

 

[SwampNut]

I just did an experiment. I went out and got in the Jeep, held the fob out the window at arm's length, tried to start it. "Key not detected." Brought it in, started it, got out and locked it, put the key on the tonneau cover just behind the cab. Can't unlock it. The key is VERY proximity-aware. Same on our much older BMW, the key has to be very close to the door to unlock, and inside the vehicle to start.

Good point about manuals, I forget they exist.

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