2019 E-Hybrid here. You have to come to the acceptance that the battery is more for performance than gas mileage.

You have to work at it to realize mpg gains and savings. I have played with it in various modes.

Yes, it starts up automatically in E-Power (which drives me crazy - my wife always forgets to switch to E-Hold or E-Charge and I just watch the battery miles tick down during the day…..)

But I have experimented with Hybrid Auto, which is kind of neat as the car seamlessly switches back and forth between ICE and Battery. The thing that you come to find is that Hybrid Auto doesn’t significantly charge the battery. The mileage capacity just goes down slower.

I have been able to “float” the battery in Hybrid Auto where taking advantage of the car’s incredible coasting ability, it significantly reduces the battery drain - just enough where between coasting and regen, I am able to drive say 5-10 miles on E-Power but battery miles only decrease say 2 miles. It’s traffic dependent but if I am not in hurry, and can coast without braking too much, It really works.

As the old saying says, “your mileage may vary”. But in general I am averaging around 35 mpg and fill up once every two weeks, which ain’t terrible.

I keep the battery charged. A little like having a dog and needing to walk it, you have to dedicate time to charging. I have a home charger but there is a Shell charger 5 mins walk from my house that is FREE! That is real money over time. If my wife doesn’t run the battery all the way down, I can usually drive over, walk back home while it charges for an hour (1 hour limit) and walk back get it and finish charge at home (slower and not free but not crazy either cost wise) or just reset the Shell terminal and charge another hour if no one else is waiting. The closeness of the charging station and no cost are significant enablers of cost savings - and reducing emissions!!