[ptjones]

Here is a link to my How to drive a CMAX Hybrid to get great Gas Mileage. How to Drive a CMAX Hybrid/FFH to get Great Gas Mileage.

There are 3 YouTube videos for Improve MPG's

, Aerodynamics

and
Hypermilling

.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I use Fuelly.com to keep track of my MPG's. Link: PT's Mad Max (Ford C-Max) | Fuelly On fillup #229 got my best range on one tank of 931.8 miles/13.7 gals/68 mpg on trip to South Carolina and back. It will be a challenge to get that with a FEHPlugin with 11.3 gallons.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I have been thinking about what strategy I will use to improve My 2020 FEH Plugin gas mileage on Hwy trips, when I finally get it. I looked at Energi Posts and it seemed like they drive them like Hybrids and only drive EV at slower speeds . I have an Idea to improve MPG's using HVB EV to control ICE WT. Here are the important info for improving MPG's for an Energi:

1. ICE runs too cold for maximum efficiency, I found running between 215 to 226*F WT is the best temp range and you need to use Grill Covers to get that high.
2. You gain about 4 mpg using Grill Covers, 2 mpg for reduced Drag and 2 mpg for improving ICE efficiency with higher WT's.
3. Most of the time the ICE WT will be just fine with Grill Covers on, but with significant uphill climb ICE WT will go up, at 225*F I would go to EV Mode for a minute allowing the ICE to cool down. With my Hybrid I use heater/defrost to lower WT which is a waist of energy.
4. BYW using Neutral to coast down hill improves MPG's and cools the HVB and ICE down.
5. I would guess that a 4 to 5 mpg improvement could be realized doing this.

Let me know what you think.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I believe this cars have active shutters, so grill covers would seem to be redundant. So depending on where your live, you may even overheat the motor. You will need more than a minute in EV, PLUS air flow, to cool down the motor. Ford has engineer the PU to work as efficiently as possible. If they thought a covered grill would help, there would be one, actually there is, the activate grill shutters. Your vehicle, your repair cost.

Coasting down a hill may save you some gas, but depending on how long it is and how often you plan on doing this, plan on replacing brakes often. I have years of experience driving a hybrid. Granted it's not a plug in model, but I have managed a life time MPG of 54 in my 2013 Fusion hybrid that had its estimated MPG derated, by Ford, to 47. How? Being light on the gas pedal, slowing early to regen, and taking advantage of the terrain.

_
I had a 2008FEH and 2010FEH so I have been driving Hybrids for about 11 yrs. now.
I have been using these techniques for 7 yrs/240k mi. on my CMAX Hybrid which also has grill shutters and they don't work very well. BTW 2013 FFH EPA rating is 41 mpg combined, 43 city/ 39 HWY, CMAX is 40 combined mpg, 42 city/ 37 HWY . My mileage is 78% HWY with LT 50.6 mpg and 53.8 mpg for the last 140k miles on Trip2. I have driven across AZ desert at 110*F during the Summer with Grill Covers on. I usually lose 5-10*F WT with the ICE off in a minute.

I remove the small cover when WT gets up to 230*F often and the seven holes are enough to keep temps below 225*F. BTW they are held on with Velcro. I would guess if you had a OBII gauge like ScanGaugeII and monitored ICE WT you would see you never get up to 202*F, the start of the operating temp for the ICE according to FORD. The ICE is the most efficient when it gets above the start of it's operating temp. Also I believe my testing back in Late 2012 that showed the ICE was running too cold that I Posted on the FORD Hybrid Forums caused FORD to up grade the ECM software in 2013 so that the grill shutter opening temperature on the FWY was raised to 220 *F. Didn't make much of a difference though in MPG's, shutters just leak way to much air.
When I use Coasting Downhill in Neutral I always shift to Drive before using brakes/regen, (regen doesn't work in Neutral) and I still have the original brakes with 250k miles.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I do have Vortex Generators. but I don't think they made much of a difference. IMO Thanks for the update.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

Just a thought for those interested in Hypermiling by using Pulse and Glide, the best mpg results is to use Neutral for Glide, regen is only at best 80% efficient.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I believe this cars have active shutters, so grill covers would seem to be redundant. So depending on where your live, you may even overheat the motor. You will need more than a minute in EV, PLUS air flow, to cool down the motor. Ford has engineer the PU to work as efficiently as possible. If they thought a covered grill would help, there would be one, actually there is, the activate grill shutters. Your vehicle, your repair cost.

Coasting down a hill may save you some gas, but depending on how long it is and how often you plan on doing this, plan on replacing brakes often. I have years of experience driving a hybrid. Granted it's not a plug in model, but I have managed a life time MPG of 54 in my 2013 Fusion hybrid that had its estimated MPG derated, by Ford, to 47. How? Being light on the gas pedal, slowing early to regen, and taking advantage of the terrain.

____
I was thinking that using the heater to cool the WT down is a waist of heat energy/fan electricity that wouldn't be made if EV is used for a short time like a minute at a time to cool down ICE. In that way all the heat energy the ICE makes is used to turn the wheels and charge the HVB. Running EV for a minute will cool down the ICE 5-10*F and then you could run the ICE for 5 minutes and repeat. This would only be necessary when going up hills. If you could combine ICE and EV together for an extended period of time going uphill you could keep the ICE from getting hot but the HVB temps would go up so you would need to monitor that too.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

It is interesting that MPG's keep going up with temps(88-94*F), lunch time I went up to Atlanta and back(48 mi. one way on I-85/I-20) not using A/C and front windows open a couple of inches. I averaged 59.5 mpg going up and 63.5 mpg going back in medium traffic, no stop and go. My tank averaged started with 59.5 mpg and ended with 60 mpg/ 323 mi./ 212 mi. EV. It is amazing how much MPG's are affected by outside temperature.😀

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I don’t have a 2020 FEH Plugin yet, build date Aug. 24 and I have driven 3 FEH before ordering FEHP.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

"Frank" have you tried coasting in Neutral?

Paul

 

[ptjones]

Thanks for the detailed response, which I think I understand most of. Until I actually see and use the EV Coach, I don't think I fully get how it's going to work, but your explanation provides a good starting point.

One thing I'd like to clarify is this: Gently speed up using ICE, then EV using a little less throttle than required to maintain speed. The net effect of this is that one will not be maintaining a steady speed (let's assume that conditions allow for this and that one is on level ground), because using less throttle than is required to maintain speed will result in slowing down (hence the term "pulse & glide"...). Why is this more efficient than gently speeding up using ICE and then maintaining speed with EV until the SOC is low enough that the ICE kicks back on? I read some articles about hypermiling, and what I read is that the goal is to keep the ICE off as much as possible, which makes sense, since the instantaneous mpg is effectively infinite when the ICE is off. But the articles I found didn't address the question of why it is more efficient to try to minimize the drain on the HVB through the pulse & glide technique vs using the HVB to maintain speed until either road conditions or depleted SOC require the ICE to come back on.

Secondly, more for curiosity than anything else, how did you determine that one gets more charging between 10-20kW ICE power?

Thanks again for the time you took to answer my questions...I've driven a Gen 2 Prius for many years, but I think I was sufficiently impressed with the mileage I was getting in comparison to anything else I had driven or anyone else around me was getting to really think about how I might improve mileage even more. I can't expect the Escape to match a smaller and lighter car, of course, but I might as well see if I can learn to do better (without driving my wife bananas when she's riding shotgun...)

Did you watch my How to drive a CMAX to get good gas mileage video? It answers all your questions like FORD's program is designed use extra power where the ICE is more efficient and use the excess energy to charge the HVB.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

There is no algorithm to address a few too many pounds of the car and the driver. Reduce the weight and gain more mpgs.

Not sure how that has to with driving style, but removing weight will improve mpg's some. Improving aerodynamics will increase mpg's alot more like installing Grill and Wheel covers.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

Prius is at least 600 pounds less and it's mpg much higher. Even if you get eAWD. The point is you can do better with less size/weight without some special algorithms and driving style.

Prius is 3010lbs to 3220lbs and FEH is 3534lbs which is 314lbs to 514lbs just to be accurate. Someone interested in a 2020 FEH wouldn't be interested in Prius, to small. I still get better MPG's(53mpg's) than a Prius too without sacrificing the extra room.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

The FEH is a little lighter than CMAX FWD, but a little heavier 4WD. Weight doesn't make a big difference on level ground, but more so on hilly roads.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I'm looking forward to getting my FEHP in about 4 weeks and testing everything to get Max Performance using my ScanGaugeII.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

With the CMAX Hybrid I would try to discharge the HVB so I could use regen more going down hill. It may not be possible to fill up the HVB using regen in the FEHP.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

From Flagstaff to Sedona or Phoenix I would easily charge up CMAX HVB. I have family in AZ.

Paul

 

[ptjones]

I got the impression that high temps caused from charging the HVB and believe owners were using Level 2 chargers which heat up the HVB more. Here's what I'm doing.



1. Let HVB cool off for a couple of hours before start charging. Most of my charging has been at night when it's cooler.

2. I believe the HVB is being cooled when charging, and I'm using Level 1 charging which is slower 11.3 vs 3.5 hours which shouldn't heat up the HVB as much. I don't leave the HVB fully charged for an extended time.

3. I didn't use EV on my long trip and in EV later it only uses 2% of the HVB.

4. Once I put the Grill Cover on I will use EV to control temps if I need too on long trips.



Paul