Just bought my new 2014 Titanium Hybrid model and...

[corncobs]

I generally find that if I'm going a short distance (< 4 km) and the battery is less than half charged, the engine will be on for 100% of the trip at full power and my fuel economy can actually appear to be worse than that of a non-hybrid. E.g. today I drove 1.7 km to the grocery store and it reported a 10.5 L/100 km (22 mpg) consumption for the trip. However on a longer trip (e.g. my 19 km commute to work), there are more opportunities for the battery to charge and for the hybrid motors to actually do their job independently, and in those scenarios, I can actually beat the advertised fuel economy, especially if downhill driving is involved (I get 4.4-4.8 L/100 km on my downhill trip home after work, which is 50+ mpg!)

 

Also if your car is equipped with navigation, it'll gradually memorize your most frequent routes/destinations and activate "EV+" mode when it can, which basically increases the time it spends cruising on EV mode.

 

Just give it time, and maybe take a road trip, and you'll start seeing results. When I first bought my car, I reset the fuel economy reading and was averaging 7-8 L/100 km in mostly downtown stop-and-go traffic - this is actually hitting below 30 mpg. After shipping my car from Toronto to Vancouver, and a few weeks of mixed city/highway commuting, I started getting 5-6 L/100 km - now we're talking :)

True all the way as we have heard so many times > short trips kill your MPG. It's much worse when really cold or really hot.

 

One comment that's not true is that you need to have navigation for the car to recognize frequent locations for EV+. It needs to be enabled and then it will take some time.

[TonyHzNV]

True all the way as we have heard so many times > short trips kill your MPG. It's much worse when really cold or really hot.

 

One comment that's not true is that you need to have navigation for the car to recognize frequent locations for EV+. It needs to be enabled and then it will take some time.

OK, Corncobs, you got me again! HOW is it enabled? Or is that in some other thread? :)

[corncobs]

OK, Corncobs, you got me again! HOW is it enabled? Or is that in some other thread? :)

There probably is but EV+ is a bad search "word".

 

This here should also help ;)

 

Edited January 10, 2015 by corncobs

[TonyHzNV]

Thanks corncobs. There was a lot of good info in those YouTube videos! I would recommend them to everyone. There was a lot more there than the answer to my question of how to enable EV+ mode. Found that mine was already enabled. Good info on what the different screens are showing you. A "must see" for everyone. Thanks again!

[acdii]

CC has it right, its OK to start out using EV, like up to 10-15 MPH, I do it quite often, but switch to ICE as soon as you can and keep it at or just above the 2K mark. This method has worked best for me too. In suburban driving I consistently see 50+ myself. Too bad most of my driving is rural Highway. On those roads I try to keep it on ICE as much as I can and keep the battery level at max to stay in the 40 range.

 

In 35-45 MPH zones, I get up to speed on ICE then switch to EV and use as little as i can just to maintain speed, and switch to ICE is I need to pickup speed, and when the battery gets too low to maintain speed I keep it on ICE until about 75% and switch back to EV. When I drive the last mile and a half, its on 25 MPH roads, and I usually have a nearly full HVB when I start, and just use EV all the way to the office since leaving I have to climb a hill anyway which gets the battery charged up rather quickly.

[TonyHzNV]

CC has it right, its OK to start out using EV, like up to 10-15 MPH, I do it quite often, but switch to ICE as soon as you can and keep it at or just above the 2K mark. This method has worked best for me too. In suburban driving I consistently see 50+ myself. Too bad most of my driving is rural Highway. On those roads I try to keep it on ICE as much as I can and keep the battery level at max to stay in the 40 range.

 

In 35-45 MPH zones, I get up to speed on ICE then switch to EV and use as little as i can just to maintain speed, and switch to ICE is I need to pickup speed, and when the battery gets too low to maintain speed I keep it on ICE until about 75% and switch back to EV. When I drive the last mile and a half, its on 25 MPH roads, and I usually have a nearly full HVB when I start, and just use EV all the way to the office since leaving I have to climb a hill anyway which gets the battery charged up rather quickly.

I initially start out on EV then accelerate on the ICE at the 2K mark up to 45 - 50 depending on traffic then set the Eco-Cruise on. If I have to stop for a light or whatever, I will start out on EV, then hit the pedal a little to switch to the ICE and at 20 - 25 mph I will re-engage the cruise and it seems to automatically stay at or below the 2K mark while we accelerate back up to the previously set speed, then it will automatically switch to EV mode. Seems to work pretty well for me. Like I said before though, I'm still reading the tips and tricks and trying to glean as much info as I can from you guys, so I imagine it will take a while before I really get it all together, but it's fun and interesting at the same time learning this stuff! Thanks for the tips! ☺ OH and thanks to GrySql for all that technical stuff! Edited January 10, 2015 by TonyHzNV

[rowlj3]

 

 

Set the left screen to Empower. There will be a blue outline on the screen, that is the available "electric" you have to work with. It changes based on how the car is moving. As you get moving, a full blue bar will show up and it is based on the demand you are putting on it eg. pressing on the pedal. The secret is to keep the blue bar from crossing the top of the blue rectangle for as much as possible. It will always cross it at some point, but thats because the gas motor charges the battery. The more you can keep the car in the Blue, the less you will use gas to move.

 

Second, the white bar is the gasoline motors power demand, if you try to keep the white bar at or just above the second tick mark as much as possible, that is putting a low demand on the gasoline motor resulting in low fuel use. Don't fret if you need to get up to the third bar every once in a while, but most times you will be able to get up and moving with less than two and a half bars.

 

Those two things will get you driving the hybrid the way it was intended to be driven, that and staying at the speed limit or a few MPH over MAX. You won't get a ticket, you will be less stressed and you will save gasoline. Also, it seems to not like to be granny driven, but not high schooler driven...somewhere to the low side of that mix seems to be best.

 

After you figure out the correct technique, there are many tricks to optimize your driving style (anticipating hills and stops, regenerative braking, coasting, running at highway speeds with the battery fully charged, etc.) but those require that you really understand what a hybrid does.

 

Its not really that hard, its just different.

 

This is great stuff thank you. I've been doing all of this and noticed that my area is pretty hilly, so it's difficult to stay in EV mode for too long, but my average mpg has definitely risen closer to 40. Do you recommend a certain highway speed sweet spot? One thing I've noticed is since the car is so quiet even at higher speeds it feels like it's driving slowly (which I'm not means complaining about). Anybody else notice this?

[Easy Rider]

 

so it's difficult to stay in EV mode for too long,

 

One thing I've noticed is since the car is so quiet even at higher speeds it feels like it's driving slowly

 

It wasn't designed to stay in EV mode very long.......ever.

 

Yes, a large part of your perception of speed is tied to sound.

Kind of like your sense of taste being linked to smell.

[rowlj3]

 

It wasn't designed to stay in EV mode very long.......ever.

 

Yes, a large part of your perception of speed is tied to sound.

Kind of like your sense of taste being linked to smell.

 

What I meant was that since it's hilly it turns off almost immediately after it turns on. I know it's not meant to stay on for very long, but longer than 2 seconds, yes. But again, no complaints on it's performance for that reason.

[hybridbear]

I'm sure I'd love it except that (2) I wouldn't be willing to have that small a trunk.

It really isn't that bad. We are on a multi-week road trip right now in the Energi and we don't feel like we have any more stuff in the back seat than when we did road trips in the FFH.

[Easy Rider]

 

I know it's not meant to stay on for very long, but longer than 2 seconds, yes.

 

No not so. In some conditions, that is perfectly normal.

[mwr]

 

No not so. In some conditions, that is perfectly normal.

I find thqt is the normal way my FFH starts up from a stop. EV (for its low-speed torque) then ICE-only after ICE has enough rpms, which may take about two seconds. That's how the car feels "peppy" accelerating from a stop in spite of the smallish ICE starting at 0 rpm.

[rowlj3]

 

No not so. In some conditions, that is perfectly normal.

I agree. And one of those conditions is a hilly area! I didn't say it shouldn't be only staying on for 2 seconds, but that it's designed to be able to be on for more than 2 seconds. Which was a reply to your comment of "It wasn't designed to stay in EV mode very long.......ever."

Edited January 19, 2015 by rowlj3

[Easy Rider]

I didn't say it shouldn't be only staying on for 2 seconds,

Sure sounded like that to me.

Glad you clarified. :)

[Ram]

Just another thought, some may dispute. At the new miles on your car, and the cold of winter, the engine is still tight and break in my be taking a bit longer then in hot summer weather. Keep in mind that the ice shuts on and off so its total on cycle is shorter yet than a non-hybred car.

I would not be over concerned with it at this time. Just enjoy the car and keep learning the milage will get better over time. If not find the build date and see if it may need a computer upgrade. Can you get the car to run in EV over 70?

[Hybrider]

... Do you recommend a certain highway speed sweet spot? ...

 

... Can you get the car to run in EV over 70?

 

It is pretty much a proven fact that just about any car will get better MPGs at 55 MPH than it will at 65 MPH; better at 65 MPH than at 75 MPH, and so on and so on. It is basically just a matter of the physics involved which says that to keep a mass moving at a higher rate of speed requires more energy, and since it is not a linear increase in the required amount of energy for a given increase in speed, there is a reduced ROI for driving at higher rates of speed.

 

My experience is that the slower that you drive an FFH, the better the MPGs will be. From my empirical experience, I seem to get better MPGs at 35 MPH than I do at 45 MPH. And I also seem to get good MPGs at 25 MPH, but I have not driven nearly enough miles at 25 MPH to know whether I am getting better MPGs than I do at 35 MPH, since it is only 2/10 mile from the last major street to my home, which is 25 MPH zone.

 

So since 35 MPH is about the slowest I can drive and still get around in a decent amount of time, and without upsetting the other drivers around me even more than I already do, 35 MPH seems to be the sweet spot for me and my FFH, and in my particular driving conditions/environment.

 

BTW, I don't ever plan on driving over 70 MPH in my FFH, ever, even if the speed limit is 75, 80, or even 85, since I believe 70 MPH is plenty fast for any conditions, and much safer than any speeds faster than that. And at speed limits which are lower than 70, I rarely drive my FFH more then 3 MPH over the limit, and usually right at or below the speed limit these days.

[acdii]

My MKT gets better MPG at 63 than 55. That speed puts the engine RPM right at its peak.

[Easy Rider]

My MKT gets better MPG at 63 than 55. That speed puts the engine RPM right at its peak.

I've noticed that too but not sure of the exact speeds. It seems to use the battery more effectively right along in there.

I was amazed to see it switch to EV mode at that speed.......and stay like that for a few miles.

[Texasota]

I've noticed that too but not sure of the exact speeds. It seems to use the battery more effectively right along in there.

I was amazed to see it switch to EV mode at that speed.......and stay like that for a few miles.

I think Acdii is referring to his Lincoln MKT which I think is a conventional gas power train. But I could be wrong.

[Easy Rider]

I think Acdii is referring to his Lincoln MKT which I think is a conventional gas power train. But I could be wrong.

Yes, looks like it is.

That doesn't change my comment that I think there is a "sweet spot" about there with the FFH's too.

[acdii]

There is, but haven't found it in the FFH yet, I tend to do no more than 60 for the most part. I do remember that when I drove to MN with the family, it liked 65 better than any other speed.

[Errol Ikalina]

What is ICE that you guys are referring to?

[mwr]

What is ICE that you guys are referring to?

Internal Combustion Engine

[Errol Ikalina]

I realzed what it meant after I posted but thanks for the reply. Nice car by the way!

[mwr]

Nice car by the way!

Aren't they all :-)