Engage vs. Empower

[tx_traveler]

I've had my FFH for 10 days now... and love it.

 

For other FFH owners out there, which mode of the Smart Gauges do you use? I find I like the Engage (the one with the gas and electric output power) better than the Empower one. What am I missing? The Engage seems more useful to me to know where the power is currently coming from. How do you interpret the power on the Empower gauges?

[lrymal]

...How do you interpret the power on the Empower gauges?

I have never really tried to interpret anything, just that if the power gauge goes up, then I know battery propulsion will begin to hand off more frequently to the gasoline motor. And, no, I'm not turning off the air conditioning in the car this summer.

 

About the only thing different that I do is that I use the historical bar graph as opposed to the leaves.

 

Had a comical experience this morning. A friend rode with me and was watching the economy read out. The little trip was about five miles long, from the town bank to the local Wal-Mart.

 

I discovered only this weekend that this journey is only about a 1% decline on the road to the store. You really can't detect it while riding in the car.

 

Well, so off we go. The economy graph was pegged, for the most part, at 60 mpg. About five stop signs on the way. Battery had ample charging opportunities.

 

So, we arrive at the Wal-Mart parking lot. Traffic was a bit heavy, so I was driving under 30 MPH--all on battery. Found a spot to park and quit the system. We both looked at the average MPG.

 

It said 90 MPG! HEH. I thought that was funny. Now going back was another story. Had to go UP the inclined road at about 35 MPG. Well, that's OK.

[Oman]

At first I liked the engage better but now I prefer empower. Essentially I don't care about the power output of the motor or the generator. I care about the power demands of my foot and the accessories. These are the only things that will affect mileage. As well in empower you get a single gauge at a glance that tells you in a fairly simple manor a ton of information: Maximum Battery/motor power currently available for motive force, current power requested by conditions/operator, current operating mode, and how close you are to switching modes.

 

Jon

 

 

I've had my FFH for 10 days now... and love it.

 

For other FFH owners out there, which mode of the Smart Gauges do you use? I find I like the Engage (the one with the gas and electric output power) better than the Empower one. What am I missing? The Engage seems more useful to me to know where the power is currently coming from. How do you interpret the power on the Empower gauges?

[WPWoodJr]

I've had my FFH for 10 days now... and love it.

 

For other FFH owners out there, which mode of the Smart Gauges do you use? I find I like the Engage (the one with the gas and electric output power) better than the Empower one. What am I missing? The Engage seems more useful to me to know where the power is currently coming from. How do you interpret the power on the Empower gauges?

At first I liked Engage better because it seemed interesting to know what power I was getting from the electric vs ICE. But as I tried to drive for good mileage, I found the Empower to be more informative in terms of how much acceleration I could apply at any given instant without forcing the ICE on.

[cuehara]

At first I liked Engage better because it seemed interesting to know what power I was getting from the electric vs ICE. But as I tried to drive for good mileage, I found the Empower to be more informative in terms of how much acceleration I could apply at any given instant without forcing the ICE on.

 

Bill's right. When first starting out, Engage seems the most natural because the mode shows you how much the electric motor and ICE are contributing to your car's speed and acceleration. It gives you feedback somewhat like an RPM gauge, so it feels familiar.

 

But once you start working on your fuel economy, Empower's more useful. The green bracket gives you instant feedback, telling you how much you can push the pedal before popping out of electric mode. So while Engage is focused on how you're driving now, Empower is focused more on how you could be driving (your driving options). For example, can I push my acceleration a bit and stay in electric mode or should I opt to mash the pedal and get up to speed before easing off.

 

Depending on conditions, the FFH can accelerate well enough to keep up with traffic from a stop or a roll. In others, trying to stay in electric instead of using the pedal to engage the ICE will just jam up the cars behind you, and you'll probably end up using the ICE anyway as you start falling behind traffic.

 

Empower can tell you how to get good fuel economy without infuriating everyone driving behind you.

[WPWoodJr]

I've had my FFH for 10 days now... and love it.

 

For other FFH owners out there, which mode of the Smart Gauges do you use? I find I like the Engage (the one with the gas and electric output power) better than the Empower one. What am I missing? The Engage seems more useful to me to know where the power is currently coming from. How do you interpret the power on the Empower gauges?

I wrote about this here on my FFH blog. I've switched for the time being to Engage.