Art of War FFH Edition - Collective tips on how to get the most MPG out of your new FFH

[TomCinMI]

How does acdii do this? By continuing to accelerate, until going faster than 70mph?

 

You & corncobs aren't the only ones who'd care to see acdii expound on that. We all know that our owner's man's are chockful of "CYA" disclaimers about minimizing "hands off the wheel & eyes not on the road" "tricks"; I'm not paranoid, & realize that mfr liability-management tends to err toward excess, but apparently I am inclined to give those safety recommendations more weight than quite a few others. In the Navy & in healthcare, safety has been rather drummed into me, which I can't say that I regret. The commendable point of SYNC is to minimize distractions, & my sense is that we ought extend that to not frequently gazing down at power-demand bars--to say nothing of allowing out minds to continuously be doing the computing of, well, the computers; as we know, bluetooth doesn't come close to eliminating all distractions from a phone conversation, & the same principle is in play here. Surely several of the driver-intensive hybriding tactics were more applicable to Prius Gen-1, etc., before the vehicles' computer modules had become so sophisticated.

 

I can relate to corncobs, in that, as I said in my post immediately before acdii's, there's an "ECO" in ECO Cruise for a reason: working to maintain precise speed while climbing a hill is inefficient. Now, if, as acdii seems to say, at highway speeds EV is basically only allowed to kick in very briefly, upon cresting a hill, how the vehicle is kept from going into a forced-EV status, so as not to overcharge the HVB, is beyond me--& if the system doesn't do that, the batt isn't optimized. Also, while we get more miles out of the HVB at lower speeds, the fact remains that if we're effectively battling against the vehicle to stay outa EV on the highway, by definition we're losing almost all of the "60+" on those stretches of road (which happens nowhere w/ the ICE). There's additional sound basis for the vehicle, under certain conditions, simultaneously--& automatically--supplementing the ICE w/ the motor. I'm inclined to rest corncobs' case about achieving 43-ish MPG w/ ECC, as compared to acdii's 44-ish, w/o all the gymnastics and distraction.

 

Along these same lines, I note that so far, no one has contested (or concurred with) my lengthier original post preceding acdii's. Maybe for some, "enjoying the ride" necessarily includes hyperanalysis & considerable glancing down, which would be OK, if not for the safety aspect.

Edited June 21, 2014 by TomCinMI

[mwr]

I suspect that we should tend more toward letting the comprehensive, synergistic aspects of the vehicle to do their thing(s).

I don't have an FFH yet, but I do have an opinion which I reserve the right to change :-) I drive my current car, and intend to drive the FFH if and when I get one, to satisfy my driving habits and intention and let gas mileage become whatever it is. That said, I got 150K miles on the original brake pads and rotors on my current car, so some of my habits will probably fit well with getting good mileage with an FFH. I drive whatever speed I desire at the time and let gas mileage be whatever it is. I use cruise control to maintain speed, including up and down hills, and dislike driving near other cars that gain and lose speed on highways. I think cruise control that maintains speed closely makes it safer for everyone. So I'm firmly in the camp of drive the car for enjoyment and safety and let gas mileage be whatever it is (which is also great in an FFH)..

[lolder]

I think Ford ought to "undo" that software change that upped the max EV speed. On the whole I think it may have made highway mileage worse.

[acdii]

OK for those who want to know, I used to drive an 18 wheeler, and for those who have a Class A CDL you will know this. It becomes second nature to scan the dash periodically. It is a Must Do when driving a big rig since you need to maintain constant watch on air supply, oil pressure, water temp trans temp, etc.

 

When I am driving, I have my foot lightly resting on the gas pedal in such a way that just a wiggle of my big toe can change it from ICE to EV and back. It is something that takes training and practice to know exactly where to place your foot on the floor and pedal. I accelerate to speed, 55-60, and found 60-63 is the best speed at which to maintain this at, at 2 KW or so, once I reach my speed I lightly, very lightly back off until the instant creeps up and keep a watch on the battery SOC. Once it reaches the 80 or so mark, I start to very lightly back off the gas until I maintain speed at the lowest possible KW on Empower while keeping it well above the EV threshold. At this point I am over the 40 MPG mark and climbing.

 

A quick glance at Speedometer, then Empower and back to the road every so often to maintain it. If I see MPG drop, and speed go up I back off a wiggle until it settles, if I see the speed go down, I wiggle more gas. The peddle is very sensitive to inputs and just a slight wiggle is all it takes. I have gotten to the point now that I can go long stretches with NO charge/discharge on the battery gauge, its all ICE propulsion. I see it hitting 60 MPG at that point.

 

Wind and rain can impact this a bit, but even then I am seeing mid 40's. There is one stretch of road where it is gradual up hill and mostly down hill, I still use very little EV going down, I pulse up to 63 on ICE and glide down to 55 on EV so when I reach the flats again I still have a high charge. It is a simple technique, but hard to learn since it takes a lot of practice to get your foot just right, but once you find that sweet spot, it becomes so easy tht after a while it is second nature.

 

I can tell you my eyes are not locked onto the dash at any one point, glance, down, glance up, glance down left look up is all it takes. I also have very good peripheral vision, so it is really easy for me to do this.

[TomCinMI]

Thanks, acdii. Being honest here, even if what you describe somehow allows for healthy exercise of the HVB, what little I might gain in fuel economy, & what lot I'd be losing in enjoyment of a beautiful vehicle, wouldn't make all of that worthwhile for me. Assuming that you're happy, though, more power to ya.