Battery Draining Quickly

[blinkstafoo182]

Driving on a flat highway around 65 mph the battery will come to about a 75% charge but will only go into EV mode once I am coming down a hill or I decrease speed. But once the car does going to EV mode it only last a couple of minutes and once the battery level hits around 25% the motor kicks back on and the battery begins to charge again.

 

I have a about a 45 mile commute every day and it seems to do this cycle as I am driving. Is this normal for the batter to drain down to 25% so quickly?

[keithsm2]

It should only go into total EV mode below 62 mph...( maybe 63 ) . Otherwise it will just assist .......and yes... if an assists lasts more than a minute.....i would say youre probably going down hill or some sort of low power demand environment.

[VonoreTn]

What year FFH do you have?

 

I am no expert on the 2013 hybrid, but from experience with my 2010 FFH, nothing you described seems unreasonable for the vehicle. I have learned in almost 4 years not to try to second guess the FFH computer, just enjoy the good mileage. After 75,000 miles I am still getting 40 mpg, with an overall average of 39.1. As others on this forum have explained more eloquently than I, your best mileage is not when you are in electric mode. Electric mode is actually less efficient than direct drive. Yes you are not burning any gas in that mode, but the extra conversion of engine to generator to chemical energy in the battery, back out of the battery to the electric motor is actually less efficient than direct drive of the engine to the wheels at a constant speed. The Volt hybrid demonstrated this phenomenon, as it is never that efficient with the engine only charging the battery. The biggest efficiency on the Volt is the first 25-40 miles on electric, because that first 40 miles only costs about $1.70 for the electricity to charge it.

 

Your biggest efficiency with the FFH is the computer doing a bunch of smart things, like recovering energy in most brake stops, keeping the engine loaded when it is on, which keeps the throttle plate open so you aren't wasting energy having your engine be a big useless vacuum pump. A diesel also keeps the throttle plate open under load. And the computer also is keeping the engine operating at it's most efficient rpm range. It does a whole bunch of other stuff too, too extensive for me to describe in detail or with sufficient knowledge, but in summary, just enjoy the ride, and the ingenuity of all the engineers who designed these vehicles. The FFH, the C-Max, and the Prius are the best hybrids out there.

Edited July 15, 2013 by VonoreTn

[hybridbear]

Driving on a flat highway around 65 mph the battery will come to about a 75% charge but will only go into EV mode once I am coming down a hill or I decrease speed. But once the car does going to EV mode it only last a couple of minutes and once the battery level hits around 25% the motor kicks back on and the battery begins to charge again.

 

I have a about a 45 mile commute every day and it seems to do this cycle as I am driving. Is this normal for the batter to drain down to 25% so quickly?

When driving on the highway the car won't go very far in EV Mode. The power demand is too high and the battery will drain quickly. Since our speedometers appear to be about 2 MPH off I've found that the cruise must be set at a minimum of 64 MPH to keep the car out of EV Mode. It will still sometimes engage EV Mode at 64 MPH because the Eco Cruise allows the speed to drop. Engaging EV Mode at highway speeds will drain the battery very quickly even on level ground. You're use less gas keeping the ICE on and the battery SOC high

[blinkstafoo182]

I have noticed that, I can be driving at 74 and be getting 40+ mpg, but when I drive 62 mph it will engage the EV mode for a mile or so but to charge the battery back up I only get around 25 mpg. I think I will just be keeping it on 75 mph ECO cruise for now on.

[acdii]

Set the cruise at 68, that seems to get me the best MPG. I also found that 2 bars on adaptive behind a tank truck or flatbed seems to get me into the 40's on the instant.

[clummus]

if I set the cruise at 68 I get 33 mpg

[acdii]

Get on the interstate, roll down the windows, set it at 68 and get behind a Tanker, or flat bed going 65 and go for about 100 miles. If you still are only getting 33, that car is broken. Driving like this for 100 miles should be getting you around 43.

[MXGOLF]

Well as you all know mine is broken and Ford won't do anything about it. Still crappy mileage compared to most here on the forum. :(

[milleron]

if I set the cruise at 68 I get 33 mpg

 

Do you mean that the instantaneous mpg gauge NEVER goes above 33 mpg at 68 mph or that you average 33 per refuel calculations on long freeway trips at 68?

It makes a difference, but I'll admit that regardless of which situation you're describing, it's not very good for a 2013 FFH. If it's the former, though -- never getting better than 33 on a level freeway with the HVB's SOC high -- then that is most unusual, and this amateur thinks that there's something afoul somewhere.

[milleron]

Well as you all know mine is broken and Ford won't do anything about it. Still crappy mileage compared to most here on the forum. :(

 

Mark, I feel for you; I've noticed some of your posts about this problem. Mine started out pretty crappy, but it's steadily improved over the first three months. Nevertheless, I still cannot really get close to what many posters here report. My best tank has been 44, most have been 40 or less, and my lifetime average is only 41.2 mpg. (I'd be happy with that, but it seems that I've contracted a bad case of mypermiling flu.)

 

So my question is: what are the variables? Where in the country are you? What percentage of driving is freeway? Suburban? City? How is the car loaded -- usually just you or usually full with a carpool? For example, I think that part of the explanation of my lower mileage figures is because about 80% of my miles are freeway, where it's difficult to get the EPA, let alone over it, whereas I suspect that many of the folks reporting averages of 46 or higher are driving mostly suburban roads where they can do a lot of cruising at 40-50 mph. The mix of driving conditions makes a big difference. Is there anything about your situation that's far from the mean?

[MXGOLF]

Milleron, I live in Beaverton Oregon a suburb of Portland. I use Chevron regular gas ( I understand we have crappy gas here in Oregon). Normally it's just me in the car going to work, the gym, the store. Mostly short trips. It's a bit hilly here, not mountain type hills just normal hills. Picked it up on January 2nd, 2013 when I ordered it in October. 4600 miles so far. It doesn't seem to charge the battery very rapidly and decharges very rapidly. I really think I got a bad set of batteries but who really knows. Where I live it seems like the battery is very low by the time I get home most of the time. Very rarely does she have a good charge when I park her. I am curious if the new software coming out for all the FFH's will change my mpg or not. I drive like an old lady compared to my previous car. I am sure I am driving it the way it's supposed to but can't compare it to any other FFH since I can't find one to drive. The weather is been awesome for the last few months so I thought the mpg would be picking up a bit but no maybe 1-2 mpg. I am still at 34 mpg lifetime. My best tank was 36.8 back in March on a trip to Grants Pass to see my buddy who was having surgery. 550 mile trip.

[Barsoom]

Start resetting your trip odometer at each fill-up. See what the ratio of ICE miles to EV miles is (ICE Miles = Total miles - EV miles). Don't worry about the regen miles, as I think that is already factored into EV miles. I get somewhere between 3:1 to 4:1, meaning the EV is on about 1/4 of the time.

 

I also live in a hilly area of the San Francisco East Bay. My commute to work is about 3.5 miles on a slow downhill. Going to worl, I've gotten 45 mpg. However, the return trip is a slight uphill where I get maybe 25 mpg. Currently, my lifetime MPG with 2,200 miles on the car is about 34.7.

 

I'm mostly a short-hop driver. I have noticed that on the occasional local highway travel (45 miles one-way), I get an average of 40-45 mpg.

[lolder]

Milleron, I live in Beaverton Oregon a suburb of Portland. I use Chevron regular gas ( I understand we have crappy gas here in Oregon). Normally it's just me in the car going to work, the gym, the store. Mostly short trips. It's a bit hilly here, not mountain type hills just normal hills. Picked it up on January 2nd, 2013 when I ordered it in October. 4600 miles so far. It doesn't seem to charge the battery very rapidly and decharges very rapidly. I really think I got a bad set of batteries but who really knows. Where I live it seems like the battery is very low by the time I get home most of the time. Very rarely does she have a good charge when I park her. I am curious if the new software coming out for all the FFH's will change my mpg or not. I drive like an old lady compared to my previous car. I am sure I am driving it the way it's supposed to but can't compare it to any other FFH since I can't find one to drive. The weather is been awesome for the last few months so I thought the mpg would be picking up a bit but no maybe 1-2 mpg. I am still at 34 mpg lifetime. My best tank was 36.8 back in March on a trip to Grants Pass to see my buddy who was having surgery. 550 mile trip.

If the car has learned EV+ mode and your home location, the HVB SOC will lower below normal as you near home. You can't have a bad set of batteries as the system would sense that. Reset your "lifetime" mpg. I'm pretty sure you don't have "crappy" gas in Oregon. Gas is very standardized and differs only in ethanol content and seasonal mixes unless some refinery has a problem which should never get out of the refinery. Awesome weather to a hybrid is HOT weather of 90+ deg. Max mpg is about there. Mpg. increases 0.2 mpg for every 1.0º F. Over 95 temperatures the AC starts to cut into the mpg.