After the PCM software update/recalibration - observations by Hybridbear

[Eddie Sessum]

In ev+ I can floor my car when it's warming up and it will run ev at full power and barely give any ICE assist. I do understand how it keeps it idling but killing my charge than when I leave in the morning refuse to charge for about 1/2 mile and drain the battery to nothing almost. If it's almost dead when I start it will give me gas assist I guess because it doesn't want to completely kill the battery

[acdii]

Drop to L, then back to D. It goes into normal mode then.

 

My observation, it made driving easier. After driving the Flex last week, I thought I would do poorly today. My brake score did, but 45 and 48 were my trips today.

 

Here's the best part. I didn't try, it just happened.

[milleron]

I guess it's the time of year to turn EV+ back on and get the firmware update. I've had EV+ off over the summer, because it's been plenty warm enough to keep the ICE off when leaving home in the AM. From here on out, probably not.

 

So far, I've seen some owners claiming better economy after the PCM update and some noticing little difference, but very few reporting worsening economy. I was very leery of getting new firmware that would allow EV mode at speeds above 62 mph, but it seems to be working well for most people.

[hybridbear]

If you want to be able to leave home with a high SOC disable EV+.

EV+ is doing the opposite of what you want.

 

I wouldn't disable EV+ for that at all. Your overall mileage will drop.

 

The point of EV+ is to charge when you are getting close to a place where the car "rests" often, and subsequently cools. Since the ICE has to run when you leave those places to warm everything anyway, you might as well have low SOC state and allow the warming run time to charge the battery as well. If you have high SOC charge, you will just be topping it to the extreme or wasting energy.

 

This will be particularly important as the weather cools and the engine takes longer to warm. This morning it was 48 when I left for work and the batter was nearly full by the time I could go into EV mode at all. Imagine what it will be like when it is below freezing.

I decided to disable EV+. As I've gotten better at learning how to drive the car and how it works, especially understanding the warm-up stages and understanding where the ICE is most efficient I realized that EV+ was hurting my MPGs. When I first start out driving with a cold engine I now carefully control when the ICE comes on for the first time. Since I skip Stage 1a (the most inefficient warm-up stage) using the procedure outlined in the link above I don't want the ICE to come on to warm up where I know I'll be stopping again soon and having it run while idling. With EV+ turned on and a largely depleted battery at the end of trips I was often only able to go a block or two before acceleration would make the ICE come on. Now I can carefully plan and sometimes accelerate quickly to get the ICE on right away to warm up and other times I can go more than a half mile in EV before the ICE comes on the first time. I also want the ICE to come on at the end of my trips too. When I turn onto the road where our apartment is and accelerate back up to 25-30 MPH I want the ICE to come on momentarily rather than draining a lot of power from the HVB or having to accelerate slowly. That energy is better used when I leave the next time to coast farther down the road before the ICE comes on the first time.

 

I think that for the masses that don't understand how the car works the EV+ feature probably helps improve their MPGs. But for many of us on here who have come to have a deeper understanding of how the car works then I think EV+ actually hurts MPGs. In the Fuel Economy Tip List thread I talk about how once we understand how the car works and when ICE operation is most efficient and when EV operation is best we can, as the driver, do a better job than the car's computers. Since we can see the terrain ahead, the traffic flow, the weather, etc we can make smarter decisions than the car can on its own since the car is lacking knowledge of those factors.

 

For those reasons I disabled EV+ after having left it on for the first few months.

[acdii]

EV+, weird, but it kicked on in Harvard on a stretch I seldom ever drive on, and at least a mile and a 1/2 past the dealer.

[murphy]

EV+ is very unpredictable. The only location it has learned is my house. I eat breakfast every Wednesday morning at the same restaurant with people I worked with before we all retired. It's been 5 months and it hasn't learned the location.

[rvlasek]

How is EV+ turned off????

[murphy]

How is EV+ turned off????

It's in the left screen setup menus.

[dalesky]

EV+ is very unpredictable. The only location it has learned is my house. I eat breakfast every Wednesday morning at the same restaurant with people I worked with before we all retired. It's been 5 months and it hasn't learned the location.

I thought it had something to do with close by locations, i.e. within 15 or 20 miles of 'home'.

[murphy]

I thought it had something to do with close by locations, i.e. within 15 or 20 miles of 'home'.

EV+ kicks in about a quarter mile from a remembered location.

In any event the restaurant is 10.5 miles from home.

[hybridbear]

EV+ is very unpredictable. The only location it has learned is my house. I eat breakfast every Wednesday morning at the same restaurant with people I worked with before we all retired. It's been 5 months and it hasn't learned the location.

Going somewhere once a week is not enough to learn EV+. EV+ requires 11 key cycles at a certain location within a certain period of time. Going somewhere once a week for 11 weeks doesn't seem to cut it. We found that even places we go twice a week don't get saved as EV+ but that places you go three times a week or so is good enough for EV+.

[MaineFusion]

Going somewhere once a week is not enough to learn EV+. EV+ requires 11 key cycles at a certain location within a certain period of time. Going somewhere once a week for 11 weeks doesn't seem to cut it. We found that even places we go twice a week don't get saved as EV+ but that places you go three times a week or so is good enough for EV+.

I suppose this is so that dealerships don't end up on the EV+ list.

[hybridbear]

Now that the weather is turning colder I had my first chance to see the improved cold weather operation today. Leaving work this afternoon to run some errands the outside temp was 50^oF and the coolant temp was 10^oC (50^oF) according to ET Mode. I've already commented about how the ICE will now shut off at colder temps since the PCM update. What I discovered new today is how turning the heat on affects MPGs after the PCM update.

 

Before the update you could watch the coolant temp display on your MyView screen to see when the ICE would stay on to make heat and when it wouldn't. If the coolant temp dropped below the lower line on the display the ICE would not shut off if the heat was on. This line corresponds to approximately 55^oC. Today I waited until I began accelerating onto the freeway to turn on the heat. When I reached my cruising speed the coolant temp was only 55^oC. It didn't impact the ICE at all and the ICE immediately began to shut off normally. The peak coolant temp on the short 4-5 mile sprint on the freeway was only 61^oC. While I took the freeway to go from work to my destination since I was going opposite of rush hour, I decided to take the city route home to avoid freeway traffic and to see how the heat would do in the city where I get 65-75% of my miles without the ICE running. After running my errand I got back in the car and the coolant temp was only 51^oC according to ET Mode. I turned the heat on right away before I took the car out of Park to see what would happen. Miraculously the ICE didn't turn on and I felt hot air blowing out of the vents. As I began to drive the coolant temp dropped down to 49^oC with still no ICE turning on. I wanted to see how low it would get but the HVB got too low so the ICE came on to charge the HVB. The entire trip home the coolant temp never got above 57^oC with the heat running the entire time taking the city route. Last winter the ICE would have not shut off with those coolant temps. This is a good sign for this winter.

[corncobs]

I have made similar observations there is definitely an improvement how the PCM handles colder temps and heat.

[acdii]

Oh you city slickers! My ICE comes on as soon as I leave my driveway, no matter what the temps are. :) Will be interesting to see how long the ICE runs before going to full EV once temps are under 30*. Think I will get the scangauge moved to the car once I get new grill covers made and installed.