Interesting observation

[acdii]

I have been doing some experiments with ICE vs EV on some stretches of road in the morning and discovered I can get better MPG if I stay on ICE on some roads. Depending on the terrain if I let the car do its thing I can lose as much as 4 MPG,

 

Yesterday conditions were the same as today, so on this one stretch where I usually keep it between 55-60 and stay on ice with a 80+% SOC it will hover around the 40 MPG mark, so I had let the car go into EV and drove it like that all the way to work. I only managed to get 43.5. Today I forced it to use ICE for a good portion of the trip until I got to roads where I know cycling through ICE/EV gets the best, and returned a 47.

 

So in summary, sometimes staying on ICE is better than forcing it to use EV, if you can keep the state of charge at or above 80%, you can expect to see over 40 MPG from the ICE. This make me wish there was an option to turn EV off at speeds above 50 MPH and run solely on the ICE like the old fusion did. I always got great highway MPG in that one.

 

[hybridbear]

This is the theory that Jeff_h had a long time ago about highway driving above the EV threshold being better than highway driving below.

[GrySql]

It would be nice to force the EV drive mode off at certain speeds, my mpg's between 45-60mph are my worst area for local driving.

I do better on the highway at 68 than 55mph.

Having the HVB at 80% always gets me good mpg's with the ICE, less load on the ICE and the Atkinson does pretty well.

 

Unfortunately they make these cars for everyone, not just for those FFH techies who would remember to turn OFF the 'ICE Only' button.

Keeping track of manual devices to improve our mileage may prove too distracting for some drivers, thus the automatic ICE/Hybrid interface.

 

I also like that idea of B25Nut's that having a built in 110v battery charger plug for the hybrids would be very nice, image the LVB and HVB being at full SOC every morning.

Then, of course, I imagine seeing someone driving down the street with an extension cord flapping from the side of the car.

 

I understand the Prii have a small 'P' button that combines both the ICE and EV for situations that need maximum thrust, is that right?

My sister-in-law says she can beat a BMW onto the freeway on-ramp when she pushes that button, which I doubt. She even thinks her Prius V is pretty....

[jsolan]

I understand the Prii have a small 'P' button that combines both the ICE and EV for situations that need maximum thrust, is that right?

My sister-in-law says she can beat a BMW onto the freeway on-ramp when she pushes that button, which I doubt. She even thinks her Prius V is pretty....

 

My coworkers Avalon hybrid has 3 buttons. EV, ECO, and Sport. Sport is strictly ICE (plus tighter steering/suspension). ECO is normal use. EV seems like our EV+ mode in that it tries to stay in EV as much as possible. I'm not sure if all toyota's have the same options, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

I agree that it would be awesome if ford would borrow this idea and let "advanced" drivers more directly choose the mode they want.

[B25Nut]

I think that Ford has taken the right track by making a car for the masses. The vast majority of drivers just want a vehicle that you put into Drive and go. Setting the temperature and the source for audio entertainment are the only decisions they want to make. The average hybrid driver of the near future will not want to pick a driving mode. I totally trust the current software that tells the hybrid system how to deliver power in the most efficient way. There are some days it makes decisions completely different than the day before, but I know this has to be due to factors I'm not aware of. If I had the option of choosing what I felt was the best mode, I know that too many times I would lose tract and not switch to another mode when I should, which would cancel any efficiency increase.

All good engineered systems consist of compromises that when added together produce the best end results. The Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, which would have been my go to vehicle if the reviews of the FFH were not positive last year, has three selectable steering modes, a feature that has not received good reviews. It should have had one mode that was the best compromise for all conditions. This is what I feel Ford has done with their hybrid system.