I just got back from a long trip back and forth to Las Vegas and discovered something I'd like to share with you all. While in low gear, it is possible to coast (ie not charge the battery) so you do not slow down as much. All it takes is a very soft touch of the accelerator. I was able to make it charge a little less or not at all depending on the amount of slight pressure.



Doing this, I was able to go all the way down a 12 mile grade mostly without touching the breaks, yet still range in speed from 5 MPH to 50 MPH (the speed of traffic). Before I realized this, I was pressing slightly more on the accelerator using the battery more.



I also noticed on the fuel economy screen, that when the battery was full, and needing to have more "engine breaking" that power would flow from the motor to the engine, yet the engine wasn't highlighted (running).



When it takes 8 hours to drive 240 miles, it nice that my car can teach me more about itself....like, I learned that stop and go at 10 MPH yields horrible gas mileage once the battery is drained (ICE comes on to charge the battery often), slowing and going from 15 - 30 mph gets great mileage (ICE comes on but you're not stopped, so fuel is being used more completely I assume), and it's interesting to see the ICE come on just to cool the battery (lots of EV use, coasting downhill, battery full, ICE comes on).

 

There are several discussions regarding the use of L in the FEH.

I use it almost exclusively and have found, like you did, that these cars can be controlled very well using just the right pedal. I drive quite a bit on semi congested roads so this technique really comes in handy.

One thing that may catch you off guard using this method....sometimes when the battery is completely charged and you are regenerating to slow down, the engine may spin up to 3-4000 RPM for a few seconds. This is normal and is doing it (with fuel supply off) to burn excess juice that the batteries don't want. It has surprised (okay, alarmed) many of us.

Read some of the other threads on this topic - some good reading there.

By the way, welcome.

Ray

 

Hi Dandersen:

___Have you heard of or read the thread called The Low Gear Advantage by Gary G and an excellent supporting cast of Escape HEV enthusiasts nationwide? Nitramjr included! Not only do you have a non-Regen based coast, you have even more which should you boost your FE to places you are not going to believe

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

I did indeed read that thread, although it was before I bought my Escape. I guess I left out that by using just low gear I would slow too much, then need to accelerate, and that presumably some energy is lost in the back and forth conversion. So by leaving it in L but causing the vehicle to coast freely instead of using battery power you use non of the stored power. Perhaps that was all stated in the article.

 

I'm going to be a complete and total jerk for a moment, so I'm apologizing beforehand. (Bear with me, I'm just really irked at the moment, but I'm back to normal after this brief sidetrack.)





Once again, I apologize.

As Ray mentioned, there are a number of threads about this very topic, including at least 2 on the first page of this forum. While we're glad that you have a FEH, experiment and learn about it, and are sharing what you've learned/observed with us, at the same time, a quick search shows 61 threads about this, 6 in this forum. I don't mean this as an insult, just that in light of the fact that you even mentioned that you read one of the more recent discussions, the L gear advantage, makes this thread seem extremely redundant.

I don't want to disuade you, or insult your intelligence, and I look forward to further contributions and your FE to improve, but at the same time, it's a bit like asking someone to name different colors, someone says red, then you say red. It's just not helpful. I have little doubt that if we had a forum mod, this would be locked for that very redundant reason, and because it's bad netiquette.

Okay, I got that out of my system (I'll admit, it's something of a pet peeve of mine), and I once again apologize. Moving on:

Welcome! Glad to see you got a FEH, you're happy with it, and you're having fun learning! Welcome to the club, you'll probably find that over the next 3000 miles, you're going to learn more about it than it will learn about you, but don't worry, you can get some fantastic MPGs that way! I suggest that if you haven't, you do a search, several of us (myself included) have written brief guides about how to get great MPGs, some may be really new to you, and others may be common sense. Also, don't worry about your MPGs that much, you've got to break in, and it's got to break in, so there's a pretty big learning and comfort curve there. (Take my second tank at 29 MPG to a recent 34.7 MPGs)



Yep, this is known around here as a powerless coast. Most of the L gear fans love using this combined with experience about when to let up to come to a stop without using their brake lights (Myself included). Also, you don't have to worry about double tapping or riding the brake in to a ICE off coast in.


Yep, that's overflow spilloff. The battery software tries to keep it at 50% charge all the time, and when it gets around 75% charged, it will spill off that energy, especially if you're slowing down/stopping. (And you may want to be careful, if you're coasting in and it does it, there may be a slight acceleration jump.)



It doesn't matter, you're going to get poor MPGs whenever the battery needs to recharge. However, the slower you go, and the longer you're stopped, the worse it will reflect in your FE display.




I'm not sure I follow you there, but really, it's coasting that the vehicle really shines, especially if you have a flat nice surface to drive on, you can put the CC on (around 47 MPH) and watch those numbers go up! Some slight hills can result in even better MPGs as well, especially those downhills!

Quote:

and it's interesting to see the ICE come on just to cool the battery (lots of EV use, coasting downhill, battery full, ICE comes on).

Actually, the battery has it's own air conditioner and heater that it uses itself to cool off, and prefers room temperature. The ICE was probably coming on for other reasons. (Warming up transfer mechanisms, battery spillover, battery recharge, power demands, etc.)

Enjoy! Feel free to ask questions (just not the questions already being asked in current threads in new threads ), and "get involved" here at GH.

 

Maybe it's time for a FAQ sticky in each vehicle forum so that key information can be easily found.

 

Great idea! This type of thing is incredibly common on tech user/support forums where it's not uncommon for the same questions to be asked several times a day. In fact, some require you to go through some steps before even posting, and prefacing your post with "I've followed steps 1, 2 and 3 but didn't find an answer so..."

I understand the enthusiasm and eagerness to gain/share experience as a new user, but I also understand the frustration as a long-time user and daily forum visitor (on many forums for different interests). When I see repetitive postings it gets frustrating because it just takes extra time to filter through them, or re-post what's already been stated... and you start thinking that this person could have found a wealth of info on the topic in a fraction the time it took to type their message by just searching the forum.

OK, that's enough of my ranting. Pavus Prime must have triggered something. Please don't let this discourage any of you newbies (or anybody for that matter). This is such a great resource because ALL of us are here to contribute.

Adding onto the idea of a sticky post with a FAQ, I noticed that in the Learn section of the site there isn't really a whole lot of info. And what is there isn't this type of useful hands-on info. In fact, I think Jason is trying to get more content for that area (offering payment for articles) so maybe somebody with the time and motivation might want to put together an article (or articles) on specific FE techniques. All your source info is right here waiting to be compiled!

 

Don't worry, nobody discouraged me from participating in the forum. I do know what you mean about seeing the same things over and over in forums and I apologize for that. I think it would be great if there was a sticky FAQ that had things Pavus Prime said. Even reading through all 6 pages of posts in this forum I still don't recall saying all he said.

P.S. I'm re-reading the last pages of the Low Gear Advantage thread, since it certainly has grown since I first read it.

 

I think part of my frustration about this is that I've already mentioned it to Jason, way back in September.

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...&highlight=FAQ

I'm thinking (Should I find the time) to just go ahead and write the FAQ myself (Or with some volunteers) and post it here.

 

'bout the time he moved to Texas, started college, evacuated for the hurricane and no doubt started experiencing some of the finer cultural activities found in and around a college campus.

I think we are all getting our money's worth.....