I've only had my FEH for a week but I'm loving it a lot (reporting 0 MPG because I haven't even filled up yet!). I'm looking for advice on how to perform the 'double tap'. Yes, I did use the forum search and came up with a lot of references but even following the details in the FEH FAQ, I can't make it work. Do you tap with the left foot while keeping the right on the gas? How quick should the taps be? Would it make a difference that I have 4WD?

Some coaching, or a link to a thread I may have missed would be great.

Thanks,


Colin

 

If you are coasting under 40mph, tap the brake pedal twice. Not hard, just lightly, twice in about a second or two. The ICE frequently will stop after the second tap. Now if your battery SOC is low, or the engine is not warmed up, it will have no effect.

Quite useful if you are coasting up to a red light or traffic is slowing ahead.

 

Do not use gas as you're double tapping, and you should avoid it after for a few seconds until you're used to it, since it may take a second to register the double tap and go off from your point of view. The system must also be in a state to go ICE off; warmed up, sufficiently charged, and under 40 MPH.

As indicated in the FAQ, it should be in close succession, but not jerky, you can do it in about 3 seconds for both taps, or as little as a second or so. 4WD doesn't make a difference, as it's what I've got. If you do it too fast, it may interpret them as the need to stop right away, rather then as notice that the engine isn't needed.

 

I find it works more consistently when I am in "L".

 

Thanks all, somehow I hadn't realized it was for coasting.

 

I also find it hard to "double tap" to get the ICE to shut down. If you use "L" when you're faster than 40mph and let off the gas, the car will slow down (like engine braking) and the ICE engine shuts down when your speed just slow to 39-40mph. At that point I very gently re-apply the gas and hold it steady just enough to keep constant speed of ~38mph in all EV! The highest I can ever go pure EV is 38mph.

 

The EV mode does not work as well, as often, or as easily during the first 1,000 to 5,000 miles. Somewhere during that time, the car becomes "broken in" and EV will happen VERY often, sometimes when you are not even expecting it. Those with very new vehicles need to be patient!

-John

 

My MMH didn''t do this well until it had almost 9K miles. At that point it was just as if someone told the computer to drop into EV every time I slow down. It works exactly as described.

 

I think the highest speed I've been able to get away with in EV mode was around 45 mph on I-495 (Glenn may know the area) where I-270 joins the Capitol Beltway. If conditions are right, I can crest the slight hill and coast down to almost Conneticut Ave. The fun part is driving up into our parking garage in only EV mode. If done correctly, I can sometimes drive up 2 levels in purely EV mode. But to do so, the battery must be 100% charged and you have to basically allow the FEH to drive itself up the ramps with no pressure on the gas pedal.

 

The maximum speed for pure electric (battery) driving is 39.99 MPH.
As soon as you hit 40 MPH the gasoline engine MUST come on.

Try going faster than 40 MPH again in EV, and you should find it impossible.
Sometimes it is difficult to tell where exactly the needle is pointing, and the needle width itself is about 1-2 MPH.
You are going 40 MPH when the entire width of the needle passes the 40 MPH mark.