28.3 mpg average in a 4WD SUV is far from bad. A year ago I thought I was having a great tank in my FWD V6 Escape when I got 23 mpg in perfect conditions on the highway.

 

Hi Stevewa:

___I concur with everything you said including your Escape HEV being the 4WD version but I have a problem with 2 of your statements:___I do not nor have I ever driven in the Portland area so maybe you are correct but I know Billy6 has and his 05 Insight is pushing an lmpg upwards of 20% > EPA highway. Most of his driving appears to be towards the East, not West which may help his mileage some vs. yours?

___Hypermiling can be achieved just about anywhere in my experience although I have not driven in the Pacific Northwest. I received some very nice FE while climbing and then descending Pikes Peak 2 summers ago in the MDX when loaded to the headliner. Extremely steep grades and dead slow crawls around gravel road switchbacks do not hamper a hypermiler that much

___A bit OT but here is our MDX at the top of the world



___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

I think trip length is the largest factor for me.

Frankly, going on a road with any significant traffic, the low-torque driving techniques just get you honked at by honked-off people. I will not make myself a target just to eek out a couple tenths more of an MPG.

 

Hi Stevewa:

___I loved the graphs! If they had the FE based graphing capability, it would be a keeper! How much again?

___In regards to honking or driving to slow, then drive faster but do not drive wasteful. Stay in the far right lane and be content with the slowest moving automobile ahead.

___I looked up Portland and many sites mentioned a 55 mph limit on most highways and some 65 mph limits on freeways w/ trucks still limited to just 55 mph? If so, your Escape HEV will do wonders at ~ 60 mph in the far right lane …

ODOT News

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Thanks Steve for those posts. My traffic gets bad with people all in a rush also but cannot be compared to what you have. A stop light with the defroster on can kill your mileage in addition. I had considered the AWD FEH but I don't travel in snow or ice and was more concerned with MPG. My routes and time have no restraints because of the type of work I do. I'm disabled with heart problems but make deliveries and pick up court transcripts in West Palm Beach for my Wife.

The choice is mine, I can take I-95 with the need of A/C or beach roads. I-95 mean drafting or slow lane at 65mph. Beach roads means 30-35mph @ 60+mpg with EV mode, ICE charging and repeat. Not many on those beach roads drivers care to speed passed a lady in a thong for some reason.

Very few on the road have a problem with me being in front of them because I use the electric boost to get to speeds when someone is behind me. Most people I leave in my dust. I use a truck in front of me some of the time as the problem for slow EV take off.
It is very easy for me to find a route that will give me the most MPG without being a pain to others on the road. I cannot stand a driver on the road with a cell phone in their ear not paying attention at the task at hand which is driving with the flow. My fake shift sometimes gets to get to be 10 shifts but I get no honks and save fuel and charge the battery more. Using the electric boost each time helps FE.

Without the A/C now, I am getting 45-50mpg with what Ray, Pravus, GPSman, Gillman, Wayne and you have offered to this and other forums. Also the Dearborn event has helped in ways they added to assuring me what we thought was the case and some new things.

Wayne, I've been using the pulse and glide after I posted and found more regen from the computer after in EV. I posted from memory but I find now that there is more regen after 40mph "L" shut down than I thought. It becomes a slight drag and must be part of the computer programing. The reason I can tell it is slight is the size of the arrow. It can come on or off at anytime.

In addition, this overcharge rev may not be from overcharge because I'm getting it even at lower battery levels now. More testing is needed. The computers are starting to have a mind of their own. I had to stop completly to force EV even more since the "L" thing. I've averaged over 50mpg these past few days without the A/C in 100 miles of driving. If my wife drives it, everthing will be down the drain.

Don't give up on your MPG people. We need to reduce our need for this drug called gas and oil. Hope everything is well.

Gary

 

1. The complete package with the enhanced Ford readouts is 379.95. That includes the USB-based scan tool (serial isn't fast enough for CAN which can go 1Mb/s on the high-speed bus), the base software plus the code to activate the vendor-specific data. A little more than I can justify at the moment, especially since I'd want to add-on the Toyota enhanced code as well, for another 99.95.

2. That's basically where I'm at these days, unfortunately there is no good answer for that 6.5 percent grade. If it were not for the terrain of my commute mileage would be a lot better, I'm sure. I typically get 45-47 in the Prius (2002) on the same route to give you an idea.

3. Oregon is still mostly 55 except rural Interstates which have parts 60 and parts 65. However the reality is we have a lot of CA and WA drivers through here (many of the WA drivers are ex-CA drivers) so the speed limits are all but guidelines. If you drive the limit here you often risk getting run over. I do get great MPG on longer trips on the freeways, however. I also did quite well on rural highways up and down the Columbia River Gorge.

 

Hi Gary G:

___It is time for you to start posting those tanks! Valedictorian status is sitting at 37.2 mpg after 5 tanks and now that it’s cooled off a bit in your locale, it is time for you to blow some of our pre-conceived notions about what the Escape HEV is or isn’t worth out of the water!

___As for the wife, I have considered a Prius II for mine in the relatively recent past knowing her one-way - 12 mile - 45 minute commute/nightmare but I also know she would not take advantage of the cars possibilities as she should. If someone comes up with a low cost, semi-LUX EV, she will be driving it because even she couldn’t screw that things efficiency up! Do I see an Escape HEV/Gen-II in her future

___Please keep us posted as to your future FE progress as there appears to be a few more Escape HEV secrets yet to be discovered!

___Stevewa, thank you for the details on the OBD SW. $379 is a bit steep indeed A student discount might help (if there is such a thing) as everybody has a student of some sort in the family.

___I hope you can find a more opportune route to allow your Escape to show you what its worth. Now that we are headed into winter temps, all of us north of the Mason/Dixon are headed for the troublesome time of year which doesn’t help … Just don’t give up because your Ford Escape is absolutely amazing around town and can hold its own even out on the highway! Let alone the fact it is a lot of fun to drive

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Driving back from the gas station tonight (about 2 miles) I ended up with 49.9 MPG :-)

slightly uphill overall, speed limits between 30-35 and light traffic. If I had not stopped for two red lights I could have kept it at MAX the whole time.

FWIW got over 30MPG on this tank (calculated) for the first time, 31.6 according to the computer. Reason == longer trips this time around. And about 1/3 of that with the wife driving four of her friends about town.

 

Hi Guys...

I spent about an hour catching up on 1 week's worth of posts. You guys have been busy!

I would like to say that I can second ( concur ) with everythinig Gary has been saying. I do the same with similar results. And since I spent some time with Wayne, I know a bit better where he is coming from, and what he is asking.

The "pulse & glide" is a viable option in the FEH. However, I feel due to it's nearly 4,000 pound curb weight, larger tires, higher stance, and much greater CE'f of drag, the "glide" portion will be much abbreviated compared to the Prius.

Notes in regard to various posts from the last week:

I've gone back and forth between "D" and tapping twice ( or just continuously lightly dragging ) the brakes and using "L" to "encourage" EV at 40 MPH. I'm inclined to say "encourage EV" ( ICE shut-off ) because there is truly no way to "force" ICE off ( except key off ).

"L" works 99% of the time to have ICE shut off at 40 MPH.
( When engine coolent is over 59'C threshold... cardboard radiator block anyone? )

"D" and tapping brakes twice at 40MPH works about 60% of the time (for me) at 40 mph. I belive this is due to my human error... and not being able to repeat the exact speed of tapping every time. There seems to be a "best way" and that is hard to do every time. Kind of like double-clicking your mouse... takes practice at first, but may become second nature over time. Right now, I prefer to use "L" since it takes human error out of the equation, and presently, is more consistant.
I can rely on "L", I can't rely on consistant pedal presses.

"D" and just continuously pressing the brake pedal slightly works about half the time to shut down the ICE at nearly 40MPH. But this seems to take a few seconds longer than the "L" technique. Even though it takes more seconds to create ICE shut down, the loss in MPH is about the same ( or maybe less! ) than the "L" technique, since regen is very mild.

The downside to pressing the brake in any case is the brake lights come on, and bother (confuse?) those behind you. Here is my shot at reverse psychology..... When your brake lights come on, people are aware you are slowing down at a strange place in the road, and get angry or annoyed. I find people changing lanes and going around me when I use brake lights. When I use "L" to slow, and cause ICE shut down... NO BRAKE LIGHTS... and people don't go around me at all! My guess is... without the brake lights, they can't really tell if I am slowing down, or they are speeding up! ( Relativity anyone? ) And since there are NO BRAKE LIGHTS... they sub-conciously assume they are speeding up! So they just back off the gas, and slow down to match my speed without thinking about it! ( saving them gas in the process, btw....)

Just my take on it... but hey... it works in my town... so if it ain't broke....

Also... I found Gary's mention of "fake upshift" amusing.



This is amusing because I have been doing this, and have noticed some sort of similar phenomenon for some time.

Here goes:

Accelerating from a stop to highway speeds... say 0-65... takes about 2200 RPM to do it at a reasonable rate. I've noticed when I do this, and keep pedal position constant, that is... keep RPM at 2200 for the entire ramp up to 65 MPH.... when I reach 65 MPH... the RPM stays close to 2200 RPM.

HOWEVER.....

If once I get to 65 MPH, I back off the pedal all the way, let RPM drop to the lower teens... then slowly apply pedal pressure again... I can MAINTAIN 65 MPH at a lower ( say 1800 ) RPM.

I know what the mechanics out there are thinking... ( Steve? ) There is only one power output ( expressed as RPM ) that is possible to maintain constant speed under constant load. However, once again, I am reporting what I have seen happen visually, countless numbers of times.
I am not reporting the why.
Like I said before, this car does not "play" with a conventional set of rules.

FWIW... The best fuel economy is possible in hilly terrain. NOT FLAT.
However, the hills need to be in areas where you can safely travel 40 MPH... not at highway speeds so you can use EV.

In hills, I've gone over 7 miles in EV at close to sustained 40 MPH.
The only reason why my EV was cut this SHORT was my engine cooled below the temperature threshold in 10 minutes of EV driving.

Even over Interstate 70, over the continental divide of Colorado... at sustained 65 MPH.... I get better fuel economy by at least 3-4 MPG than over the flat areas... Yes, high altitude and thinner air is also involved... but less 02 = fewer horsepower on the way up also... which now that I think about it... maybe a side effect of fewer HP is better mileage!?!? I know... counter-intuitive... but so are most things in this car!

It's late, and I feel I'm rambling on now... Take Care all, and lets post these huge numbers on GH. ( My last tank, 50% City ( under 40 MPH ) and 50% Highway ( 65 MPH) netted an average of 45.x MPG. My best tank yet. For the record, I can maintain 45 MPG consistantly with the "L" technique in town, and can keep the 45 MPG over the interstate at 65 MPH with the aid of an 18 Wheeler 2 car lengths in front of me.

-John

 

If you were to use the key to shut off the ICE, is there any way to get it restarted again? The key will only start the ICE if the gear selector is in park. Anyone find a workaround for this yet?

If the radiator were partially blocked, would the engine have to run more to let the water pump work more to keep the temp within the normal range? Guess you would have to experiment to find the perfect size obstruction....

And regarding the fake shifts, one of the first things I noticed in this car is that the pedal (at least during heavy acceleration) seems to corellate a particular position with a certain RPM. Unless I really need to get to highway speed quickly, when accelerating onto the highway, I get the car moving with about 1/2 pedal. Once moving along, I pull it back to no more than 2 grand. It does really work like something I learned forever ago from one of those Shell gas station handouts about saving gas - get the car moving and let off the pedal to get into higher gears sooner. Like anything else, it takes more power to GET it moving than to KEEP it moving.

As far as the different engine speeds for the same vehicle speed, attribute that to the CVT and the power split. Even the owners manual mentions that phenomenon. I am still amazed by how the power split is applied.....

My current tank was killed last weekend driving around at work in all the rain - windshield wipers, defroster, headlights and lots of running between job sites had me down around 33. Even with the cooler temps, I have got it back up over 36 for the tank.....