Although 99.999% of the time I'm in L now (as a matter of personal preference and other factors), I found that I could always get the engine off in D. It's not quite a double tap though, instead, put some pressure on the brakes, let off some, then reapply the pressure. In other words, if the brakes had a meter, from 0-100, with 0 being no brakes, and 100 being all the way down, press down to 20 or so, let off to 5, then go back to 20.



It's funny, I "fake shift" as well, and have done so since day 1. Partially from habit, as I found in the old Explorer a similar phenomenon. I also did so for a time whenever I shifted from D to L, before the FEH Experience.

Lastly, for me, the best "situation" is expressway traffic jams, with moderate traffic/flow, but I also concur that moderate hills and falls are better than just flat land for expressway travel anyway.

 

Actually, you can restart the FEH in Neutral.

Here's the deal... it has to do with the powersplit / powertrain needing "resistance" to spin-up the ICE against.

If you key off in any gear position, and are stopped, or below 6 MPH, YES... the car must be shifted into park to re-start the engine.

However... if you are rolling, above 6 mph, in neutral, you CAN restart the engine on the go.

Try it. Make sure my car is not a fluke.

Also, here's a helpful tip:

If you shift to Neutral at a dead stop... in EV Mode, and are stopped for a long time ( such as waiting to pick up the kids after school, etc...) The FEH will not start the ICE FOR ANY REASON. Helpful if you don't want to waste gas just keeping the engine warm in very cold temperatures ( assuming you are warm enough yourself inside! )

The reverse is also true. If you shift into Neutral with the ICE running, the ICE will NOT shut down for any reason. So be aware of that also.

Regarding the radiator block and coolent temp. Remember, your coolent for both the engine, and electric motor are circuated by electric pumps, Separate and independant of each other. You actually do circulate coolent without the ICE running... one reason why you can mantain cabin heat while in EV mode.

-John

 

With all what we have learned from one another and Ford, I just filled my tank till it started to run over and my average was 44.32mpg. Had to fill up before the hurricane and long lines begin but this is Prius country I would think. Thought I was doing better than this but I can live with this number for now. Where I got killed was 4 days of cold starts. For those that use EV like I do, make sure you park it at night with a drained battery. The FEH will heat up faster using the generator in the morning.

A lot of my driving is with the cruise control. Here is another tip I use that helps set the cruise in EV. Set the cruise with the ICE running over 30mph (I do it at 35) and slowly speed up to 42mph, let off the gas and shift to "L". When you see the tach start to make the move to EV, shift back to "D" right away. Coast down in EV with no gas pedal for a smooth way to set the cruise at 30-35mph. This works for me till the ICE starts back up to charge the battery. I find at 35mph I get better mpg than at 30mph recharging. In 1.8 miles or you see the battery is filled on the energy screen, speed up to 42mph and repeat. You don't need to cancel the cruise unless you have to slow or stop. Remember to cancel it if you use "L" to slow you down because your not hitting the brakes so its does not automaticly cancel. I've lost alot of long smooth charges in "L" by having to hit the brakes hard because I forgot to cancel the cruise.

The last best tank I had was in April at 40.8mpg. The Low gear advantage added 3.52 mpg to my best average tank on the same routes with no A/C. I have increased my tire presure to 44psi from 40-41psi. A little of this tank I used the pulse & glide when I could. I used the fake shift more than I use to also. The computer average was reset when I filled up on this tank and for a while it stayed in the upper 50's mpg till the first warm up. It would drop fast in the morning between 42-43mpg and climb back to the upper 40's. I did a short drive and filled up today and the average stayed around 45mpg on the computer which I haven't reset from the last fill up.

Because of the very poor gas mileage you get during warm up on this 44.32mpg number, it could increase to what I thought I was getting which was over 50mpg. A long trip along the coast here and city driving could give me over 50mpg. My computer average stayed in the upper 50's MPG till I started needing to warm it up in the mornings. My test have showed with a warm engine that the MPG drops 20mpg slowly climbing to about 35mpg during a recharge cycle at 30mph. Looks like I'm going to have to do a reset with the battery drain in the morning (cold) and test this. A test with a full battery while cold might be a good idea also.

Gary

 

That's right. The engineer told me that they did this after getting feedback from testers. When people shift into Neutral, they expect nothing at all to happen. Of course there is no true, transmission disengaged, neutral in this vehicle, so they programmed it to do nothing (meaning nothing changes) when you shift into Neutral.

He also said there was actually a very tiny chance that if shifted into Neutral with ICE off, and the ICE comes on (if it had been allowed to), that there could be a miniscule amount of traction applied since the whole thing is technically in gear all the time. This would not be good, thus no changes in Neutral.

 

Hi All:

___You are all bringing a tear to my eye and I love it!!! Keep up these kinds of posts and everyone owning an Escape HEV will embarrass everything but other hybrids in the FE department! It is almost embarrassing knowing how some of you are punching out FE that a non-hybrid Corolla or Civic driver will never see let alone Focus’, Cobalt’s, and Neon’s no matter what conditions he or she may drive in!

___Truly excellent and I just gave this thread a 5 *!

___Good Luck to you all.

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Thanks very much Wayne.

A follow up on cold running the ICE. This morning I tested the mpg while the ICE was charging the battery cold. It was real bad. I reset the computer 15 min mpg average after start up and reset again at 30mph. When I got to 30mph I was at 12mpg. The average slowly got to 22mpg when the battery was full. The mpg then went to 30mpg after another reset. It was about this time I could go EV.

This test was without A/C and as I climb from 0-30mph, I was getting readings of 6, 7, 9mpg from the computer.

The outside temp. was 76 degrees F, so it must kill the FE in colder areas for longer periods times. I'm sure its that way for all cars also but they don't have a battery to charge in addition.

Question for AWD FEH owners. What is the highest speed you can get to in EV and can you use the cruise?

Thanks, Gary

 

Yep, it's that cold start up that really kills your overall average MPG.

In my AWD I've been able to get up to ~37mph in EV on a flat road. I've gone up to ~41mph with a slight downhill. Never tried the cruise in these situations though.

 

There are, of course, multiple RPM that will provide the required power output from the system. The computer is given the job of trying to decide the combination of engine RPM, throttle position and power routing that will provide the optimal economy/lowest emissions.

Your description makes perfect sense...you're flattening out your acceleration curve as you approach your target speed, so the reduced torque demand is responded to by a reduced engine throttle (resulting in lower RPM). The more interesting question is what is the load on the engine at that moment in time, and how power is being routed. This could be ascertained from the CAN bus data, since it reports the RPM of both motor/generators as well as the engine. It'd take some serious number crunching in real time, you'd basically be recreating the PCM in software.

 

It works but you won't stay in EV long. At those speeds you consume the battery fairly quickly.

 

Thanks very much Randy! I'm tring to find out if the AWD has that much of a drag to get to 40mpg plus. You have posted that 37mpg in EV can be had with the AWD FEH, this means from my experience and in my conditions you may can get a 40+mpg tank in EV/ICE repeat which can produce 60+mpg. I'm not saying you can get this, I'm stating a fact that my test in this mode in my conditions can get better than those results. We all know that the AWD get a little less mileage than the FWD.

Steve, I know you can't stay in EV mode long, but can you give me an estimate. I can say I will go one mile for sure, as much as 1.3 miles most of the time and 1.6 at best at 30mph in my FEH. The "low gear advantage" now plays a part for me. What is the best answer? Have you used EV mode in cruise for any amount of time? Mary Ann Wright said up to 20mph in EV recently, I think this is a cover your *** statement myself.

I respect that conditions play a part and I respect your opinion!

Thanks, Gary