OK I am new to this forum (long time owner of FHE - 15K miles) and have read most of the treads on 'Low Gear Advantage' and others but for the life of me I can't see - nor had happen - what is alluded to many times of using L, let up of the accelerator at < 40 mph and the cycle turns to EV. Am I reading something wrong or is there something I am missing. Also I have somewhere heard about using the brakes (double pump?) to force the car into EV.

If anyone can - and from reading all the post there are plenty out there that can - please pass along some of things - probably OLD - hints and suggestions to some of us who are new these post and want to glean a little from the past so that we can catch up on the best ways to get the most out of our FEH.

Most of my driving is short distance, always seems that when I have to stop at a light it is on a uphill start. I try and stay in EV as much as possible but most of the time the light holds just a little to long and the battery goes low and the ICE has to kick in to recharge.

Thanks - Phillip in Georgia

 

I'll answer you here, instead of in the L gear thread.

I'm not sure what you're missing for the L shutoff. After the engine is warm (and will go into EV mode), Driving around forty mph or below, when you see a red light or a stop or whatever ahead, giving yourself plenty of room (since you're going to coast in, but a slowing coast) let off the accelerator. (If you regularly drive in D, then shift [It won't hurt] into L and let off the pedal) Usually by the time you've slowed to 35ish MPH (from 40), your engine is off, viola! This is automatic, so really the only learning involved is when to shift into L or take your foot off the pedal if you're already in L to get to a near stop where you want to, so you can coast in ICE off to any stop from quite the distance away.

Now, in D, you can get the engine to go off (once warmed up) under 40 MPH by using the double tap, or hitting your brakes twice. I found that I can always get the engine off in D; It's not quite a double tap though as two seperate taps, 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. Engines off, EV cruising you go. Now, the double tap will probably take practice, to find what combination works for you and your vehicle to get it ICE off.

 

Phillip; I think your best bet for this kind of information will be (xcel) he is "IMO" one of the best on these Threads/Postings to explain that to you.

You can look on the different threads and you will see his name and possibly (PM) him and see if he will reply. Look up this Thread;
Under Honda Civic Hybrid Forum

RE:"Tabelno takes the Gloves off"w/hisCVTbasedHCH-P&G;-)
xcel is Post #11 on that Thread; Good-Luck !!!!

HTH;

Terry

He post alot so it should not be hard to find him and his post are almost always about FE in some form or fashion if you will. Good-Luck

 

Hi Tiger Honaker:

___You give me way too much credit. Pravus Prime is a very qualified Escape HEV hypermiler and knows the ins and outs of the FEH to a tee. I still like GaryG’s D to L for ICE-Off (40 and below) and back to D on the tach bounce just before ICE-Off but I did not know about that exacting technique in my few hours behind GPSMans’ Escape Hybrid a few weeks ago. Just the simple D to L and then feather for ICE-Off EV to a lower speed target before ICE restart on the packs low SoC restart and recharge.

___VietVet67’, how many miles are on your FEH and what kind of distances do you drive? The FEH does not really reach this ICE-Off/EV in just 2 or 3 minutes from leaving the garage or especially if it’s cold. The newer your FEH, the harder it appears to be to achieve EV-Glide in the high 30’s to 40 mph and below? I have read too many threads by the FEH hypermilers that have seen EV coming around easier and from much higher speeds once their automobiles have some miles on them. 5,000 is about where I would expect to see everything work as expected. Also, do not forget about your FEH’s setup. Drop some 0W-20 or 5W-20 Mobil1 synthetic (between the marks, NOT FULL!) in her and press up your tires to at least 40 #’s all around. See if she enters into EV mode a lot easier after proper setup, after she’s warmed up, AND she has some miles on her. I do not know what an Escape HEV w/ 32 all around and the break in Dino is like but I cannot imagine handicapping ANY automobile from ANY manufacturer using the base OEM setup for ANY period of time.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

i actually started writing a note yesterday to the low gear thread, and instead decided to scrap it and just re-read everything and pick out the important parts. i have no engineering background whatsoever, but it seems to just take practice to get the whole braking-shifting thing efficient. my FEH only has about 3200 miles on it now, but finally in the last week, i'm getting the hang of it and am seeing mpg differences on short trips (45 min or less). my overall average should be over 29mpg when i register my next tank, and my instant econ hovers around 31-32mpg.

tonight on my way home i was able to tap the breaks in L and get the EV running at 35mph. kept it going for about a mile straight with a hill and some wind in my favor. i never learned to drive a stick shift, but i am adjusting to watching RPMs, lights and other traffic ahead of me, and shifting to D when i want to glide a bit more.

and my non-car-savvy husband is horrified at the idea of shifting while driving, so i've given up trying to explain the eCVT. this forces me to work alone on all the little driving tricks and hide the keys from him

 

Hi Wayne; Yeah your right I did not realize at the same time I was typing my post and trying to do a favor to VietVet67 that Pravus Prime was also answering this same question. This should give VietVet67 all kinds of info. on his question. Simply a timing thing, but I am still of the opinion in general that you have an abundance of knowledge on the subject of (FE) and how to best achieve that goal along with others on this Forum that I am not as familiar with.

Terry

 

Hi all – and thanks especially to Rich, Terry and Wayne for the help and comments.



About my FEH – Fully loaded with NAV, 4WD – the works.



On how many miles on the FEH – Approx 15K – trips ranging form 2m to over 3K (longest a roundtrip from Atl to NYC) and a few 300 – 400 mile trips. Didn’t keep an accurate track of the MPG but was probably somewhere around 27-28 on the interstates (65-60MPH). So I guess you might say the thing is broken in . Changed the oil to 5W-20 Synth at 3K and 10K. Got to check the tire pressure and up it to 40psi.

The little wife has been the main driver here around the ATL area to work and back – which is about 60 M roundtrip with interstate driving in the AM and back roads in the PM. She has been getting around 30-31MPG but on her last tank (it was 34.2 (actual computed MPG). That was 394M on 11.5 Gal which would have been easily over a 400 mile tank (514M till empty).

Pravus Prime & excel – I took a couple of small trips yesterday and was able to tryout the L gear and – POW – it did happen with the ICE shutting down below 40 – so no problem there. Did notice one of the things that has been alluded to in other threads –sometimes after it would shut down and I left it in L, after a few seconds, the ICE would come back up and then rev to over 3K. I didn’t think to look over at the meter to see what the instant MPG was reading but what I did do is put it back in D then back to L (shut down) then back to D for a coast to a stop. Must have been the battery being fully charged. I made 4 trips – ranging from 2M to 20 and ended the day at 35.9 using the new tricks. Seems to do better using either L or D for the main haul and shifting to L if you see you are coming to a stop so the ICE will shut down sooner – but if in the braking I see that L is going to slow me down so that I would have to press the accel then shift back to D and coast and brake to a stop.

xcel – If I am driving, most of my trips are of 3-5M so I know that I am not going to be able to get the anywhere close to what it is capable of – could take a longer route to work but what would that accomplish .

I know this is getting long but when conditions warrant (Long Interstate etc) I personally have found that 55 – 60 is the best on CC for FE. I have used trying to keep the accel as constant as possible up and down hills with easing off on crest etc but I still have found that the CC beats me out on that.

Thanks again Guy for all the input - Phillip

 

Phillip; your welcome and like I said these guys Live and Breathe FE; so I new if you could get to post with (Xcel) as an example he would give some good info. on the subject. This is a Great Forum and alot of very smart members on it with a wide range of talent in different areas.

Terry

 

Hi VietVet67’:

___I re-read your initial post and saw you did post your current odometer … I had too many threads from other sites open and should have read your post a little closer. Sorry about that.

___Press up those Eco Contitrac’s a bit and I bet you will see EV more often. Those 3 - 5 mile commutes from cold are going to hurt however While out on the highway, remember, you are literally pushing a brick through the air so you may want to consider DWL and possibly one or two drafting techniques to help boost your highway FE.

___Oh, and 35.9 mpg in the AWD is fantastic! You definitely have the touch

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

That's a pretty high compliment, you've almost got me blushing. Heck, maybe I should have that in my signature!

Anyway, VietVet, have you tried using the doubletap, and if you have, how's that working for you? Don't forget to share the techniques with your wife, especially if she's putting a lot of miles on your FEH!

Nihmbug, sounds like you're getting the techniques down! You can show him the Dearborn FEH thread, where we learn right from the engineers mouth that shifting is harmless, if that's his problem. (If it's just about shifting, tell him to get over it. )