I have had my FFH for a few days now, and it just seems like it switches to gas WAY to quickly. I've been told 41-47 MPH is when is switches over, and mine seems to do it as soon as I touch the gas pedal. I don't know if it's cuz my battery isn't charged, or I don't know how to drive it, or it's just defective. I would love some advice.

Thanks,

Noah

 

You might just be a little too heavy on the throttle or your battery could be at a low SOC (state of charge). I believe that one of the dash settings shows how much the throttle can be pushed before it starts up the ICE.

 

Yes, I read the manual last night and it showed me that I have to keep my required power below the green line to stay out of gas mode. The problem is that my green bar never goes above the second line (or hasn't in the 48 hours I've had the car) and unless I'm driving less than 10 MPH or coasting, it keeps flipping over to gas.

 

It's not an electric car, so the ICE will start frequently. Accelerating is hard to do without starting the ICE...just the way it is unless you drive like Miss Daisy's driver. Coasting is where you should benefit a lot and the car should switch to EV mode if you're less than 47 mph. I've accelerated up to 45 mph in EV mode once...it was on a downhill and it was the slowest I think I've ever accelerated. As long as your car does to to EV mode sometimes, I'm sure things are working correctly. Give it a couple of weeks, you'll probably get used to it.

 

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

 

The emission system requires the engine be at operating temperature. So, it will start the ICE (internal combustion engine). If you have a call for cabin heat, it will start the ICE. If the battery SOC is low (50% is low), it will start the ICE.

If you can set the speed control for 45 MPH, you will see the electric mode augmented by the charging from the ICE. That is where I got my best mileage (54.1 MPG) over 110 miles.

What you are experiencing is normal.

 

With a new FFH it's going to need some break-in to get the drivetrain, joints, brakes and bearings rolling good. The engine is not the big problem because it took both my FEH's 15,000 miles before I could get the best neutral glide out of them. For example I could not set the cruise control at 40mph in EV and stay there till the battery needed charging for about the first 5,000 miles. Now I can even in a fairly good headwind after the 15,000 mile break-in. If your running the A/C or defrost the electric compressor will also keep the battery low for any long (1.5 miles with a full battery) EV driving. I suggest a Scangauge II http://scangauge.com/ and programming battery SoC so you will know exactly at what percentage SoC will restart the engine. Generally the engine will start at 40% SoC from EV and the engine will shutdown for EV at 42%. The general operating range of your battery is 40% to 52% leaving up to 60% SoC max for regenerative braking.

Knowing the operation of the engine, eCVT and battery can greatly improve EV segments and MPG. My advise is do not use EV for acceleration at all and save the battery SoC for steady state EV speed driving for the best efficient use of the battery SoC. Also keep the engine Off as much as possible with EV neutral glides whenever possible. I'm in a 3 month winter challenge now in my '09 FEH and I have a 57.6mpg average over a 2343.1 mile three tank daily commute using hypermiler techniques such as Pulse & Glide.

The last thing you may want to consider is tire pressure. I recommend 44psi in your tires but I run 50psi in mine. This helps staying in EV mode longer and helps you glide longer in neutral with the engine Off.

GaryG