Now you're seeing the struggle of equating voltage to SoC. You're seeing just the temperature influence. The current influence is even greater.


Trust the Torque reported numbers. They are accurate.


Heater use almost completely disables auto-stop as the gas engine/coolant/heater core is the only source of heat. Turn off heater/defrosters when you don't have a fare. Consider turning the car off altogether when you're not moving - a forced auto-stop of sorts. The average vehicle uses something like 7-10 seconds worth of idle fuel to start the engine. A car that is OFF uses ZERO fuel and near zero battery capacity.


For maximum mpg, drive it as conservatively as possible - just like any other SUV/car. Use gentle acceleration and increase your braking distance (lighter braking over longer distance) to maximize regen. Conservative driving maximizes mpgs and maximizes battery life.


NiMH is sluggish in cold weather. Below 50°F, it doesn't respond well to high current charging.


You are driving a large inefficient vehicle compared to smaller cars. You are also driving it in a worst-case scenario. There's not much you can do beyond the above.


Good luck!


Steve

 

100 KPH m trying to discover is mine working correctly. I would think with gas engine running while sitting that the system would charge up to optimal SoC


I cited "optimal" SOC. There will be rare cases where you can get SOC above 65%. Yours is operating as it should.


In old below freezing to get auto-Stop you need a warmed up engine above 70C
Warmed up transmission above 20C
Warmed up battery above 10C


Now as I drove home from teaching ski lessons last night at -1F with front and rear heat on, V4 on the interstate barely let the engine warm up.


Heating the cabin front and rear in a 6000lb 7-passenger SUV takes heat from the engine and it will come back on sooner to do the job.


That Efficiency gage... STOP looking at it! Unless you keep it in the middle of the GREEN it is useless.

Another big confusion out there is whether there is a drive connection between the engine and the motors.


What part of four ( 4 ) Fixed Gears did I not make clear? What part of the math for engine speed did not make sense?


GEARS and clutches do that. In fact in Gear 3 the engine, front motor, back motor, and driveshaft are ALL LOCKED together and spin as one!


If you floor the vehicle, it will use more gas. If you brake real hard, you will use more brake pads.


Most hyper-milers go well over 150,000 miles before they need brake pads.


If you have dark dusty front wheels from brake pad dust, you are NOT allowing Re-Gen to do its job.


Lastly: If you are getting data from that HV battery, Pay much more attention to POWER going in and out. Know this, it's all about power and energy.


If the battery can provide 35kW ( 47 Hp ) and vehicle loads are 1.25kW and engine start is about 8kW you now have 25.75kW (34.5 horse power ) for propulsion. Accelerating 6000 lbs with only 35 Hp isn't fast at all.


Re-Generative braking on ONLY the back wheels has stability parameters to look out for or you do ballet moves. Again that 35kW (47Hp) limit on what you can shove in.


Learning to drive with POWER controlled within limits will give you the best overall fuel economy, especially very long decelerations riding a fine line between 25 and 30 kW.


If you have the ability to record data do some math. Kinetic energy = 1/2 Mass * velocity squared. Kg(mass) times speed (meters per second) at lets say 100kph (62mph)


solve for your Joules


Then using HV pack voltage and current and some Calculus compare what percent of that you can learn how to drive to recover. I can routinely get 62% I'm pretty sure SKieth can do it in a Prius too.