Driving with the Coach Bars

[Russael]

Just for the heck of it (and since I never really used it before), I decided to bring up the driving coach and drive around with that for the last couple of days and found some interesting tidbits about it.

 

For those who have mentioned having lower driving scores, this will show you why.

 

The car must have a G-Sensor somewhere in it.  I noticed that if I accelerate away from a stop a little too quickly (even though my empower gauge never went above the second notch), it would ding me for acceleration.  If you accelerate smoothly, I can actually push it beyond that second notch without it complaining at all.

 

Braking is pretty obvious, since there is a separate coach for that.  If you get less than 100% regen, it dings you.

 

What was most interesting was cruising.  For me, if I take the car beyond 38 or 39MPH, it starts reducing the bar just by a tiny bit.  So it seems like they prefer having the car at 40MPH or less (at least for flat road driving).

 

After watching this and adjusting my dead stop acceleration thing, my last 3 driving scores were 99.  Not too shabby.

[gary945]

How do you engage the driving coach?

[TX NRG]

Left information display, choose fuel economy, then coach.

[shaggy314]

I concur it's got its head up its butt for cruising. It should take the speed of the road you are on into account. If I tried going 45 on a 65 freeway, I'd be rightly run off the road and shot or at least wounded as a lesson to others. This is Texas...

 

Seriously though I go 62 in the right lane of a 3 lane freeway and cruising score bites me on it. It needs a more two dimensional thinking on that part.

[Jake]

Just wondering if there are more details on how the Driving Coach works anywhere? I admit I have not plowed all the way through the manual, but I have not found it there yet. I notice that the bars sometimes go yellow, especially if I have had to brake hard and miss using the regen.

 

Thanks.

[Hybridbear]

When they go yellow it means that you're not driving efficiently. High speeds on the interstate can make the cruising bar go yellow.

[rbort]

Ideally you want full blue bar on acceleration, there should be no excuse for this one not to be.

 

Full blue bar on the brake, this one needs planning and is harder to come by, but is very possible, if you have to stop quick then it is what it is, but try for full blue.

 

Cruising is based on speed, there is no user control on this besides vehicle speed.  

 

35mph of less gives full blue bar.

37-38 is where it starts to drop off, up to 40mph its almost full blue.

55 mph its about 75% blue

65 mph its about 50% blue/yellow borderline.  66 is blue, 67 is yellow.

 

For best efficiency in electric, shoot for 35mph cruise control and time your braking for 100% scores and accelerate slowly.

On the highway you can't help the cruise bar to be down, but keeping it 1/2 blue is better than turning it into the yellow as drag kills mpg numbers.

 

You can expect about 6+ mpg drop between driving at 65mph vs 75mph.

 

-=>Raja.

[Hybridbear]

I find the opposite, braking is easier to get 100% than keeping the acceleration bar full. I find that in the Focus Electric I tend to have a lower acceleration score as well. In the Fusion I can use the power meter on the dash to control my acceleration. The Focus Electric has no similar display. It also has a much more powerful electric motor and a drivetrain with less loss so it accelerates much more quickly.

[Jake]

Ideally you want full blue bar on acceleration, there should be no excuse for this one not to be.

 

Full blue bar on the brake, this one needs planning and is harder to come by, but is very possible, if you have to stop quick then it is what it is, but try for full blue.

 

Cruising is based on speed, there is no user control on this besides vehicle speed.  

 

35mph of less gives full blue bar.

37-38 is where it starts to drop off, up to 40mph its almost full blue.

55 mph its about 75% blue

65 mph its about 50% blue/yellow borderline.  66 is blue, 67 is yellow.

 

For best efficiency in electric, shoot for 35mph cruise control and time your braking for 100% scores and accelerate slowly.

On the highway you can't help the cruise bar to be down, but keeping it 1/2 blue is better than turning it into the yellow as drag kills mpg numbers.

 

You can expect about 6+ mpg drop between driving at 65mph vs 75mph.

 

-=>Raja.

Thanks, this is very helpful. Did you figure this out by trial and error, or is it posted/shown somewhere?

[Rexracer]

 

You can expect about 6+ mpg drop between driving at 65mph vs 75mph.

 

-=>Raja.

 

I haven't see a 6+ mpg drop. Last weekend I went 850 miles, about half ~65 and the other half ~75. I Saw about 2-3mpg shift at most.

[rbort]

Hey guys, figured it out by trial and experience. I guess it depends on you mpg numbers, I can usually get around 48 mpg on a long trip at 66, at 75 I would expect less than 45mpg for sure.

 

-=>Raja.

[stevedebi]

Hey guys, figured it out by trial and experience. I guess it depends on you mpg numbers, I can usually get around 48 mpg on a long trip at 66, at 75 I would expect less than 45mpg for sure.

 

-=>Raja.

Raja,

Just a note in case folks don't check your profile. You are driving a C-Max Energi, which has worse mileage at speed due to the design of the vehicle.

 

I have gotten almost exactly those numbers at around 68 MPH. That is, when I can get that fast in LA traffic! (I also have the C-Max Energi).