How to Drive a Fusion Hybrid/Energi to get Great Gas Mileage

[ptjones]

Using L I've been able to get close to 50% Regen.

I'm not sure what you mean by 50% regen, on the Smart Gauge it is measured in miles. :headscratch:

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I drove about 3k miles this past week and had 4 fill ups which covered 2437.7 miles, mostly FWY's and averaged 54.4 mpg with Actual distance and gallons used, with minimal rain and A/C use. First tank was from Valdosta, GA to Deltona, FL via I-75, FL St. Route 42 and back to Valdosta, GA.  Second tank was from Valdosta, GA to Newnan, GA to Charlotte, NC via I-75/SR16 / I-85  to VA I-77 exit #1. Third tank was on I-81, I-76 to Philadelphia then I-95 to VA I-95 Exit 104. Then back home via I-95/ I-85. This is just an example what can be done with temps 65-85*F.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Filled up today and went 762 miles/ 13 gallons and 58.6 mpg with temps 70-94*F about  50% City speeds here are mostly 45-55 mph. About a perfect two weeks for local driving, some times work in your favor gas mileage wish.    Just an example what can be done.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

In two months My Fuelly has gone up another .1 mpg. to 49.5 mpg, my Life Time average for the last about three years has been 54 mpg. This is an example of what can be done if you want to make the effort.   I currently have 233k miles on MADMAX.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

For newer owners of CMAX/FFH's with temps in the 80-90's*F if you use Premium Gas and 50 PSI in tires you should be getting 47 Smart Gauge MPG if you keep your speed bellow 70 mph and don't use A/C. I know that can be uncomfortable, but I'm trying to make a pretty exact prediction and A/C is a big variable.   Have Fun improving your mpg's. 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Views on my videos are up to 17k now with 471 in the last month, so more and more Hybrid drivers are interested in saving gas/money and having FUN doing it. 

 

Saving Gas can be FUN! 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Drove up to Knoxville, TN on I-85/I-285/I-75 Friday afternoon to see Grandson and Daughter spent the night and gassed up in the morning at Sam's for $2.649/ gallon for Premium, got 56.4 mpg. Had some tailwinds. I drove up I-75 to Cincinnati,OH to deliver some optics to a customer and then back to Newnan,GA a total of 742.3 miles/54.58 mpg. All HWY driving with some head winds coming back, I had some difficulties finding drafting partners, less Semis going 60-70 mph is what I like to drive.  So part of the time I was doing it pretty much alone or catching Truckers doing 70-75 mph which meant I was going 65-80 mph to try to keep up.   That's probably a 4 mpg hit, I started out coming back  with +30 miles to Empty but by the time I got to Atlanta I was 0E with 24 miles to go.   I know I can go at least 25 miles past 0, but going farther becomes more challenging, I have gone 70 miles without running out. Then again I gone 26 miles and ran out.  Getting close to Atlanta my average MPG's had started to go up and with two traffic slow downs my average had gone up .5 mpg's  I knew if I made it to my off ramp with about 5 miles to go mostly down hill I would be fine. And sure enough it worked as planed, but my SOC was 32% when I got home. This could be a problem if I ran out of gas I wouldn't be able  to EV very far.  This morning when I turned on the car the SOC had gone up to 50%  so now I have a safety margin and I have 3 stations along the way to BJ's 5.3 miles so I can EV to any of those.  BTW  I know that it is next to impossible to run out of gas going uphill, pick up is at the back of the tank, so I only used the ICE going uphill and EV on the level and coast down hill. Well my plan worked Great. I put in 13.6 gallons after a few clicks so I had .3-.4 gallons left or 15-20 miles. I went 30 miles past empty and could have gone 50 miles. 

 

The Main Thing here is you don't  have to stress out if you screw up and run low on gas.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

 

 

I forgot to add pics of my fill ups for Knoxville/Cincinnati trip from above Post

To determine actual MPG for a fill up I multiply miles on trip gauge times 1.018(the % of difference between trip and GPS) then divide by actual gal. used at the pump. Then I post in on Fuelly.com 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Just filled up today and got 741.9 miles/13 gal/ 57.1 mpg. My Fuelly.com Life Time average just went up to 49.6 mpg  and 236k miles total.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Made quick trip to Rochester, NY and back home last week using Interstate HWY all the way.  Filled up in Gaffney, SC got 55 mpg, then filled up in Carlisle, PA got 56.2 mpg.  Drove up to Rochester with weather conditions deteriorating dropping down to mid 40's and raining. Things got worse leaving with heavy downpours, headwinds and in the 40's, needless to say that killed my gas mileage getting 47.9 mpg filling up in Lexington, KY. Now With about 600 miles on current tank I'm back up to 56 mpg. 

 

 

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Filled up today and even with about 100 miles in the rain, temps 35-80*F I was able to average 53.2 mpg with 718.2 mi./13.5 gal. of Premium at $2.65 at BJ's.  With temps going down MPG's will go down too. My Life Time average is at 49.6 mpg with 381 fill-ups

 

Paul

[ptjones]

It's been 2 months since I've posted on here. I filled up today for $2.339 for Premium at BJ's Newnan, GA  and got 49.6 mpg actual fuelly.com mpg. With temps here in 40's to 50's*F with some rain. 

 I usually see 2 mpg loss in mpg's in the rain. This time of the year it is hard to get the ICE up to operating temps of above 202*F even on the Fwy with the Grill Covers on and City driving you can't even get close.

 

Paul

[jj2me]

We're about tied.  I have a lifetime fuel mileage of 49.7.  Except yours is completely Hybrid mpg, while mine is PHEV mpg. ?

[ptjones]

It's been awhile and I haven't been traveling like I usually do for obvious reasons. (Corona virus) Filled up the other day at BJ's for less than $20,  12.5 gal./$1.55/ gal. for Premium, the lowest price for a tankful of Premium in 7.5 yrs that I have had MADMAX.

That works out to 55.3 mpg, not bad considering lower temps and some rain. For those New to this Forum you can go to POST #1 to see my 3 videos on how to do it.? It will give you something to do with all your spare time.?

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I have been thinking about what strategy I will use to improve My 2020 FEH Plugin gas mileage on Hwy trips, when I finally get it. I looked at Energi Posts and it seemed like they drive them like Hybrids and only drive EV at slower speeds .  I have an Idea to improve MPG's using HVB EV to control ICE WT.  Here are the important info for improving MPG's for an Energi:

 

1. ICE runs too cold for maximum efficiency, I found running between 215 to 226*F WT is the best temp range and you need to use Grill Covers to get that high.

2. You gain about 4 mpg using Grill Covers, 2 mpg for reduced Drag and 2 mpg for improving ICE efficiency with higher WT's.

3. Most of the time the ICE WT will be just fine with Grill Covers on, but with significant uphill climb ICE WT will go up, at 225*F I would go to EV Mode for a minute allowing the ICE to cool down.  With my Hybrid I use heater/defrost to lower WT which is a waist of energy.

4. BYW using Neutral to coast down hill improves MPG's and cools the HVB and ICE down.

5. I would guess that a 4 to 5 mpg improvement could be realized doing this.

 

Let me know what you think.  

 

Paul

[jj2me]

Sounds like you're only considering long trips.

WT = Water Temperature.
BYW = ?

3. Uphill on the highway in EV: you'll possibly be stressing your HVB, hurting its longevity.  I personally would not make that trade for short-term mpg.  I say "short term" because if you're degrading your HVB (especially highway speeds + uphill), you're losing some long-term EV miles.

4. While your HVB temp is below 102-105 degrees, then why not fill up EV miles for free? 

(Get an OBDII scan tool of some sort to monitor HVB temps.)

[ptjones]

On 5/4/2020 at 10:57 AM, jj2me said:

Sounds like you're only considering long trips.

WT = Water Temperature.
BYW = ?

3. Uphill on the highway in EV: you'll possibly be stressing your HVB, hurting its longevity.  I personally would not make that trade for short-term mpg.  I say "short term" because if you're degrading your HVB (especially highway speeds + uphill), you're losing some long-term EV miles.

4. While your HVB temp is below 102-105 degrees, then why not fill up EV miles for free? 

(Get an OBDII scan tool of some sort to monitor HVB temps.)

BTW= By The Way

Running the EV for a minute at a time shouldn't raise the HVB much.

I was thinking that using the heater to cool the WT down is a waist of heat energy/fan electricity that wouldn't be made if EV is used for a short time like a minute at a time to cool down ICE.  In that way all the heat energy the ICE makes is used to turn the wheels and charge the HVB. Running EV for a minute will cool down the ICE 5-10*F and then you could run the ICE for 5 minutes and repeat. This would only be necessary when going up hills. If you could combine ICE and EV together for an extended period of time going uphill you could keep the ICE from getting hot but the HVB temps would go up so you would need to monitor that too. I have a ScanGaugeII. I monitor SOC, HVB temp,TFT and WT.

 

4.  Not sure what you mean by "why not fill your HVB for Free".

[jj2me]

10 hours ago, ptjones said:

I was thinking that using the heater to cool the WT down

 

Are you saying the Escape PHEV gets cabin heat via the ICE's radiator heat exchange?  In the Energi, it's resistive (electric) heat. 

 

10 hours ago, ptjones said:

4.  Not sure what you mean by "why not fill your HVB for Free".

 

You had said, "using Neutral to coast down hill improves MPG's and cools the HVB and ICE down."

 

Regarding ICE cooling, I believe your ICE will be on less if you keep it in Drive rather than Neutral.  In general in the case of downhill coasting, your ICE will come on or stay on if it needs to charge up the battery to EV-Later's setpoint it's trying to maintain; otherwise, it will be off.  In that condition where your car sees the battery charge is under the setpoint, I'd imagine in Drive, the computer would realize it's getting the battery charged back up by regen, so wouldn't start the ICE.  While on the other hand, when coasting in neutral, the computer would see that there is no regen, so will realize it needs to start the engine soon to get back to setpoint.

 

Regarding HVB cooling, if you didn't tax your battery via #3, uphill EV on the highway (or any high C-rate discharge or charge), you likely wouldn't need to cool it down.  If it doesn't need cooling down, then that's a good time to regen in Drive ("fill your HVB for free"), because most hill descents in neutral gain speed that you'll need to shed somehow.  If your HVB does need cooling, then yes, neutral plus jamming on the brakes as needed to slow yourself down without engaging much regen would be called for.  Doing that regularly seems like a bridge too far for pleasant driving.

 

(If your HVB is hot because of high ambient temperatures, don't charge it, just run it in hybrid mode if you want your battery to not degrade much.)

[ptjones]

11 hours ago, jj2me said:

 

Are you saying the Escape PHEV gets cabin heat via the ICE's radiator heat exchange?  Yes    In the Energi, it's resistive (electric) heat.  I thought resistive heating only works when WT is below around 130*F

 

 

You had said, "using Neutral to coast down hill improves MPG's and cools the HVB and ICE down."

 

Regarding ICE cooling, I believe your ICE will be on less if you keep it in Drive rather than Neutral.  This isn't true, the ICE almost never runs in Neutral, the HVB will always have enough SOC to go many miles coasting down hill.  I have Tested this scenario with EV Assist and I have gotten atleast 2 mpg less Gas mileage.  In general in the case of downhill coasting, your ICE will come on or stay on if it needs to charge up the battery to EV-Later's setpoint it's trying to maintain; otherwise, it will be off.    I'm referring to Hybrid mode/ EV Later for HWY trip and I'm unaware of a EV Later set point.  In that condition where your car sees the battery charge is under the setpoint, I'd imagine in Drive, the computer would realize it's getting the battery charged back up by regen, so wouldn't start the ICE.  While on the other hand, when coasting in neutral, the computer would see that there is no regen, so will realize it needs to start the engine soon to get back to setpoint. To clarify things here Regen only happens when you let off the accelerator causing the ICE to stop or stepping on the brake, in other words you are recovering energy that you already made and regenerating it.  When the  ICE runs it Makes Energy to run the Generator to Charge the HVB.

 

Regarding HVB cooling, if you didn't tax your battery via #3, uphill EV on the highway (or any high C-rate discharge or charge), you likely wouldn't need to cool it down. Running in EV for a minute isn't going raise the temp of the HVB noticeably, but would allow the ICE to cool down 5 to 10*F  If it doesn't need cooling down, then that's a good time to regen in Drive ("fill your HVB for free")(This isn't Free, You are recovering energy you already Lost), because most hill descents in neutral gain speed that you'll need to shed somehow.  When this happens I stick it back into Drive to regain some of the energy I've lost going uphill.  If your HVB does need cooling, then yes, neutral plus jamming on the brakes as needed to slow yourself down without engaging much regen would be called for.  Doing that regularly seems like a bridge too far for pleasant driving. Living in Hilly Country  I do it quite often, I do it automatically. Also remember Coasting is atleast 20% more efficient than regen.

 

(If your HVB is hot because of high ambient temperatures, don't charge it, just run it in hybrid mode if you want your battery to not degrade much.)

The 2020 FEH plugin uses a Coolant Cooling system to keep HVB temps down and has 30+ mile EV range so we will see how that goes.

[ptjones]

Well with the Corona Virus slowing things down and 22 days since last fill up I ended up with 50% City, 58.8 mpg/776.2 mi./ 13.2 gal. the Best MPG in year and a half.? I could have made it to 800 Miles with about .7 gal. left.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

It is interesting that MPG's keep going up with temps(88-94*F), lunch time I went up to Atlanta and back(48 mi. one way on I-85/I-20) not using A/C and front windows open a couple of inches. I averaged 59.5 mpg going up and 63.5 mpg going back in medium traffic, no stop and go. My tank averaged started with 59.5 mpg and ended with 60 mpg/ 323 mi./ 212 mi. EV. It is amazing how much MPG's are affected by outside temperature.?

 

Paul

[demo021878]

PT thanks for the videos!!! I was wondering where did you get the plastic, and what is it called, to make your aerodynamic mods for the grill covers? I have a fusion that I would love to modify. 
 

Just a suggestion, I would love to see a how to video on how you made these mods. Unless you are trying to sell them, in that case can you make them for a fusion?