Hypermiling the Ford Escape Hybrid ...

[xcel]

Hi Gary:

___I think you are now crowned the absolute premiere FEH hypermiler on the planet

___Having driven John’s (GPSMan's) and knowing I was in the 65 + range given the 10 + miles of State highway after our 20 + miles 60.0 maxxed FCD before she dropped back under 60.0, I know I was maxxed. His FEH is slightly easier to hypermile in then yours too! That night you and I had in your FEH with a dead SoC, ~ 2 blocks of ICE-On with 2 fake shifts, and at least another ½ mile of EV/Glide afterwards impressed me as much as Dan’s Prius II’s during last years “Marathon Attempt”, Tom’s HCH when he “Took the gloves off”, and the Insight’s Hypermiling Tour of Illinois “Attempt” back in 04. The Fake Shift is what has pushed you and your FEH into the hypermiler hall of fame in my book and I cannot wait to see your first 75 + mpg segment. God only knows where you are going to end up but after seeing your capabilities with my own eyes, wow! Boy do I wish the Ranger had your FEH’s drivetrain right about now

___Good Luck and congrats.

___Wayne

[xcel]

Hi All:

___And here is a pic of Gary G’s SG in his FWD FEH after pushing it

Originally Posted by Gary G.

There were strong headwinds which brought my mileage down to a final 70.3 mpg for 20 miles. I took the pictures and some didn't turn out good but it's too late to do anything about that. The fuel used if you can read it is .3 gallons.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[johnf514]

GaryG, quick question. Seeing as the FEH is an automatic, are you concerned about shifting between gears on a frequent basis to achieve such high MPG? Might this wear on the transmission and possibly cause premature failure? After all, it is a Ford . . .

[GaryG]

Hi John,

Not at all, the eCVT is built with no chains, belts, bands torque converters or normal transmission parts. Changing gears is not done by linkage, only software. The only time changing MODES you get a jump, is if you have your foot on the gas or brake. That might be a little hard on the axles because it's not a smooth change. There is no reverse gear, the traction motor turns the other way to go backwards. Same thing with LOW GEAR, there isn't one. You can drive the FEH 100mph in "L" because of the way the planetary gear set works. There is no shifting going on in the FEH eCVT and the designers claim it will out last a normal automatic because of it. You can tow the FEH in neutral over 70mph safely with all tires on the road. Letting off the gas pedal in "D" or "L" causes the traction motor to act as a generator. In neutral, the traction motor is prevented for being a generator (regenerative braking) and this allows for a very good coast or glide as we refer to it. If I'm under 40mph, I go EV and glide, over 40mph the FEH glides better with the ICE running. In the morning, I glide as much as possible, while the small generator recharges the battery with the ICE. Gliding under 40mph while the ICE is warming up is great also, but I grab "L" for a charge boost when slowing.

I've read damm near every patent on the FEH eCVT, and if it fails, it will be more than likely electronic. It carry's a 8yr 100,000 mile warranty, more in some green State's. The only repair at the shop is reprograming, other wise, replace the eCVT if that doesn't work.

I don't do any shifting on the move with my '02 Explorer automatic, till I learn that it's safe. Maybe someone here can help me out on that subject.

GaryG

[GaryG]

It’s time I shared some details for breaking 70mpg so everyone driving a FEH can benefit with my technique if they care too. This is not going work for everybody, but it may help you put together a similar technique for yourself or improve mine. I’m hoping I can perfect the technique to hit up to 80mpg on a short round trip. This sounds real strange for a SUV, but so does paying $5 a gallon for gas in the near future.

You may have to read the original article here to understand the Fake Shift better, but if you have any questions, just ask.

If you can travel a road with a 30mph limit, this would be my choice to get from point A to B. EV is the sweet spot of the FEH and what I did was take advantage of it. You can get excellent FE at higher speeds and I do, but if you want to squeeze it all out of FEH, under 35mph is where it’s at. You need a scangauge or something that measures a trip average over 80mpg. The Nav sys is only used for the battery level to know where your State of Charge (SoC) is. You can still hit those high numbers without knowing the SoC, if you follow my instructions carefully.

When you go EV, the scangauge reads 9,999 instant MPG. Your SG may show your reset trip average at over 2,000 mpg if you start with more than a half full battery in EV. As the ICE starts, that number will quickly drop depending on how long the ICE runs. The key is to get a charge as quick as possible and get back into EV. I’m going to guess and say the ICE ran less than 25% of the trip. Also, I would estimate that 80% of charging was from regenerative braking (regen) using the fake shift. When your forcing the regen to charge this fast, it has a limit. This will cause the system to reject EV with “L” or tapping the brakes in “D” or “L”. If this happens, shift to “N” and tap the brakes lightly till you go EV. For this reason, two fake shifts work great in my technique. Also, the distance you can travel in EV is near or over four times the distance it takes to charge.

As I’ve posted many times, the battery takes a charge the fastest with the lowest SoC, this is at the restart of the ICE to charge. It is the time to give the battery the quickest charge with the fake shift and go EV again ASAP. Two fake shifts in “L” , one at ~30mph and the other at ~32-35mph with the second fake shift causing you to go EV. When the tach indicates a fall to EV, shift to “N” for the glide. Do not let your speed fall below 20mph before you accelerate back to ~32mph in EV for another glide in EV in “N”. If I had someone on my tail, there was no problem gliding to ~25-27mph and accelerate to 32 in EV for another glide. You may get three glides in EV by keeping the speed up. Two glides in EV max (one from ICE off and one from the climb back to ~32mph) if you drop below 25mph. Most of the time, the start of the ICE is between ~25-27mph during EV acceleration to the second EV glide. After restart for the small generator to start charging, begin to accelerate at 1,800 rpm’s to 30mph for the first Fake Shift. Letting off the accelerator in "L" for the first fake shift, will give you a good charge without going EV most of the time (generally dropping to about ~27-28mph). If the ICE starts to shut down, accelerate to keep it running. This may cause you to make an addition fake shift between the last one to go EV. You just have to feel the first fake shift was to short and not enough charge and do a quick extra fake shift to make up for it. Anytime you come to a stop, get all the regen you can to help you get back to ~32-35mph again. If you know your coming to a stop, get two fake shifts and glide to the stop in EV from the longest distances from the stop. Place the shifter in “N” at a stop to keep the ICE off. If the ICE will not shutdown at a stop or you get a restart, use the key if you can’t get moving right away.

Don’t rush anything, slowly accelerate at 1,800rpm’s and act like a pro with timing and relax. It took me a few months with this technique to break 70mpg. Lets see what the AWD can do, you may have to adjust EV speeds and get those tires up to 44psi. Remember, I have 22,000 miles on my FEH and you newbee’s may have to wait awhile to push the limits. Only use this technique when and where it's safe too!

GaryG

[xcel]

Hi John:

___He understands the difference between MG1 and MG2 charging just fine but you are not taking FS to its conclusion. It is not just a simple fake shift for rev’s sake but also a dose of regen that brings the SoC up from a very low level to an adequate one in such a short distance. He really has discovered a unique method of forced charging I did not think would help but it works pretty darn good in the FEH if I do say so myself.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[GaryG]

To help answer the email and post on GH in one thread, I’ll post it here.

The term “Fake Shift” came from me after I first drove my FWD FEH in Feb. ‘05. In the beginning, I felt the transaxle (eCVT) was revving to high and needed to settle in a overdrive gearing to reduce fuel consumption of the engine (ICE). If I let off the gas pedal for a few seconds and slowly reapplied, the engine RPM’s and eCVT would settle into an overdrive relationship to continue. Also, I notice that when I let off the gas pedal, the charge needle jumped and sent a charge to the battery. The reason I gave the name “fake shift” was because it was like changing gears in a manual transmission without using a clutch and manually shifting gears. Letting off the gas pedal in drive (“D”) soon became a way to force charging into the battery with the regenerative brake system(regen). The regen system is using the traction motor to take energy from the wheels and charge the high voltage battery. When you press on the brakes, the computer changes the mode of the electric traction motor to become a generator. The same thing happens when you let off the gas pedal in “D”, but if you shift to “L”, you get even more energy from the traction motor. In addition, if you apply the brakes, you get the maximum energy out of the traction motor as a generator. The fake shift has become a term to reduce RPM’s and the biggest benefit is to recharge the HV battery for maximum EV driving.

The Pulse and Glide (P&G) was before my time and my guess it came from Wayne Gerdes (xcel) because he seems to be the master of it. In simple terms, it means to accelerate and coast. For the FEH, I found that accelerating at 1,800rpm’s or EV give’s me the best FE. The glide or coast I prefer is in neutral ( “N”) which xcel brought to my attention with testing. Shifting to “N” removes all regen which reduces drag.

Using the fake shift in “L” was a major breakthrough in FE for the FEH. It reduces the time and distance to recharge the HV battery allowing a greater EV time and distance. Wayne Gerdes got to test the fake shift in “L” in my FEH in March of this year to reach EV distances he could not believe. The potential of the FEH FE keeps growing and I wish you all good luck.

GaryG

[VietVet'67]

Hi Gary -

Still looking forward to getting to FL mid summer and will let you know the specifics when “I” do know them, you know how it is, We Men are the last to know - would very much like to meet you and see the master in action . Plus would like to plug the ScanGuage into my 4WD and see what the differences are, if any.

I use the fake shift all the time to give the battery a quick hard shot of juice. I have noticed a slight give/play if I let off the gas quickly so I have started to use a slightly slower letup on the pedal. Looking at the charge/assist meter the charge goes just as deep and I don’t feel the – I guess the best way to describe it is ‘Slack’.

In your statement "The ICE burns more fuel turning the generator with a low SoC (state of charge) of the HV battery. This is because the battery can take a faster charge at the lower level causing the ICE/generator to work at maximum load."

In stead of saying ‘a faster charge’ - Would it be stated wrong in saying, 'that the lower the SoC the bigger the load put on the ICE to charge the battery, thus more fuel used at this level, but as the SoC increases the load on the ICE decreases proportionally, thus your instant FE increases as the SoC increses. At full SoC the ICE is not used at all to charge the battery - this is where you get your best FE while/if using the ICE.'

Just a question, but if I am completely wrong about the concept of 'Battery Management' - Let me know - Sure You Will

[GaryG]

Hi Phillip

Looking forward to meeting you and there is no problem plugging in my scangauge in your AWD.

Your description of battery management is right on and worded better. Feel free to help me out here because, it's clear you understand what I try to say.

Thanks, GaryG

[VietVet'67]

Edited Quote:

Originally Posted by gpsman1

Hi Gary, et. al.

Gary... I also understand what you are saying, and I agree that what you are doing works, because it works in my FEH as well. The fake shift is a great name, because that is exactly what it feels like, and simulates what it would do in an automatic car. ( Although some new people get confused with the gear select shifter and want to know how you fake shift that.... )

#3 Coasting in N is not 36% better than coasting in Drive.

While I can duplicate everything you do more or less ( I'm not in the car with you, so I can't be sure ) time and time again, I coast the exact same distance in D and N when I'm in the 40-20 MPH range. Maybe the slope you are on affects this?

If on a down slope, and the FEH starts to accelerate, then D will do regen to try and keep a steady speed, or even slow the car. So on a down slope, N may coast further than D. However, over flat roads, where the FEH is not going to accelerate, and in fact is slowing due to friction, D coasts just as far as N. EVERY TIME ( for me ).

-John

Hi Guys –
I can concur that you will coast further in ‘N’ than in ‘D’ if you are on a slope. Not just coast further but any friction caused/generated by having it in ‘D’ and thus using the generator – if the battery is a little low – will slow you down, if in ‘N’ it takes the generator out of the equation altogether needed or not and you may actually pick-up more speed.

The reason I can state this that I just got back from a 120 mile round trip, expressways 55-65, stop and go (EV) and gentle rolling hills at about 45 mph using ‘N’ when I would top a hill. A tested between the downhill in both ‘D’ and ‘N’ and found that in ‘D’ I would slow or keep the same speed, even when the SoC was full, but in ‘N’ would always gain speed and shift to ‘D’ just as I saw the mph drop – to keep up the speed for the next hill. I tried it both ways and 'N' always won out. By the way got 39.9 with those conditions.

Like you John, I am not as lucky as Gary in not having any kind of LONG level roads (do good to have a level ¼ mile). So I guess I will just have to wait a couple of weeks to when I am riding A1A to see if there is any difference – at least in a AWD.

OH - Gary you didn't address the statement I made about letting off the gas a little slower during 'Fake Shift' as opposed to a quick release (like a simultaneous gas-clutch like you would do in a real standard shift) - do you know if there is very much of a difference.. Plus if I do it in 'L' with my wife she gets all over me because her head is snapped forward on release - I am ready for it but she is not.

-Phillip