Converting Hybrid to a plug in hybrid...

[Aherpa]

I've read this is possible with some hybrids but wondering if anyone has heard of it done with a maverick. Since I drive mostly locally I'd love to be able to get 20-30 miles without the ICE kicking in.

Anyone?

Unless you want a hobby that guarantees your vehicle while be a troublesome fire trap, I'd wait for Ford to make a PHEV Maverick.

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[Robert C]

I've read this is possible with some hybrids but wondering if anyone has heard of it done with a maverick. Since I drive mostly locally I'd love to be able to get 20-30 miles without the ICE kicking in.

Anyone?

No insult but you're not understanding what a hybrid is. A non-plug-in hybrid. You'd be lucky to get 1 to 2 mi on your 1 kW hour Maverick battery. Pure electric vehicles have a 60 to 140 KW hour battery. Plug-In hybrids have at least a 20. Do you see the scale? You would need a battery at least 20 times bigger. And that would just be the beginning. The Maverick hybrid is designed to be recharged by the regenerative braking and some by the engine. You take off from a stop on the electric motors but the ice engine kicks in almost right away. Maybe 20 mph. Maybe half a mile if you're lucky.
It's just a little boost. Increases your mileage by maybe 10 - 15 miles per gallon when it's all averaged out.
Why would you want to plug it in anyway? Why would you want to be hooked to a cable to charge for hours at a time? The cost of electricity is roughly the same as the cost of gasoline. It's the same money. You're not saving anything. You're not even saving the planet that electricity is made mostly by coal burning plants. That's the beauty of a non-plug-in hybrid - it's powered by gasoline.
Again, no offense but it's amazing that people would buy a hybrid without understanding it. Didn't you read about it or didn't the dealer at least explain it a little? Me I don't have a lot of money. This was my first new car. I read everything about it. To have the kind of money to just plop down $25 or $30,000 on something you really don't know what it is. Well that's nice.

 

[icegradner]

Bought an Escape plugin hybrid. It has the same hybrid as the Maverick with a 14 kwh battery. The electric range is 37 miles. The price was discounted quite a lot to make it cost effective, but I am sure that Ford will offer it for the Maverick eventually.

I hope it's not one of the ones with the recall telling you not to charge it with the plug due to fire risk.

 

[Vmontello]

No insult but you're not understanding what a hybrid is. A non-plug-in hybrid. You'd be lucky to get 1 to 2 mi on your 1 kW hour Maverick battery. Pure electric vehicles have a 60 to 140 KW hour battery. Plug-In hybrids have at least an 20. Do you see the scale? The Maverick hybrid is designed to be recharged by the regenerative braking and some by the engine. You take off from a stop on the electric motors but the ice engine kicks in almost right away. Maybe 20 mph. Maybe half a mile if you're lucky.
It's just a little boost. Increases your mileage by maybe 10 - 15 miles per gallon when it's all averaged out.
Why would you want that anyway? Why would you want to be hooked to a cable to charge for hours at a time? That's the beauty of a non-plug-in hybrid.
Again, no offense but it's amazing that people would buy a hybrid without understanding it.

First of all no worries... I didn't take it as an insult. But I think you're not understanding how much I understand. Of course I know if the battery remains the same there's really no benefit to having a plugin. But I know there are kits for some cars at least where you can change the battery add some electronic stuff and boom you have a plug-in hybrid. And the whole idea that I would be tied to a cable for charging is just not true. The idea is it's a hybrid all the time except if you come home every night you plug it in and you get built-in electric without the engine having to kick on to charge. That way I can go through most of my daily driving not having to use any gasoline. Kind of like having a short range full EV that has a built-in generator for longer trips.

 

[Robert C]

First of all no worries... I didn't take it as an insult. But I think you're not understanding how much I understand. Of course I know if the battery remains the same there's really no benefit to having a plugin. But I know there are kits for some cars at least where you can change the battery add some electronic stuff and boom you have a plug-in hybrid. And the whole idea that I would be tied to a cable for charging is just not true. The idea is it's a hybrid all the time except if you come home every night you plug it in and you get built-in electric without the engine having to kick on to charge. That way I can go through most of my daily driving not having to use any gasoline. Kind of like having a short range full EV that has a built-in generator for longer trips.

OK, I get it. But I do think the cost of converting it would exceed the purchase price of the truck to begin with. The labor alone would be astronomical. If you did it yourself, I guess not that much but wow would that be a time consuming hobby.

 

[Vmontello]

OK, I get it. But I do think the cost of converting it would exceed the purchase price of the truck to begin with. The labor alone would be astronomical. If you did it yourself, I guess not that much but wow would that be a time consuming hobby.

I believe you are correct. Which I had heard before which is why I kind of drop this topic months ago.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

I think it would be easier and you would be money ahead by converting a plug-in Ford Escape to an open bed.

 

[JJTech]

Hey, if you promise to only use the vehicle up north in the winter, you wouldn’t need to add cooling for the battery!

 

[Robert C]

Hey, if you promise to only use the vehicle up north in the winter, you wouldn’t need to add cooling for the battery!

Not a worry, they don't work in the winter.

 

[wax87]

I own a Toyota RAV4 Prime SE, which is a PHEV. It comes with a 18.1 kwhr battery that yields about 48 miles between charges. It calculates to around 3.0 miles per kwhr. I love the vehicle and I Am averaging about 100 miles per gallon (gas) plus electricity of course. I have a small (16 kw) charger

I, like you, would love to have my Maverick as a PHEV, but given the battery size and other factors, it would take some significant redesign

For whatever it is worth department; The weight difference between the Rav4 HVB and the Mavericks in 91 Lbs. (118lbs for the 18.1 kWh and 27lbs for the 1.1 kWh)

 

[SloopJB]

For whatever it is worth department; The weight difference between the Rav4 HVB and the Mavericks in 91 Lbs. (118lbs for the 18.1 kWh and 27lbs for the 1.1 kWh)

We recently went to Scottsdale in the RAV4 and it yielded 37 MPG average for the trip at max speed of 70 mph. Around Waxahachie it is always in EV mode with a 48 mile range. I have a solar system now that I use to recharge the battery and the whole house, so I am not normally buying any gas for it. The display shows 99.9 mpg, but that is because that is the highest number it can display.

I still like my Ecoboost Maverick which is 15 months old now. Only average about 24 mpg with it as I am not on the Hwy much. It will get about 30 when I am on a trip at 70

 

[wax87]

We recently went to Scottsdale in the RAV4 and it yielded 37 MPG average for the trip at max speed of 70 mph. Around Waxahachie it is always in EV mode with a 48 mile range. I have a solar system now that I use to recharge the battery and the whole house, so I am not normally buying any gas for it. The display shows 99.9 mpg, but that is because that is the highest number it can display.

I still like my Ecoboost Maverick which is 15 months old now. Only average about 24 mpg with it as I am not on the Hwy much. It will get about 30 when I am on a trip at 70

do you have to add fuel stabilizer in the RAV4?

 

[Rparry]

With the current HVB fully charged, you can probably go about 1.5 miles (at least that is as far as I could get on a flat road at about 20mph). As others have said, is it possible to convert to plug-in? Yes. There is even an open spot where you could add another small battery (which may get you to 3-5 miles?).

Now the real question is "is it practical?". If you want to go 20 miles, then you are basically filling up about 1/4 of your already small bed with batteries. Your overall MPG will actually go DOWN due to all the extra weight. If you are into DIY and have a ton of tools (and don't mind totally voiding any warranty), you could probably rig something up (without battery cooling) for somewhere in the $5k-$8k range (I buy a lot of stuff from Battery Hookup for my DIY projects so you can likely get used battery packs from there for $3k-$5k depending on battery size). Will it work? Maybe. Will it be safe? Probably not (chances of batteries getting too hot without cooling is pretty high). Now if you had a reputible "mod shop" design and install something (with cooling), I am guessing the price is likely to be $30k-$50k (and potentially more) depending on how ellaborate you wanted it. You can buy an awful lot of gas for that ;-)

What has not been mentioned is that there seems to be some preset speed where the computer turns on ICE reguardless of how much energy you have stored in the battery. From what I can tell, the battery sometimes comes on at highway speeds when ICE is on to give it a "boost" but usually shuts down pretty quick. You would probably need to reprogram the compter to get the ICE to not come on and to only use battery up to 55mph+. I would be very curious if this may end up frying your electric motor since it is likely not rated for this (and not sure if it has any way of doing active cooling if being run for a long period of time at maximum amps).

Let us know how it turn out

Very good assessment. Probably right on with the pricing. The reason the engine comes on at a certain speed is due to the planetary gear design. When the traction motor, MG2, is on without the gas engine, MG1, is driven in reverse at an overdrive rate. MG1 can only take so many RPM, then the gas engine starts to keep MG1 at a safe speed. So one would not want to play with this setting.

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[HeyBales]

I don't believe that's correct, I believe both electric motors can provide power. MG2 actually works as an alternator when the ICE is running.

Power to the battery can come from both.

Not the wheels.

Generator motor acts as alternator AND the eCVT changing the gear ratio as needed.
Power from the engine to the battery via the GM depends on that gearing.

Unintentional power perhaps, but how much torque to assist actual moving?

 

[HeyBales]

Very good assessment. Probably right on with the pricing. The reason the engine comes on at a certain speed is due to the planetary gear design. When the traction motor, MG2, is on without the gas engine, MG1, is driven in reverse at an overdrive rate. MG1 can only take so many RPM, then the gas engine starts to keep MG1 at a safe speed. So one would not want to play with this setting.

BP

Where is that stated that it's due to max speed of the generator motor?

I've got a cold weather log file showing 8584 happened to be the max RPM on that generator motor during a drive. Neg 2749 other side max.

Max RPM on the traction motor happened to be 7223 rpm in this log file.
Speed at that point was 58 mph.
ICE 1962 rpm. Already on and stayed on entire time.
Generator motor 54 rpm.
(and during that speed right then GM ranged from 4391 to neg 2749 for purposes of gearing and power request).

That max GM 8584 rpm was @ 42 mph, ICE 3914 rpm, TM 5307 rpm.
(torque at that moment was ICE 114 and TM 71 ft-lbs. So pushing it.)

The switch happens indeed because of design, and we all know that is at a call above abouts 10% power on the Go pedal.
That can happen at fast speed or low speed - and the GM is indeed spinning opposite the TM, at whatever high or low RPM that happens to be at the time. Except for spinning up the ICE.

So I'm wondering how the system is doing that to protect the GM max RPM?
Since I've had the EV mode @ 65 mph before maintaining speed, TM has to be above that 7223 RPM, and therefore GM is going to be neg that same RPM so the ICE isn't engaged.

So I really don't see how engaging ICE at 10% power call or above is saving the GM rpm from high speeds that are much higher rpm from higher speed use of the TM.

I agree though settings to attempt to recharge a bigger/secondary battery pack by overspinning the motors not a good idea, just let them do what they can.
Hey, at least you wouldn't have to engage ICE braking if battery space to shove more power to!

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