Hybrid Battery Seemed to Stop Working on Drive Home Today

[KO Stradivarius]

My 2025 Hybrid has 3,700 miles, and until today it was working perfectly. But today I noticed that I could hardly get any Electric propulsion as I was driving my normal 40 mile commute home from work. Normally I can get about a third of my miles from Electric, and achieve about ~40 mpg. Today it seemed to stop working at 1.7 electric miles. I kept trying to toggle back from Hybrid to Electric watching the EV Coach but to no avail. Somehow it did squeak out another 0.3 miles near the end of my drive, which I did not notice on the EV Coach, for a total of 2.0 electric miles.

We have had a 2020 Escape Hybrid so I am not a novice regarding Hybrid driving techniques. That vehicle has performed flawlessly in the 5 years we have had it.

When I arrived home I called the dealer to schedule a Service appointment because I figured they would book out at least a week or so. In the meantime I can obviously see how it performs, and hopefully this problem doesn't repeat, and there is a logical explanation with nothing to be fixed.

The Service Advisor seemed to downplay the problem. He asked if I was "blasting the AC?". To which I replied "Of course I was", since I live in the Phoenix area and it was about 110 degrees at 4pm, like it has been for the last few weeks, and often reaches above 100 normally this time of year. The AC here is pushed to it's limit so it's just a way of life to have the AC on a low temp setting with a high fan speed.

He was able to check the vehicle diagnostic data remotely while we spoke, and he said no codes were triggered in the system. I was unaware that the AC would ever be so demanding that it would prevent electric propulsion. The Escape has never done this, ever, nor has the new Maverick until today (with many days of blasting AC usage).

I just wanted to pick the brains of people here to ask if this has happened to them, have a logical explanation, or if they have heard of these issues.

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[Gullzway]

The hybrid battery has to charge eventually if Regen braking isn't keeping up.
Multiple trips trying to milk every mile out of the hybrid battery will eventually require the system to turn the ICE on to charge it.

Any idea what the state of charge on it was?

 

[KO Stradivarius]

The hybrid battery has to charge eventually.
Multiple trips trying to milk every mile out of the hybrid battery will eventually require the system to turn the ICE on to charge it.

Any idea what the state of charge on it was?

I agree that it has to charge but in the 40 mile trip I went thru many brake regen stops and coasting cycles which is always normally is enough to charge, correct?

How does one determine the state of charge? The Service Advisor did not mention a charge level. It must have been fairly high charge level if it was regenerating the entire trip and never turning on.

 

[Gullzway]

Get a cheap Bluetooth OBD2 adapter and an app like torque.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

My 2025 Hybrid has 3,700 miles, and until today it was working perfectly. But today I noticed that I could hardly get any Electric propulsion as I was driving my normal 40 mile commute home from work. Normally I can get about a third of my miles from Electric, and achieve about ~40 mpg. Today it seemed to stop working at 1.7 electric miles. I kept trying to toggle back from Hybrid to Electric watching the EV Coach but to no avail. Somehow it did squeak out another 0.3 miles near the end of my drive, which I did not notice on the EV Coach, for a total of 2.0 electric miles.

We have had a 2020 Escape Hybrid so I am not a novice regarding Hybrid driving techniques. That vehicle has performed flawlessly in the 5 years we have had it.

When I arrived home I called the dealer to schedule a Service appointment because I figured they would book out at least a week or so. In the meantime I can obviously see how it performs, and hopefully this problem doesn't repeat, and there is a logical explanation with nothing to be fixed.

The Service Advisor seemed to downplay the problem. He asked if I was "blasting the AC?". To which I replied "Of course I was", since I live in the Phoenix area and it was about 110 degrees at 4pm, like it has been for the last few weeks, and often reaches above 100 normally this time of year. The AC here is pushed to it's limit so it's just a way of life to have the AC on a low temp setting with a high fan speed.

He was able to check the vehicle diagnostic data remotely while we spoke, and he said no codes were triggered in the system. I was unaware that the AC would ever be so demanding that it would prevent electric propulsion. The Escape has never done this, ever, nor has the new Maverick until today (with many days of blasting AC usage).

I just wanted to pick the brains of people here to ask if this has happened to them, have a logical explanation, or if they have heard of these issues.

At ambient temp of 114°F the computer will restrict the use of the HVB to preserve it's health.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/o...erature-limits-of-the-maverick-hybrid-engine/

 

[KO Stradivarius]

At ambient temp of 114°F the computer will restrict the use of the HVB to preserve it's health.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/o...erature-limits-of-the-maverick-hybrid-engine/

Thanks for posting that old thread. I read it all and there is a lot of good info there. I guess the high temperature just shuts down the High Voltage Battery (HVB) for protection. I had no idea but it makes perfect sense.

I guess if nothing else this post will serve as a reminder to those of us who live in extremely hot (or cold) climates, that there is a normal operating range for the HVB and it is not going to be available at those extremes.

I'm just surprised that our Escape has not done this yet, but I guess it is just dumb luck and it probably will happen one of these days.

 

[hdave]

Thanks for replying back so we know what caused the issue.

 

[shadow76]

At ambient temp of 114°F the computer will restrict the use of the HVB to preserve it's health.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/o...erature-limits-of-the-maverick-hybrid-engine/

With a dedicated cooling system, it’s interesting the hybrid battery has such a low tolerance for heat. I often drive in temps ranging upwards to 110* and have yet to undergo a such a shutdown.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Thanks for posting that old thread. I read it all and there is a lot of good info there. I guess the high temperature just shouts down the High Voltage Battery (HVB) for protection. I had no idea but it makes perfect sense.

I guess if nothing else this post will serve as a reminder to those of us who live in extremely hot (or cold) climates, that there is a normal operating range for the HVB and it is not going to be available at those extremes.

I'm just surprised that our Escape has not done this yet, but I guess it is just dumb luck and it probably will happen one of these days.

Not sure but I believe Maverick electric motor in transaxle is larger and could pull more amps from battery so could add heat quicker than escape. Maybe escape has higher ambient temp value? Also what is the difference in gross weights of escape and Maverick that could affect cooling. Seems like Ford recommended not parking where road temp exceeds (140°F???) temp. Will the boss let you paint your parking spot a light reflecting color? Might buy you a few minutes of HVB usage??

 

[MakinDoForNow]

With a dedicated cooling system, it’s interesting the hybrid battery has such a low tolerance for heat. I often drive in temps ranging upwards to 110* and have yet to undergo a such a shutdown.

It may be as much the heat inside the transaxle created by the electric motors and having to shut them down also. Could be stop and go driving over 150°F asphalt vs 40+ mph driving. The HVB is only about 7-8" above asphalt.

 

[Maverick123]

Get a cheap Bluetooth OBD2 adapter and an app like torque.

Wait, the Torque app can be displayed on the truck's screen like an add-on gauge panel?

 

[Darnon]

Wait, the Torque app can be displayed on the truck's screen like an add-on gauge panel?

I believe you need to sideload a version of the app outside of the usual Android app store as it technically breaks Android Auto guidelines. Not unlike apps that can play video over AA.

 

[heady]

There's been other reports of similar behavior in high ambient temperature conditions, for instance Anyone else experiencing massive hybrid MPG drop in this heat wave? - almost certainly the battery management system is backing off the current limits allowed on the HV battery as a normal behavior - with a OBD data logger you'd be able to see what the actual battery pack temperature is when this happens, but seems like most reports seem to notice just north of 110 F ambient conditions, one use reports noticing it about 112F in that reddit thread. Seems to be the thermal design limit of the coolant loop.

When something actually abnormal happens to the coolant loop, it looks like you'll get a popup warning "Performance reduced to lower temperature" https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...rformance-reduced-to-lower-temperature.33398/ - this seems to have occurred to people that have had recent service done on the coolant loop but weren't operating in hot conditions, my speculation is a air bubble from having the system open/drained that creates a temporary high reading on at least one temperature sensor, this makes sense for those instances where the situation is only transient in non-hot weather; eventually the coolant loop gets degassed with normal circulation.

in each case, having extra gauges/readouts from an OBD interface in the truck would be helpful to diagnose or monitor the situation I would think. Scangauge, Torque Pro, etc.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

There's been other reports of similar behavior in high ambient temperature conditions, for instance Anyone else experiencing massive hybrid MPG drop in this heat wave? - almost certainly the battery management system is backing off the current limits allowed on the HV battery as a normal behavior - with a OBD data logger you'd be able to see what the actual battery pack temperature is when this happens, but seems like most reports seem to notice just north of 110 F ambient conditions, one use reports noticing it about 112F in that reddit thread. Seems to be the thermal design limit of the coolant loop.

When something actually abnormal happens to the coolant loop, it looks like you'll get a popup warning "Performance reduced to lower temperature" https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...rformance-reduced-to-lower-temperature.33398/ - this seems to have occurred to people that have had recent service done on the coolant loop but weren't operating in hot conditions, my speculation is a air bubble from having the system open/drained that creates a temporary high reading on at least one temperature sensor, this makes sense for those instances where the situation is only transient in non-hot weather; eventually the coolant loop gets degassed with normal circulation.

in each case, having extra gauges/readouts from an OBD interface in the truck would be helpful to diagnose or monitor the situation I would think. Scangauge, Torque Pro, etc.

There Is a temp sensor input reading and a temp sensor output reading on battery coolant to monitor functioning.

 

[bcoo4]

At ambient temp of 114°F the computer will restrict the use of the HVB to preserve it's health.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/o...erature-limits-of-the-maverick-hybrid-engine/

Thank you! I learned something today!

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