Monitoring Hybrid Battery State-Of-Charge

[CuriousGary]

I think this is a good analogy.

A)
I'm going to give you an unlimited amount of money. You never know when it is going to come. You can never have more than $100 in your possession at any time. You can buy stuff whenever you want, but you won't know how much things cost, and you won't know how much change you have in your pocket.

B)
I'm going to give you an unlimited amount of money. You can never have more than $100 in your pocket, but you know when the money will arrive. You can buy stuff whenever you want and you will know how much everything costs. You will have a balance sheet and will always know how much change is left in your pocket.

Do you prefer A or B?

Substitute battery charge for money and change.

A is driving with no ScanGauge.

B is driving with a ScanGauge.

A is driving to get "EPA" rated MPG.

B facilitates driving to beat EPA MPG.

If you knew when the money was coming and you knew how much everything costs, wouldn't you optimize to spend every cent without ever running out before next payday?

Ford's Maverick does not do this "automatically". It is set up to a "happy middle ground" that most drivers are content with. And sure; going from a 20 MPG truck to a 40 MPG one is pretty amazing. But with limited hardware (IE ScanGauge) and no actual truck mods, this can be a 50 MPG truck. And then some in ideal conditions.

Note: the ScanGauge (or equivalent) tunes the driver, not the engine.

HTH

So, how do I get and install this ScanGuage? Better yet, can a dealer or 3rd party install this for me?

And what exactly is it in ScanGuage that I watch?

This thread is intensely useful to me. Thanks. At 750 miles on my new truck I am at cumulative 42 mpg. I would like to improve this result.

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[SuperDave71]

Scan Gauge 3 self learns the codes for the X-Gauges as they are called.
Scan Gauge 2 the codes have to be manually entered once.
The SG3 is the new model. It has a color touch screen, but it’s also larger and more expensive.
I used an SG2 in the past a lot when that’s all that was available. I was familiar with programming and like it’s smaller size that can ride on the steering column.
GPSMan is more familiar with the SG3 and the auto learning abilities.
Either one plugs into the OBD2 port the same way. When the truck starts, they start and are powered from the OBD port.

 

[GPSMan]

Keeping the SoC low to maximize mpg’s is contra-intuitive. It seems to me, the the higher the SoC, the more it is available to push the truck into “electric driving,” shut off the ICE, and therefore get more mpg’s. Perhaps I have misunderstood you. Please explain.

This is for city / stop(slow) n go.

The battery pack is rather small.
Of the small pack, you are allowed to use only 40% of it. The battery is almost always 30% to 70% due to Ford's BMS programming. (battery management)
The generator is rather large.
This means the HV battery is recharged very quickly. You can get 5% recharge from one application of the brakes.
The large generator can recharge 15% in one minute. Once in the high 60's to 70% you have no "room" for regen braking or generator charging.

In the city: you want maximum space for both. At least I do. Make space by driving in EV as much as possible.

Worst for MPG is you at a stoplight, engine running for heat or defrost, and no room to charge. I call that a missed opportunity. If it's making heat to defrost, it can charge at the same time almost for free. Or if you need to recharge, it can defrost almost for free.

It's like a "twofer". Buy one; get one free kind of deal.

I'm getting 50, 60, 70 MPG city by using maximum EV, and least engine on time, in mild weather, when heated seats are enough and I don't need defrosting.

I keep battery SOC 30-40% all day long.
So if I have a case the engine needs to run, there's room to charge. Or if I hit a downhill there's room to charge. Nothing more frustrating to the "hypermiler" than hitting a downhill run with a full or mostly full battery.

 

[CuriousGary]

This is for city / stop n go.

The battery pack is rather small.
Of the small pack, you are allowed to use only 40% of it. The battery is almost always 30% to 70% due to Ford's BMS programming. (battery management)
The generator is rather large.
This means the HV battery is recharged very quickly. You can get 5% recharge from one application of the brakes.
The large generator can recharge 15% in one minute. Once in the high 60's to 70% you have no "room" for regen braking or generator charging.

In the city: you want maximum space for both. At least I do. Make space by driving in EV as much as possible.

Worst for MPG is you at a stoplight, engine running for heat or defrost, and no room to charge. I call that a missed opportunity. If it's making heat to defrost, it can charge at the same time almost for free. Or if you need to recharge, it can defrost almost for free.

It's like a "twofer". Buy one; get one free kind of deal.

I'm getting 50, 60, 70 MPG city by using maximum EV, and least engine on time, in mild weather, when heated seats are enough and I don't need defrosting.

I keep battery SOC 30-40% all day long.
So if I have a case the engine needs to run, there's room to charge. Or if I hit a downhill there's room to charge. Nothing more frustrating to the "hypermiler" than hitting a downhill run with a full or mostly full battery.

And you know the battery is at 30-40% from Scan Gauge?

 

[SuperDave71]

Yes, in this picture upper right is Battery State of Charge, lower right is batter current. Positive is driving, negative is charging. Lower left is instant MPG, upper left is engine tach

 

[SuperDave71]

It is interesting to watch the relationship between instant MPG, battery current, and battery state of charge. As the battery becomes charged, current goes down, MPG goes up..

 

[GPSMan]

And you know the battery is at 30-40% from Scan Gauge?

Yes.
Left to "ignorance is bliss" the truck will naturally gravitate around 60% 65%. Which fine for most average conditions.
Leaves some but not much room for regen & charging. And being naturally biased towards the "full" side is good for highway driving. More "boost" available for passing and hill climbing. In city stop n go I'm usually doing neither.

 

[JimParker256]

So, on my last two "in town" drives, I tried out GPSMan's combo of using Slippery Mode and "Accelerate then Lift" (forcing it into EV mode by backing off the throttle) technique. (I still don't have a ScanGauge, so this was all by "feel" and using the "coach" display.) Man, what a difference! I saw 55 mpg and over 2/3 of my trip distance was in electric mode!

My wife was riding with me, and only after we were 2/3 the way there, asked "Are you doing something special?" She noticed I was braking quite slowly (hit 100% on the brake regeneration multiple times), but had NOT noticed the "accelerate then lift" technique until I pointed it out to her. It's subtle, but effective!

And as an added bonus, I wasn't holding up other traffic at all when accelerating from each stop. Even trying to keep below 20% on the power meter (left-hand gauge) I was able to keep up with traffic easily.

 

[CuriousGary]

Use EV coach in the mean time.
It is a rudimentary battery gauge, while in EV mode. No numbers, but larger blue bar = more charged.

How do we interpret these bars?

 

[GPSMan]

How do we interpret these bars?

Basically size is magnitude, how much you have. White while accelerating is hybrid. Blue only while accelerating or "gliding" is Electric Only.

Tip: accelerate with gas/hybrid then lift the pedal completely for 2-3 seconds then "glide" or maintain speed in EV. As the blue bar shrinks, your percent of charge is going down AND the amount of wattage you can pull goes down. You can pull more wattage at 60% than 50% than 40%. At 30% you can't pull anything (to the wheels).

Green when coasting or braking is 100% regen. White when braking is "blended brakes" a combination of regen and friction pads, or, occasionally, all pads.

 

[CuriousGary]

So, on my last two "in town" drives, I tried out GPSMan's combo of using Slippery Mode and "Accelerate then Lift" (forcing it into EV mode by backing off the throttle) technique. (I still don't have a ScanGauge, so this was all by "feel" and using the "coach" display.) Man, what a difference! I saw 55 mpg and over 2/3 of my trip distance was in electric mode!

My wife was riding with me, and only after we were 2/3 the way there, asked "Are you doing something special?" She noticed I was braking quite slowly (hit 100% on the brake regeneration multiple times), but had NOT noticed the "accelerate then lift" technique until I pointed it out to her. It's subtle, but effective!

And as an added bonus, I wasn't holding up other traffic at all when accelerating from each stop. Even trying to keep below 20% on the power meter (left-hand gauge) I was able to keep up with traffic easily.

Trying to maximize

Basically size is magnitude, how much you have. White while accelerating is hybrid. Blue only while accelerating or "gliding" is Electric Only.

Tip: accelerate with gas/hybrid then lift the pedal completely for 2-3 seconds then "glide" or maintain speed in EV. As the blue bar shrinks, your percent of charge is going down AND the amount of wattage you can pull goes down. You can pull more wattage at 60% than 50% than 40%. At 30% you can't pull anything (to the wheels).

Green when coasting or braking is 100% regen. White when braking is "blended brakes" a combination of regen and friction pads, or, occasionally, all pads.

Sometimes during hybrid driving, I see a narrow vertical bar in the white hybrid horizontal bar. What does this mean.

I tried to maximize “electric driving” to and from an appointment 8 miles from my home. Maybe 2-3 miles interstate on the way. Maybe a mile less on the way home. Got 45.5 mpg’s on the way over and 52.2 mpg’s on the way home. All driving was in ECO mode. I kept up with traffic when necessary.

 

[CuriousGary]

Basically size is magnitude, how much you have. White while accelerating is hybrid. Blue only while accelerating or "gliding" is Electric Only.

Tip: accelerate with gas/hybrid then lift the pedal completely for 2-3 seconds then "glide" or maintain speed in EV. As the blue bar shrinks, your percent of charge is going down AND the amount of wattage you can pull goes down. You can pull more wattage at 60% than 50% than 40%. At 30% you can't pull anything (to the wheels).

Green when coasting or braking is 100% regen. White when braking is "blended brakes" a combination of regen and friction pads, or, occasionally, all pads.

Sometimes in hybrid driving in EV Coaching mode, I see a narrow vertical blue line in the white bar. What is this?

Made a 16 mile round trip drive, trying to maximize electric driving. 45.5 mpg’s on the way there and 52.2 mpg’s on the way back.Quite happy about that.

 

[GPSMan]

Sometimes in hybrid driving in EV Coaching mode, I see a narrow vertical blue line in the white bar. What is this?

I don't have a definitive answer, but my guess is, it's telling you EV mode is possible if demand is low enough. I know what you are referring to. And I don't think I've ever seen it on a cold engine. I'll look for it next couple of drives.

 

[Uncle Ed]

I don't have a definitive answer, but my guess is, it's telling you EV mode is possible if demand is low enough. I know what you are referring to. And I don't think I've ever seen it on a cold engine. I'll look for it next couple of drives.

I thought it meant combination ice and battery, I'm assuming three possibilities of power , ice, battery, mixture of both. Just my guess , no actually facts.

 

[Baja_Roamer]

This size blue bar = high state of charge. The bar shrinks gradually to just a peg at 30% charge, the lowest you can get in EV mode.

Interesting, I’ve never seen the blue battery bar in Mav ever get this big in 1500 miles, is this in a certain driving mode? I wonder if something’s up with mine

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