Acceleration help from the Electric motor?

[Bruce W]

I do not have my Mav yet so I am wondering. During acceleration, how hard to you need to accelerate before you get help from the Electric motor? And then would you actually get better gas mileage if you accelerated in that zone?
Just curious

There are display settings that visualize the state of hybrid to gas. Fun to feather the gas pedal just enough to keep in electric mode. (Is it technically a gas pedal or would accelerator pedal be a better term)Also the radio has an app that displays, at least on the lariat package.

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[olderbudwiser]

I just drive my Hybrid Maverick I don't put it in eco I don't look at the coach for my stops i just drive it if I need more power I push harder I never mainly in the county up hills down hills around many curves . In town very little and still get 42. MPH . My opinion just drive it

Yup I have not even looked at choices of drive modes. Heck I'm not even sure where they are..lol. Just don't care. D goes forward, R goes backwards, P = stop.

 

[Ozarkbeard]

[I]...I barely use the cruise control because I think I will get better MPG by using my right foot.[/I][/QUOTE]You won't.

For better highway mileage, put it in Eco, accelerate to the highway speed you want + 2 or 3 mph, and set the cruise. Then adjust, with the cruise buttons, back down to the speed you actually want to go.

Also, mpg will drop significantly over 65mph.

 

[icegradner]

There are display settings that visualize the state of hybrid to gas. Fun to feather the gas pedal just enough to keep in electric mode. (Is it technically a gas pedal or would accelerator pedal be a better term)Also the radio has an app that displays, at least on the lariat package.

Just so people know, the information on the 8 inch infotainment display is only available on the Lariat trim.

 

[JimParker256]

Just put it in Eco and you won’t need to worry about accelerating. It’s slow as f!

I see that statement a lot, but I don't think it is accurate. You can accelerate just as fast in Eco mode as in Normal - you just have to press harder on the accelerator to do so.

Eco mode (and even more so - Slippery mode) change the throttle curve so that it becomes non-linear. By that I mean that the first bit of throttle deflection signals the engine for a lot less "real world" acceleration than the same range of throttle pedal movement would in "Normal" mode. The result is that most of us just use the same pedal deflection we always do (habits, you know) and wind up improving our fuel mileage. But if you really want (or need) to accelerate harder, just keep pressing the pedal, because by the time you get to full throttle, ALL the modes are basically providing the same "go" signal to the engine...

Slippery mode does a few other things (less regen braking force, more "coasting") that are intended to prevent breaking your tires loose on ice or other slippery surfaces, but tend to also contribute to even better fuel economy than "Eco" mode. GPSman gives a much better explanation that I do, but we've both posted about this elsewhere in the forums. Eco generally beats Normal, but Slippery can beat Eco by a significant margin, if you drive appropriately.

 

[Onceforall]

Yes! True!

And when towing I rarely need more than 50% combined power output.

There are no steadfast rules.
Electric motors can help you accelerate at ANY TIME depending on factors. But in general, they help you accelerate, be that zero to 40 mph or 60 mph to 75 mph, this is when they are for sure "boosting" you from the reserve of battery power.

Steady speed / cruise control conditions they also help, but not from the battery.

Gas engine turns the generator, the generated power goes directly to the traction motor spinning the wheels.
This is how a train locomotive works.
The diesel engine runs at a constant RPM. (They have 9 discrete settings)
Diesel generates electricity. Electricity turns the wheels. Railroads have been driving hybrids since the 1930's.

It is possible BUT VERY RARE to have gasoline power only going to the wheels. Hence the name "hybrid"

Good points, especially the no steadfast rules. The computer has a lot of decisions to make to get that 40+mpg.

From an efficiency only viewpoint, the power flow would utilize engine power directly to the wheels, with any unneeded power going into the battery pack. Until the battery pack reaches a charge level at which point the computer decides whether to back off the engine and add in electric. Whether it does it exactly this way or not would require a discussion with the software engineers.

The diesel generator hybrid locomotive concept lacks one big difference to the Mav hybrid, there isn't a battery in the mix.

Typical generators operate at upper 90 percentile efficiencies (there is heat thrown off); the battery also in-out, a small loss (heat thrown off); and the electric motor going to power the wheels, an additional loss (heat thrown off).

So, electric motor power flow takes a bit of a hit: say 98% generator efficiency x 98% battery x 96.5% electric motor = somewhere around 93% going that way, vs directly to the wheels.

The hybrid pathway makes up for this conversion inefficiency by regen (turning slow downs or brake heat into something useful). Burning gasoline to make electricity for the battery isn't the most efficient method of going down the road.

 

[wax87]

There are display settings that visualize the state of hybrid to gas. Fun to feather the gas pedal just enough to keep in electric mode. (Is it technically a gas pedal or would accelerator pedal be a better term)Also the radio has an app that displays, at least on the lariat package.

That is cool, my order is an XLT

 

[Bargeld]

The way I've worked it out is that you have a 2.5L NA gas engine producing up to about 162hp and the electric motor that produces about 29hp (specs are 191hp combined). But the electric has limitations based more on torque demand combined with "gearing" in the eCVT. You start electric. It goes electric for however long you can milk that 29hp OR you run out of charge in the 1.1kwh battery (which doesn't really happen, I've seen some videos claiming 1 mile range after running out of gas completely). As far as the gauge calculations, all electric distance uses no gas. I'd guess that the gas engine alone gets about 27mpg. In hybrid mode, the vehicle measures its own ratio of electric to gas and tells you whatever it figured.

At the the end of every trip (from P -> D -> P) it spits out the trip summary.
X total MPG
Y Total Miles
Z Electric Miles

Ideally you want Y Total miles = Z Electric Miles. That will get you 999.9 mpg.
If you get 3 total miles and 1.5 electric, you get a more valid value, maybe 39 mpg or 42.
If you get less electric miles, you get less mpg.
More electric = more mpg.

On the highway at higher speeds, the HP needed to push through the air at the given "gearing" is more than the electric alone can usually handle. So you are hybrid. The more you need to use the gas motor, the less mpg you get. I can say that 72 mph seemed to be a significantly sweeter spot than 78 mph. I'm sure that carries down as well, but I haven't worked out the sweet spot speeds yet. On multiple previous vehicles, 40 mph was always a sweet spot.

Eco mode in many vehicles is typically misunderstood. As stated in the posts above, it does map the throttle curve to limit your acceleration. Most vehicles with Eco mode do that. The problem is that it really only provides benefit in stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic. Once your vehicle is beyond a certain speed and torque demand, the eco is actually less efficient than the normal mode. If it stays in eco mode, it has to burn the engine for say 10 seconds to get to where normal mode might get in 5 seconds. Yes normal mode will use more gas, but eco mode uses even more gas. The point of eco mode is to prevent you from stomping the gas then stopping immediately, repetitively, and burning unnecessary fuel. But if you need to actually accelerate to realistic speeds, drive 4 blocks, then stop at a light... normal mode does that better. Normal mode also does better on the highway at speed as well. Similar reasons, the engine has to work longer to fight drag at higher speeds.

Disclaimer, I'm not an expert here, just a long time automotive enthusiast. I've had my maverick for about 2000 miles and less than a month. I only believe in pen and paper (and fuelly) calculations for mpg. Gauges and summaries and estimates always lie, BUT they can be useful for each person to compare against themselves. The delta/change that you see from different driving experiments, habits, and conditions can absolutely provide good relative feedback. I would challenge any Eco driver to try normal mode for their standard drives and track it on paper/fuelly and compare vs their eco numbers. Get out of your comfort zone and gamble on wasting that $3 on a less efficient tank and see if it's actually true. Do it a couple times, you might be surprised.

Also, the L button. That's an entire topic of it's own. My summary: don't use it except for 1 specific case. Get good at turning it on just so you can roll up on a stop light and drag yourself down to 5 mph without using the brakes. If you use the brakes while in L to slow down, you are guaranteed to have less efficient regeneration. If you drive with L on, then engine is going to slow you down every time you feather the go pedal. It will be self defeating, trying to regen power at a lower rate of efficiency and will just drag your mpg down. When you know you are going to stop, get good at hitting the button to come in for a long, smooth landing. Then turn it off again once you have landed.

 

[FunctionSpec]

I do not have my Mav yet so I am wondering. During acceleration, how hard to you need to accelerate before you get help from the Electric motor? And then would you actually get better gas mileage if you accelerated in that zone?
Just curious

Electric motors produce max torque at 0 RPM. This torque helps propel the truck forward when accelerating from a dead stop. At a certain speed, the gas engine kicks in, and that with the electric motor keeps the acceleration going.

Gas engines produce 0 torque at 0 rpm so when the gas engine kicks in at a higher RPM, it is within its torque range so the power delivery seems seamless to the driver. An electric motor's torque curve drops down sharply as it reaches a higher rpm while the gas engine torque curve continues to climb at higher rpms and then levels out. As long as you are within both their "torque range", the hybrid will definitely feel quick.

Even though the Hybrid 0-60 numbers aren't the greatest, the drivability of the Hybrid Maverick is great as it just scoots around effortlessly in the city and passing vehicles on the highway. It feels faster than it really is since it is used within a range most "normal" people used their vehicles. The "pulse and glide" technique will definitely provide better gas mileage VS driving like your great grandma's grandma's older sister.

 

[Bruce W]

Just so people know, the information on the 8 inch infotainment display is only available on the Lariat trim.

Thanks! I was not aware of that.

 

[wax87]

Thanks! I was not aware of that.

I wonder if Forscan can fix that for XLT and LT models

 

[realshelby]

The electric motor does come on when you pull away from a stop. BUT...it all depends on throttle position. Pull away to keep up with traffic, the ICE engine comes on immediately too.
Does the electric motor stay on? How long it is on and how much torque it provides is based on HV battery charge. It can assist ICE on acceleration, it can also assist ICE while cruising to lower fuel consumption till HV battery drains down. Your "EV Coach" shows when the battery is feeding power to the motors ( blue graphic ) and the white graphic shows ICE engine power output.
Your electric motor CAN help while running 75 mph on flat ground. It will help on a hill. It gets charged while ICE is running and when you are going downhill. That is why the Hybrid still gets great mileage at highway speed.

 

[huunvubu]

Just put it in Eco and you won’t need to worry about accelerating. It’s slow as f!

Redline Reviews: Hybrid Maverick 0-60 in 7.59s! + Review of both Hybrid and EcoBoost

Maverick 0-60 times (hybrid / ecoboost)

Hybrid 0-60 numbers, mpg numbers, towing, regen, back up, all in this TFL Video

 

[Clarkdonbran]

Redline Reviews: Hybrid Maverick 0-60 in 7.59s! + Review of both Hybrid and EcoBoost

Maverick 0-60 times (hybrid / ecoboost)

Hybrid 0-60 numbers, mpg numbers, towing, regen, back up, all in this TFL Video

 

[Bargeld]

The electric motor does not turn off at any preset speed. The ECU knows how much the motor can provide and it decides how much to use and combine the motor + ICE. I would say it is more dependant on the torque requested.

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