2025 Hybrid Electric Assist to gas engine

[mttmaverick]

Hi Everyone:

This is my first hybrid vehicle. I have a 25 Hybrid XL AWD. I have noticed something with the hybrid system and I was wondering if it is normal.

Sitting @ a stop light. You press the gas pedal to go forward, and the gas engine will be on and the electric side does nothing. It is very slow and feels sluggish without the electric assist. Then you drive for a little while and let off the gas, it will then show that the battery is charging. Come to a stop and then press the gas again and the electric motor will kick in and act normally.

Is anyone else having this problem or is this standard operations. It doesn’t do it all the time. When the electric motor is assisting around town, it is actually very fun to drive.

Also, if you start the vehicle in the heat and have the ac on, the ac compressor whines pretty loudly. The dealer is saying the ac is normal operations and if there is no lights on the dash, then all systems are normal.



Thanks,

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[Mavster Mechanic]

Hi Everyone:

This is my first hybrid vehicle. I have a 25 Hybrid XL AWD. I have noticed something with the hybrid system and I was wondering if it is normal.

Sitting @ a stop light. You press the gas pedal to go forward, and the gas engine will be on and the electric side does nothing. It is very slow and feels sluggish without the electric assist. Then you drive for a little while and let off the gas, it will then show that the battery is charging. Come to a stop and then press the gas again and the electric motor will kick in and act normally.

Is anyone else having this problem or is this standard operations. It doesn’t do it all the time. When the electric motor is assisting around town, it is actually very fun to drive.

Also, if you start the vehicle in the heat and have the ac on, the ac compressor whines pretty loudly. The dealer is saying the ac is normal operations and if there is no lights on the dash, then all systems are normal.



Thanks,

What makes you say the “electric side” does nothing pulling away from a stop?


It’s close to impossible to have a case where “the electric side does nothing”.

Cases where the electric motor provides less pulling torque than you are used to include:

Starting off with a mostly discharged HV battery pack.

Starting off with a very hot HV battery pack.

Starting off with a very cold HV battery pack.

Your truck is probably normal.
A loud AC is normal.

 

[Ryom]

Enable the EV coach which will show you if you're in hybrid mode to troubleshoot. You can also use sport mode which will keep the battery topped off and assist in acceleration.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

Sport mode will use more gasoline. But fun to try here and there.

 

[mttmaverick]

What makes you say the “electric side” does nothing pulling away from a stop?


It’s close to impossible to have a case where “the electric side does nothing”.

Cases where the electric motor provides less pulling torque than you are used to include:

Starting off with a mostly discharged HV battery pack.

Starting off with a very hot HV battery pack.

Starting off with a very cold HV battery pack.

Your truck is probably normal.
A loud AC is normal.

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it.

On the battery/engine gauge where it shows battery in blue /engine power in white it shows all engine power. When I step on the gas it is very slow and you can tell there is no electric assist. The gauge just shows the gas engine in white. It doesn't happen all of the time but it happens frequently. Like for instance I will be driving around town & its normal leaving my house. I get going a few miles and stop at a stop sign. I press the gas and the truck is sluggish and the gas engine is active and on the gauge it is just showing gas engine power no electric.

 

[Cherokee]

The 2.5 liter ICE in the Hybrid is not very powerful on its own.
But when I test drove the Hybrid nothing felt wrong. The electric side of the power train masked the ICE limitations perfectly.
I felt the smoothest drive train spooling up with authority.
I’m an old fart, I wanted the eight speed tranny with the feel of gears shifting and the Ecoboost’s power. The Turbo was everything to me.

Just drive it more and get used to it. Let it break in.
Your right foot will learn how to make it smoother and more powerful as time goes by.

At 7,000 miles now and my 2.0L is starting to loosen up just right. It spins up much quicker now.

Yours will to.

 

[identifyasatruck]

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it.

On the battery/engine gauge where it shows battery in blue /engine power in white it shows all engine power. When I step on the gas it is very slow and you can tell there is no electric assist. The gauge just shows the gas engine in white. It doesn't happen all of the time but it happens frequently. Like for instance I will be driving around town & its normal leaving my house. I get going a few miles and stop at a stop sign. I press the gas and the truck is sluggish and the gas engine is active and on the gauge it is just showing gas engine power no electric.

if you see a stop light in the distance...click the L button and watch it max out the battery recharge. if you are at the red light, change the mode to sport mode...if the ICE fires up it will charge the battery and you should have enough hybrid power to go normal....if the ICE doesn't fire up your battery is already full.

theres not much time to do much at a stop sign. but click the L button and watch the gauge as it slows you down....hope its enough battery recharge to get you to go normal.

 

[HeyBales]

if you see a stop light in the distance...click the L button and watch it max out the battery recharge. if you are at the red light, change the mode to sport mode...if the ICE fires up it will charge the battery and you should have enough hybrid power to go normal....if the ICE doesn't fire up your battery is already full.

theres not much time to do much at a stop sign. but click the L button and watch the gauge as it slows you down....hope its enough battery recharge to get you to go normal.

ICE does NOT run in Sport mode when stopped - nothing special. (it actually becomes like Auto Start/Stop for the EB, take the foot off the brake and the ICE will start - so a lag effect unless you get Motor assist)
If the HVB hits 30% the ICE will turn on to charge up to 40% SOC.
So the ICE will turn off when your are far away from the max 70% full.

And it doesn't matter how full the battery is - if you jack rabbit start the ICE is turning on instantly, above 10% Power for pre-25MY, almost 15% 25MY.

But indeed - having some HVB available - even 40% - will help provide Motor torque for take off.

Your use of the brake pedal will equal whatever the Low option can do - but with a brake light actually on for people behind you that aren't paying attention to a vehicle slowing down fast with no brake lights.

 

[HeyBales]

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it.

On the battery/engine gauge where it shows battery in blue /engine power in white it shows all engine power. When I step on the gas it is very slow and you can tell there is no electric assist. The gauge just shows the gas engine in white. It doesn't happen all of the time but it happens frequently. Like for instance I will be driving around town & its normal leaving my house. I get going a few miles and stop at a stop sign. I press the gas and the truck is sluggish and the gas engine is active and on the gauge it is just showing gas engine power no electric.

FYI your profile status says you have EB. That will cause confusion at some point and you'll get inappropriate advice, suggestions, info.

You must be driving in a manner that really wastes the HVB then - it is possible to end up at almost 30% left each time you stop, but not hitting 30% to cause the ICE to run to recharge up to 40%.
Such that there is no EV to use when you accelerate.

Just because the ICE is running doesn't mean the HVB is charging, or at least not that fast.
Because your Generator Motor in the tranny is also the eCVT basically, and if you are always hitting a certain load amount the gear being used could be allowing very little recharge.

Also you could be braking in a manner that is really grabbing the physical brakes - and while there is max regen rate going on then - if you are short stopping constantly you aren't getting much time with the max regen rate, and the physical brakes are taking most of the potential.

I see people constantly driving in a manner that would get little to no benefit from a hybrid.
Other than the eCVT possibly giving them slightly better MPG always being in a good RPM range.
Maybe you are one of those drivers.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

Usually, in the first 30 seconds to one minute, sometimes 2 minutes after a cold start you'll get battery only electric propulsion and no or very little engine propulsion making the truck feel sluggish as well.

This is to minimize emissions and to warm up the engine gently.

Unless you floor it to override this gentle warm-up strategy.

So as long as you use a normal; gentle amount of go pedal there is a gentle warm-up process. The battery & traction motor are getting you rolling on a cold engine.

No need idle in your driveway to warm up the oil / engine.

 

[Surly Old Bill]

Could also be driving style. If you stomp on the gas pedal to get to the next red light faster, the ICE engine will likely kick in. In town, I start off from red lights and stops in electric most of the time, and the ICE only kicks in when the tiny hybrid battery is low, or when I floor it like a teenager or exhibitionist.

With FORScan, you can change some parameters. I haven't messed with it yet, but one thing I will do is allow a higher charge in the hybrid battery. It's set to charge to 80% from the factory, but you can change that to 90% or higher with FORScan. I'll have to look into that to see if higher capacity reduces battery life first, though.

 

[710-oil-614]

Any chance you can get a video of if happening for us?

I can get over 30mph before ICE kicks in and hard acceleration provides blended power.

 

[cyberdog]

The Electric motor most definitely starts pulling first in the Hybrid. It should crawl forward by just lifting off the brake pedal, and if you can manage to be easy enough on the accelerator, it should even be possible to slowly accelerate on electric alone. - Slowly depressing to roughly 3/4 of the way to the first hash mark before the gas engine kicks on, unless you're facing up-hill, or have a heavy draw on the HVB (A/C for instance). If it doesn't, there may be an issue with your truck, or yours isn't a Hybrid. (As mentioned, your profile is indicating EcoBoost, not Hybrid).

I can get from where I park at work to the light at the road without kicking on the ICE easily, and if the HVB is full, make it to the stop sign at the end of the street I live on.

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