2025 Maverick Hybrid engine braking?

[MetalsGeek]

I would use ECO mode all the time if the setting would persist through a power cycle.
The "L" button makes driving in heavy freeway traffic a bit easier because I don't need to move my foot to the brake pedal as often. However, I doubt the brake lights come on without touching the brake pedal, so there is probably some increased risk of getting tail-ended by doing this.

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[Cactusgrayinny]

Normal and you'll get used to giving it more constant input. It's annoying at first (and for a while after) but also helpful in many situations. You gotta baby sit the throttle in this puppy to keep your desired speed. I like to hold it right below 0 if I wanna coast.

Only use L going down a low speed mountain, only use ECO in heavy traffic or with cruise control. I feel like Normal mode has the 2nd least regen behind Slippery.

I have slipped it into SPORT mode when descending steep tricky and narrow 2 lane roads at speeds of 50 mph or more, this seems to provide more control. Coasting, regen or MPG considerations should be secondary in these situations.

 

[710-oil-614]

While "coasting," the hybrid is in regen braking mode until the battery is full, then the engine comes on to assist slowing down, which is what the vehicle assumes you want when you take your foot off the accelerator. Once the battery is full, there is no more capacity for regen braking - the engine takes over.
There is no freewheel coast while in Drive.

Steve

I would like to point out that the regenerative braking does not stop when the hybrid battery is full, it just stops capturing the kinetic energy from the motor generator to store it in the HVB. However the MG is still providing resistance for braking it is just not storing the energy generated.

When applying brake force greater than the resistance than the MG provides, Ford's system "seamlessly" (lots of hybrid owners report feeling a kick, or audible knock) engages your traditional brakes (rotor, calipers, pads) to provide the additional brake force necessary.

All done through the brake pedal.

In my opinion the Ford hybrid system offers very little regenerative brake feel without applying the brake pedal itself, nothing like a full on EV where my Model 3 would immediately begin to drastically reduce speed when letting off the throttle. Honda hybrids you have the ability to increase the regenerative braking via paddle shifters (although you must annoying do this for every stop) without applying the brake pedal and it would do a better job of bringing the vehicle to a full stop, however - it uses a much larger set of electric motors.

 

[The Real Maverick]

What would a hypothetical "best case scenario" look like for least fuel used?

Accelerate to the minimum speed possible, put it in neutral and turn off the engine and coast to your destination, stopping right where you want to be, using no brakes, and regenerating no power along the way.

May take you 15 minutes to go a mile, but you used the least energy possible.

Slippery mode is the nearest mode to neutral coasting when your foot is off both pedals.

I drive almost exclusively in slippery mode. I get 53 MPG city and 44 MPG highway. I coast for "free" travel whenever possible.

 

[John Viglione]

I would use ECO mode all the time if the setting would persist through a power cycle.
The "L" button makes driving in heavy freeway traffic a bit easier because I don't need to move my foot to the brake pedal as often. However, I doubt the brake lights come on without touching the brake pedal, so there is probably some increased risk of getting tail-ended by doing this.

Normal and you'll get used to giving it more constant input. It's annoying at first (and for a while after) but also helpful in many situations. You gotta baby sit the throttle in this puppy to keep your desired speed. I like to hold it right below 0 if I wanna coast.

Only use L going down a low speed mountain, only use ECO in heavy traffic or with cruise control. I feel like Normal mode has the 2nd least regen behind Slippery.

What confuses me is that I have a 2022 Escape hybrid but do not experience the same issue. Is there some difference in the way the engines are programmed?

 

[710-oil-614]

What confuses me is that I have a 2022 Escape hybrid but do not experience the same issue. Is there some difference in the way the engines are programmed?

Yes, absolutely. At minimum your Escape has an HF45 PowerSplit transmission where your 2025 has a new HF55 PowerSplit transmission.

However - I don't think you can get much less immediate braking in a hybrid than the Maverick offers.

 

[John Viglione]

Thanks

 

[HeyBales]

After reading all the posts there still seems to be some misunderstanding or lack of clarity on the regen and engine usage.

Engine spun up for coasting is brought in to waste energy that can no longer be sent to the HVB because it's full.

So if you are coasting long enough - the different drive modes will end in almost exactly the same result.

Normal mode and slight regen, lets say the downhill requires no extra braking to maintain your speed, the traction motor is just right on regen. Engine brought in at some point - say the middle, because HVB is full. May actually need to press on Go to overcome that extra resistance depending on gearing the generator motor is doing to waste enough energy.

Eco mode and stronger regen, you actually have to press on Go pedal to stop some of the extra regen and allow coasting at speed. If you nail that correctly - engine brought in at same point, same fine tuning the braking.

L mode and max auto regen, you have to press the Go pedal a lot to allow coasting at correct speed - I'd suggest very hard to nail it. But engine brought in same way, same fine tuning on Go pedal to maintain speed.

Slippery mode and almost no regen, you have to actually press the Brake pedal to coast at the correct speed, but it's all in the regen area still. If you nail that correctly - same effect with engine, same braking fine tuning.

The temp increase in HVB should be about the same because you are stopping or lessoning the regen at various levels to keep the speed the same while coasting, without and then with ICE spun up.

The amps I've seen in the logs going back to the HVB and it's resulting SOC% increase don't really change in any substantial way - it's all about how well you are required to fine tune your touch on the brake or Go pedal to override how much is automatically done by the selected drive mode.

I seem to have easier control on the brake pedal maxing out but staying in the green, Slippery mode messes me up because I'll wait too long to start braking and then need to dig into the real brakes.

But Slippery or Eco allows me to fine tune the Go pedal easiest for staying under 10% power, or back off the regen to coast better with less resistance.

But Normal is my normal use, because I can do both brake and go pedals easy enough for coasting, and I rarely have opportunities to truly feather the line at 10% anyway so that side doesn't matter as much.

 

[Kenv24]

Thanks

Hey John, I think there’s good information on here… but a little bit of overanalyzing. just remember, per your original post if you want to coast better without it bogging as much, just use “Slippery Mode” and don’t look back. I don’t mean don’t look back in your mirror. Just don’t look back on all of this extra, but good advice.

 

[MetalsGeek]

What confuses me is that I have a 2022 Escape hybrid but do not experience the same issue. Is there some difference in the way the engines are programmed?

Does the Escape have an "L" (low gear) setting? This mode makes 1-pedal driving possible. All it does is increase the regenerative braking when your foot is off the accelerator pedal.

 

[710-oil-614]

Does the Escape have an "L" (low gear) setting? This mode makes 1-pedal driving possible. All it does is increase the regenerative braking when your foot is off the accelerator pedal.

Using L on your dial in no way shape or form makes the Maverick 1-pedal driving possible.

Don't peddle this fallacy.

 

[MetalsGeek]

Using L on your dial in no way shape or form makes the Maverick 1-pedal driving possible.
Don't "peddle" this fallacy.

Love your pun almost as much as I love driving in heavy L.A. freeway traffic using just 1 foot.
Perhaps we see a different definition of the term. Yes, actually stopping does need the brake.

 

[710-oil-614]

Love your pun almost as much as I love driving in heavy L.A. freeway traffic using just 1 foot.
Perhaps we see a different definition of the term. Yes, actually stopping does need the brake.

That is not 1 pedal driving LOL, how else could one interpret the definition? My model 3 did not require the use of any brake pedal 95% of the time. You cannot say even close to the same for the Maverick in L.

 

[HeyBales]

After reading all the posts there still seems to be some misunderstanding or lack of clarity on the regen and engine usage.

Engine spun up for coasting is brought in to waste energy that can no longer be sent to the HVB because it's full.

So if you are coasting long enough - the different drive modes will end in almost exactly the same result.

Normal mode and slight regen, lets say the downhill requires no extra braking to maintain your speed, the traction motor is just right on regen. Engine brought in at some point - say the middle, because HVB is full. May actually need to press on Go to overcome that extra resistance depending on gearing the generator motor is doing to waste enough energy.

Eco mode and stronger regen, you actually have to press on Go pedal to stop some of the extra regen and allow coasting at speed. If you nail that correctly - engine brought in at same point, same fine tuning the braking.

L mode and max auto regen, you have to press the Go pedal a lot to allow coasting at correct speed - I'd suggest very hard to nail it. But engine brought in same way, same fine tuning on Go pedal to maintain speed.

Slippery mode and almost no regen, you have to actually press the Brake pedal to coast at the correct speed, but it's all in the regen area still. If you nail that correctly - same effect with engine, same braking fine tuning.

The temp increase in HVB should be about the same because you are stopping or lessoning the regen at various levels to keep the speed the same while coasting, without and then with ICE spun up.

The amps I've seen in the logs going back to the HVB and it's resulting SOC% increase don't really change in any substantial way - it's all about how well you are required to fine tune your touch on the brake or Go pedal to override how much is automatically done by the selected drive mode.

I seem to have easier control on the brake pedal maxing out but staying in the green, Slippery mode messes me up because I'll wait too long to start braking and then need to dig into the real brakes.

But Slippery or Eco allows me to fine tune the Go pedal easiest for staying under 10% power, or back off the regen to coast better with less resistance.

But Normal is my normal use, because I can do both brake and go pedals easy enough for coasting, and I rarely have opportunities to truly feather the line at 10% anyway so that side doesn't matter as much.

I felt the need to confirm the differences between Normal and Slippery on braking.
Actually, Normal is a very small tick of more regen/resistance, not really much needle movement coasting down hills. Unlike the jump from Normal to Eco mode.

So I discovered my issue is that when you start applying the brakes, Slippery seems to have for about the top 80% of regen meter a fair amount less resistance actually given, it's all stacked in the final 20% or less. Makes sense for snow mode.

So my problem has been not pushing the brakes more into the higher resistance area of regen early enough, and on the test drives last night having trouble with that remaining 20% or whatever it is to stay in regen, but slow down fast enough to keep the brakes only on the final 5 mph. So just a matter of training myself better.

I still found it very annoying even on the light city traffic in Slippery mode - that ability to nail that final region to react to cars braking in front of me, I was still creating more dust than I would in Normal mode.
I probably need to limit that mode to highway for my normal driving scenarios.

 

[Phimosis]

While "coasting," the hybrid is in regen braking mode until the battery is full, then the engine comes on to assist slowing down, which is what the vehicle assumes you want when you take your foot off the accelerator. Once the battery is full, there is no more capacity for regen braking - the engine takes over.
There is no freewheel coast while in Drive.

Steve

What Steve said. But also, they do it for consistency. Most automatic transmission cars have some mild engine braking. But the motor/battery regen braking in a Mavrick hybrid is much stronger that your typical ICE car. The regen capacity is on the order of 28 hp worth of deceleration. And when the battery gets full, they don’t want the engine braking to fall off of a cliff. They want it to remain consistent. In order to get the same amount of engine braking, they need to put the cvt into a lower gear ratio and force the engine to rev up to something like 3,500 rpm, so you really notice that it is working hard to make engine braking.

-one caveat- I have never owned a Ford hybrid, but I have owned 2 Toyota hybrids and that is what they did.

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