no tach on hybrid

[Greg Berger]

Can someone explain how the power gauge works and what it tells you.

Thanks

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[Bmr4mav]

Watch the cluster as he drives, left circle specifically. Being at 0 for the white part of the circle means the engine is not helping move the truck. As he presses the pedal harder or goes faster the needle goes into the white. As he slows and regens power the needle goes down into the green.

 

[flyjum]

You dont need a tach on a hybrid or even a CVT vehicle tbh. The engine is off half of the time since it runs on electric only if the battery has some charge to it.

So the power gauge shows how much power in as a percent of max theoretical power(gas combined with electric motor) you are demanding via the throttle up to 100% or how much recharging back into the battery via regen braking as shown in green.

Its a far more useful gauge than a tach for a hybrid vehicle as you can adjust your braking to regen the most and also see how much power(as in horsepower/kilowatts) you are using at a given time. I wish the gauge showed the actual number in kW instead of just 50% and 100% as it does. I think Canadian or international versions show it in kWs

Edit here is the other version compared to the one above in the video

 

[Greg Berger]

thanks!!!

 

[BILLNOROVILLE]

If you are old like me you might remember the old Motorminder gages (basically a vacuum gage with 3 colored areas. The more you pushed the peddle to the floor the less vacuum was crated and the gage would read in the red. Less throttle used the better mileage you would get. Sort of the same think in Hybrids.

My Prius has no tach. It does have one display I like that has a line that when you go above it the gas engine kicks in and when you are below that line you see EV flag indicating you are running on electric. I have light footed it many times to go to town and averaged 80-90mpg using mostly electricity in the small battery the Prius has. If I have a short hill to go up, I usually press the peddle more and force gas engine to come on. At the top of the hill I back off the gas peddle and keep the car moving at proper speed but monitoring the gage so my usage is below the line where I run on electricity instead of gas. No once that electricity is used up, the gas engine kicks it to power the car and charge up the battery. Braking of course helps to charge the battery also.

I don't have my Hybrid Maverick yet but it is on a train heading north as I write this. The gage Ford put in the dash will probably tell me what I need to know about when the gas engine kicks in and when I can apply easy throttle and stay on electric mode.

Now if you drive like a jack rabbit (or a jack a**) by driving fast to each stop light then slamming on the brakes, a hybrid vehicle is not for you. If you have a light foot and get up to flow with traffic nobody will cuss you out when they read HYBRID on the back of your Maverick. Some Prius owners were a little slow at first trying to milk all the miles they could. I don't hypermile (milk it) but I do know when my right foot is doing better mileage wise. I can beat my wife any day because she has a heavy foot. lol

Looking forward to great gas mileage in my Maverick truck.

 

[Darnon]

I don't have my Hybrid Maverick yet but it is on a train heading north as I write this. The gage Ford put in the dash will probably tell me what I need to know about when the gas engine kicks in and when I can apply easy throttle and stay on electric mode.

The center info display actually has a mode like the one in your Prius. More useful knowing what the actual transition point is between EV > ICE and also should show max brake pedal regen before transitioning to friction brakes. So the tach replacement gauge is kind of superfluous although they could have engineered it to show that information as well.

 

[BILLNOROVILLE]

The center info display actually has a mode like the one in your Prius. More useful knowing what the actual transition point is between EV > ICE and also should show max brake pedal regen before transitioning to friction brakes. So the tach replacement gauge is kind of superfluous although they could have engineered it to show that information as well.

Thanks, That will be useful I am sure. I sold my 2016 Chevy Volt to Carvana after I ordered my Maverick. Now it was much different than the Prius we still drive or Maverick Hybrid I will be driving soon. The Volt was a true plug-in but had the ICE engine to run a generator that ran the electric drive motors once the batteries were drained (about 57 miles). The display was nice in that it showed the battery level and the energy being used when driving. Again, push hard on the throttle and KWatt meter reading increased. I found in many cases 12-14kw would maintain 55mph easily once up to that speed. I suspect the gage in Maverick will also show less power usage maintaining a speed vs accelerating to the same speed. The Volt was faster (than many cars) up to 40mph. The Prius was faster than the Volt up to 75.

In both my Prius and Volt I found accelerating could be achieved at an ok rate that would minimize electric usage (and gas usage too). The Volt also had a switch on the steering wheel I could press that forced regen braking to a higher level as if I was pushing on the brake pedal but I wasn't. It would not work under 2mph so I had to use my foot when stopping at a light once under 2mph. I liked that feature but found I often did better keeping the battery up by simply slowing down slowly. For instance, coming up to a red light I know i would have to stop at. Of course you don't want to go too slow for too long of distances as the cars behind you will get really close. Anyway, like any car, your driving habits and your MPG are directly related.

 

[Bmr4mav]

The center info display actually has a mode like the one in your Prius. More useful knowing what the actual transition point is between EV > ICE and also should show max brake pedal regen before transitioning to friction brakes. So the tach replacement gauge is kind of superfluous although they could have engineered it to show that information as well.

That's great news. I love that info in my Prius v.

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