Question on optimizing gas mileage

[HeyBales]

There is no "leaving it idling" for hybrids, with the key on & not driving the hybrid traction battery will be charging the 12VDC battery which will be running AC or whatever if its on.

Only when the traction battery is fully depleted from charging the 12VDC battery running the AC & music or whatever, will the PCU turn the engine on to recharge the traction battery if not driving or running AC depleting battery to nothing, the engine will not start even with the key on.

Just let the hybrid PCU do its thing, found out if the engine kicks on its better to step on it get some speed, especially in winter, & gets battery recharged so engine switches off & running on battery power.
What I found so far is Nursing the engine throttle in winter is the worst thing for gas mileage, the battery needs to be warmed up for optimal use & that happens from an exhaust heat exchanger - double whammy the cold battery is inefficient and the cold not at operating temperature engine is running a richer fuel air mix burning more fuel.

Actually the AC is 3-phase running from the HVB system, not the 12V system.

But indeed the HVB is charging the 12V system and battery.

And it's not actually fully depleted - it's 30% SOC, ICE will turn on until up to 40% SOC on the HVB.
Unless the 12VB is just in a terrible state - in which case it'll go up to 55% SOC with ICE on.
Just saw that today. (allows for higher charge to 12V battery without the ICE just starting up and running again sooner)

What warms up the HVB even better than exhaust heat - couple applications of regen for a decent distance/time - which the system will do appropriate current for the temp, but keep adding more amps until it's warmed up faster than the exhaust can get it on a cold day.
I've seen 2 short regens on hills warm it up to accepting full amp potential, compared to over 1 mile drive and still not as warm.
Obviously for most drivers - options for where you are going for 1st drive of day is limited - you get what you get. But if you have a slowish 35mph slight downhill section option - pretty good!

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[JohnCondren1933]

Wow thats some really good informative, where are you getting HVB temperature data, is this the Forscan app paired with whatever bluetooth OBD2 driver Forscan uses?

I think I get HVB SOC on Bluedriver app, uses a bluetooth OBD2 dongle, its not supposed to work on hybrids, refused to connect to a Prius, but does gives a basic sensor feedback for Maverick hybrid, no TSB#s or engine & component part#s & serial#s but gives a "better than nothing for the gas engine part of the powertrain & HVB SOC and absolutely nothing else electric traction system wise.

At some point I need to get a Forscan OBD2 cable, Im requiring myself to watch a bunch of YT videos on how to use it 1st before I buy it or it ends up lost in a cable drawer

Actually the AC is 3-phase running from the HVB system, not the 12V system.

But indeed the HVB is charging the 12V system and battery.

And it's not actually fully depleted - it's 30% SOC, ICE will turn on until up to 40% SOC on the HVB.
Unless the 12VB is just in a terrible state - in which case it'll go up to 55% SOC with ICE on.
Just saw that today. (allows for higher charge to 12V battery without the ICE just starting up and running again sooner)

What warms up the HVB even better than exhaust heat - couple applications of regen for a decent distance/time - which the system will do appropriate current for the temp, but keep adding more amps until it's warmed up faster than the exhaust can get it on a cold day.
I've seen 2 short regens on hills warm it up to accepting full amp potential, compared to over 1 mile drive and still not as warm.
Obviously for most drivers - options for where you are going for 1st drive of day is limited - you get what you get. But if you have a slowish 35mph slight downhill section option - pretty good!

 

[Prickly Pear]

I use a ~$12 Veepeak Mini Bluetooth OBD II Scanner for Android and an app called Carscanner on my phone and run it concurrently with Android Auto. I monitor 6 sensors on the phone and on the big screen I see HVB SOC, tachometer, and coolant temp. You can't change (or I have not figured out how) the font size in AA so the display is more limited.
Here is a thread that talks about a similar setup.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...her-functions-for-your-hybrid-maverick.50463/

 

[Prickly Pear]

As for maximizing MPG, the thread below is where I picked up most of my tips.
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/25k-miles-in-my-hybrid-best-mpg-tips.30096/
Of course you could just drive it and let the computer do the work, but if you are wanting to maximize your MPG you can monitor the HVB SOC and have some situational awareness as to when to use battery vs ICE. My last two tanks I averaged 49.8 and 47.3 (calculated).

 

[HeyBales]

Wow thats some really good informative, where are you getting HVB temperature data, is this the Forscan app paired with whatever bluetooth OBD2 driver Forscan uses?

I think I get HVB SOC on Bluedriver app, uses a bluetooth OBD2 dongle, its not supposed to work on hybrids, refused to connect to a Prius, but does gives a basic sensor feedback for Maverick hybrid, no TSB#s or engine & component part#s & serial#s but gives a "better than nothing for the gas engine part of the powertrain & HVB SOC and absolutely nothing else electric traction system wise.

At some point I need to get a Forscan OBD2 cable, Im requiring myself to watch a bunch of YT videos on how to use it 1st before I buy it or it ends up lost in a cable drawer

Look for updates from Bluedriver - it's really just having more PID's available to read, and know how to translate the data contained.
The Maverick wasn't too far removed from other recent hybrids when I tested some app that only had those listed - it had several hybrid specific values correct, and with several wrong it appears Ford had to go and make it different for some reason from prior versions they've had for 20 years.
If their adapter works with Forscan (I'm guessing not), you can just use Forscan Lite for like $7.

Here's temperature example pretty quickly after ICE turned on, due to coolant, HVB, and catalytic converter almost matching.

Ahhhhh - this was from the heady days of the battery being charged up fully.
Did I say days, I meant day. Ha!
To be fair - 6 days old, and still at 80% SOC (out of 85% full charge), but Amps was on it's way down to 1, pretty quickly after turning on.

 

[Darryl]

i would just let the computer do its job. when the battery is full the engine turns off if you're not accelerating.
disabling stop/start on a hybrid ( if that's possible) is a bad idea.

The closest to come to that is turning it to sport mode or tow mode. Disabling start/stop largely defeats the purpose of a hybrid
.

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