Really bad in-city mileage.

[MakinDoForNow]

Maybe he has the infamous 12v battery harness issue and/or a bad sensor that is causing voltage readings to appear to be wrong and the system is not charging HVB? What would happen if the current smoothing capacitors were not functioning proper and therefore had unstable high voltage current?

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[Oldguy66]

I feel my Hybrid has the same issue as OP. Mind you I'm 67 now and my Regen braking is anywhere from 85 to 100. My last gas tank was 28.9 MPG (mileage divided by gallons) and I've been getting 20 MPG in town. Seems to do better with the a/c off and that might be a clue. Of course my Cyber Orange Hybrid is in the shop for the 3rd time for a "Shift SYS Fault" that immobilizes the truck which has happened at least 10 times now. It is looking more like a Lemon than Cyber Orange with only 2,313 miles.

 

[clavicus]

I don't get it. I am only averaging 30mpg in my hybrid Maverick. That is 40% town, and 60% highway driving. IF I drive all in town, I average 20-22 mpg. This is done by actual math at the pump, not by the trucks estimate. Here's the thing, I BARELY touch my accelerator pedal, and I can stay in electric up to about 20mph. After that it kicks on the gas engine. When I say barely I mean it takes me two blocks to get up to 20. Now, also, if I am looking at my instant mileage, it NEVER shows more than 8-20 mpg at low speeds but accelerating with the gas engine on. Then I get up to speed speed and back off the pedal to put in in hybrid mode. On the highway I will regularly get 35-38 mph indicated on instant mileage.
Here's my thought and question. When the gas engine cuts in at low speeds (30mph) doesn't the electric motor keep assisting the gas engine? I can't figure out how in the world people are getting over 40mpg.. My truck just doesn't seem to have any power in electric operation.
Before you start thinking I am driving crazy, I'm 66 years old and being passed by other cars all day long. I brake easy and accelerate lightly, backing off the gas pedal to let it kick into hybrid as much as possible.
Bad battery? Bad programming? Bad electrical connection somewhere? Anybody have any ideas? Took it to the dealer, they drove it on the highway and said "It's getting 35 mpg, what do you want?" Well, the big problem isn't on the highway, it's on the damn city streets at sub 40mph speeds!
Or is this just all I can expect? Yeah I'm frustrated. And yes I know how to drive a hybrid.

Do you have very short trips when you’re doing a Town drive?

 

[AzCactusGray]

I don't get it. I am only averaging 30mpg in my hybrid Maverick. That is 40% town, and 60% highway driving. IF I drive all in town, I average 20-22 mpg. This is done by actual math at the pump, not by the trucks estimate. Here's the thing, I BARELY touch my accelerator pedal, and I can stay in electric up to about 20mph. After that it kicks on the gas engine. When I say barely I mean it takes me two blocks to get up to 20. Now, also, if I am looking at my instant mileage, it NEVER shows more than 8-20 mpg at low speeds but accelerating with the gas engine on. Then I get up to speed speed and back off the pedal to put in in hybrid mode. On the highway I will regularly get 35-38 mph indicated on instant mileage.
Here's my thought and question. When the gas engine cuts in at low speeds (30mph) doesn't the electric motor keep assisting the gas engine? I can't figure out how in the world people are getting over 40mpg.. My truck just doesn't seem to have any power in electric operation.
Before you start thinking I am driving crazy, I'm 66 years old and being passed by other cars all day long. I brake easy and accelerate lightly, backing off the gas pedal to let it kick into hybrid as much as possible.
Bad battery? Bad programming? Bad electrical connection somewhere? Anybody have any ideas? Took it to the dealer, they drove it on the highway and said "It's getting 35 mpg, what do you want?" Well, the big problem isn't on the highway, it's on the damn city streets at sub 40mph speeds!
Or is this just all I can expect? Yeah I'm frustrated. And yes I know how to drive a hybrid.

My mpg went up when I started using higher octane fuel. (92) The break coach triggers ADD and OCD!

 

[Espeer]

We really need someone near op to swap trucks with him for a week!

 

[19mustang65]

If you are able to get the truck to 20mph in electric only a few times during a trip you probably don't have an issue with the electrical system.

If it's a new truck it takes a few tanks to get into the 40mpg range.

I had a similar issue and stopped trying so hard to get good mileage and it slowly improved.

 

[Gullzway]

Maybe he has the infamous 12v battery harness issue and/or a bad sensor that is causing voltage readings to appear to be wrong and the system is not charging HVB? What would happen if the current smoothing capacitors were not functioning proper and therefore had unstable high voltage current?

I think the 12v harness issue causes the 12v battery not to charge. Shouldn't affect the Hybrid battery charging?
Something's not right though, I'm on my best tank so far with mostly city.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I think the 12v harness issue causes the 12v battery not to charge. Shouldn't affect the Hybrid battery charging?
Something's not right though, I'm on my best tank so far with mostly city.

Something certainly does not appear. Quite right. My thinking on the 12v problem possibly affecting the recharging of the HVB being that the 12v problem affecting readings from sensors or something. It could many things. I would expect almost all would create an error code though. OP took it in so they should have seen a code. Consider something like HVB temp sensors reporting low HVB temp so current flow in and out of battery is reduced until it is reported to be warm enough to accept full charge/discharge current. I remember some were reporting that when they were driving in stop and go freeway traffic with their is temp showing 113+°F they were not getting much electric driving, I suspect HVB battery was being restricted from charge/discharging to keep HVB battery temp down. There was also a software update that was performed on some hybrids built before March. I do not remember what the problem was.

 

[Darnon]

Thanks for the advice. I'll give using the L button a shot. But understand, in no way can I ever go beyond 10% power usage without the gas engine starting. Then instant mileage starts at 10mpg at 20mph, and slowly increases to maybe 22mpg until I let off the gas to put it into electric. Then on the highway at 65-70 it will start out showing 30mpg and slowly get up to 35 on level ground after maybe 10 miles. I have never SEEN 40 mpg except on a long downhill.when it might flick up to 45 for a bit close to the bottom of the hill.

Don't judge so much staring at the instant MPG screen. It doesn't matter if the ICE running only gets 20 mpg if the other 50% of the time it's running on electric that's effectively 40mpg. That's why you're better of using the EV coach screen to know how much pedal you have before it'll turn on the ICE and when you see the blue bar becoming available you can ease off to let it transition to EV.

 

[Scupking]

Something isn’t right. I can get out of my neighborhood just using electric every time. I’m at 300 miles on just a half a tank! Take it in to Ford.

 

[Deleted member 1483]

I have put 13k miles on my hybrid, and I am averaging 44mpg. I do a lot of highway trips and sport mode as well. If I just kept it in normal mode it would even be higher.

An uphill highway trip to a neighboring city I managed 39mpg. So there is definitely something wrong.

It can be hard to stay "electric only" up to speed, but it definitely feels like it has torque and can manage up hills.

 

[GPSMan]

I agree with poster about babying the Maverick hybrid is counter productive. Coming from Prius I got the wrong view on how good mileage is achieved by hybrids.
My wrong view was wimpy driving is forced on Prius to get mileage numbers. The real reason was small ICE small electric motors and a battery with current limits on charge and discharge rates.
Ford took another route Larger than standard sized engine (2.5 v 2.0 eco ) much stronger electric motors and a battery chemical with high charge and discharge current rates.
But gets around Prius rates with lack of proper shape factored.
So, my new view is its engineered to be at the sweet spot with normal driving.
Trucks are always over powered when used as a daily driver.

I'm babying mine and gonna get 800 miles per tank. What am I doing that is counter productive?

These are not flukes. These are every day commutes in flat, sea-level city driving.

 

[GPSMan]

I accelerate at a pretty brisk pace, then feather it to keep it in electric at speed. Have been averaging around 42, but this last rank ran with no climate control on and hit 49.
It seems counter intuitive, but try accelerating faster and save the battery for when you hit the speed limit

Yes sir! There is evidence this is the case!

Old Generation I philosophy - use the battery to launch you from a start; then cruise with gas. In this generation (gen IV?) it seems to do best to launch with gas and cruise with EV. This is why people like myself drive 75% even more of the miles in EV mode.

makes sense

It takes 100 horsepower to accelerate (200 horsepower to accelerate briskly) but it takes only 5 horsepower to cruise at 30 mph. And only 15 horsepower to cruise at 60 MPH.

 

[Axlesup]

i do not have my maverick yet but i uber with a 2010 prius and driving aggressively makes little to no difference in my MPG. pretty much 48mpg all the time. when i first got it i tried to drive easy/hypermiling/max regen braking and got worse MPG than i do now just driving it as needed to keep up with traffic in normal eco mode.

with that said in the summer time if i max out the air conditioning i can easily lose 10 mpg. installing ceramic 3m tint at legal levels restored half of that loss.

i can easily lose another 5 mpg if i idle at all with the AC on. seriously one 5 minute wait per day is -5mpg.

you can get a bluetooth dongle for your obd port that will show your battery cell levels by using a free app on your phone. it sounds to me like you might have a charging or battery issue. do remember that the hybrid battery is tiny and using things like air conditioning will destroy your mpg.

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